Highclere Castle Sportive places going fast

Places are going fast for this summer's Highclere Castle Sportive on 4 June with over 800 entries in already. Speaking to road.cc, organiser Ken Robson told us that entries are up on last year and that the event is down to its last 500 places, and he expects those to be gone before the official closing dates for entry. 

There are four different ride options on offer this year at Highclere:

202km / 126mile MagnifiCat - big challenge for experienced and competitive cyclists with over 3000m of climbing
123km / 77mile Route77Cat - intermediate challenge for experienced and club cyclists with 1700m of climbing
73km / 46mile CommuniCat - designed for first time sportive and aspiring leisure cyclists with 900m of climbing
1.5km / 1mile KiddiCat - new - a multi-lap charity challenge for the family - this ride is completely traffic free within the grounds of the Highclere Estate.

You can enter online here

Dave and Jon rode a taster ride last week of the 126 mile Magnificat route kitted out with some fancy new Mavic wheels and a Champion Chip tracker. You can read their thoughts on the route in the blog Dave posted afterwards and even replay their ride on the Champion Chip tracker site – the tracking chip updates position and speed (and heart rate too if you have the right kit) every 4 seconds, afterwards you can watch a speeded up version of the ride. During the ride you can zoom right in on the map to follow individual riders.

Riders doing this year's Highclere event will have the opportunity to hire a chip for £25, so family and friends can know exactly where they are during the race and they can watch a re-run afterwards. Ken anticipates that the tracker might prove a very cost effective way of groups monitoring their progress on the day – if one of their number is kitted out with a tracker. You can find out more about Champion Chip trackers at Highclere at the Champion Chip page on the Highclere website.

Everyone taking part can also help support the Fire Fighters Charity which funds treatment for injured fire men and women and burns victims.