Welcome to the SCHWALBE Road Sportives event homepage. We are excited to welcome our new title sponsor SCHWALBE Tyres. After years of being a loyal supporter to the series SCHWALBE has stepped up and now proud to be the title sponsor of the SCHWALBE MTB Marathon & Road Sportive Series 2013.

On this website you can expect to find all the info you need to know about the Road Sportive events taking place in 2013. Detailed below are all the things that are standard across each event weekend, for specific information about the individual event(s) - directions to the event villages, course details, timetables, etc that might be of interest to you, click on the relevant links below.

Photos of the day’s riding will be up on www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk to view and purchase a few days after each event.

Dates and venues 2013:
Big news for 2013 is that we are changing the running order of the activities over the weekend. All Road Sportives will be run on Sunday rather than on Saturday. Saturday will have the MTB Marathon followed by some live music and our events bar to relax after the long day mountain biking or to chill out before you head out on the sportive on Sunday morning.

Marshbrook – England (Shropshire) 
13th July 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon see www.mtb-marathon.co.uk for details
14th July 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportive (Open Start time 8.30-9.30am)

Abergavenny/Crickhowell - Wales 
3rd August 2013 - SCHWALBE MTB Marathon see www.mtb-marathon.co.uk for details
4th August 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportives (Open Start time 8.30-9.30am)

Ruthin - Wales 
31st August 2013 - SCHWALBE MTB Marathon see www.mtb-marathon.co.uk for details
1st September 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportives (Open Start time 8.30-9.30am)

Camping:
Camping facilities will be available at EVERY location we visit this season. All campgrounds are in close proximity to the event village, have free parking and there will be plenty of showers and toilets.

Camping will be open from Friday night through to Monday morning inclusive at each event.

Registration opening times:
Registration opening times for each event are as follows: 
Friday: 6.00pm – 9.00pm (MTB Marathon)
Saturday: 7.00am – 9.00am (MTB Marathon)
Sunday: 7.00am – 9.30am (Road Sportive)

Entry fees:
The Road Sportives entrance fee is £27 for both Standard (40 – 50mile) and Classic (80 – 100mile). If you take part in the discounted ‘weekend ticket’ (MTB Marathon and Road Sportive) a discount applies, the price is only £50 rather than £62.

The entry fee includes:
• ride entry
• free after ride coffee / tea & cakes
• free usage of service stations (food & technical support)
• free usage of facilities (showers & toilets, etc)
• finisher present
• free camping from Friday to Monday
• free parking

For more information on how to enter the events, visit the entry page. Here you will be able to enter online or download the entry form.

Event concept:
The Road Sportives are run very similarly to the SCHWALBE MTB Marathons by being ‘one loop’ events with the start and finish being in the same location as the event village, registration and camping. Certain sections are marshalled for extra safety and we have medical cover out on course in case something goes wrong. On top of that you can find service stations (food and technical support) at regular intervals, approx every 25 - 35miles. Our energy food sponsor Torq will be present at these with energy drinks and food as well as water for topping up. They should not be relied upon as the sole source of your food and drink. There will also be a broom wagon patrolling the courses to pick up and strugglers.

Check out the 5 Basic Rules of Road Sportives, which are extremely important for the safe and enjoyable running of our sportives. Besides that have a good read of the 15 Commandments section of the MTB Marathon website as that is full of useful information regarding eating, drinking and the general running of the events.

Due to legal reasons the Sportives will be started in small waves of riders at set intervals. The start will open at 8.30am and will stay open for approximately 1 hour to give everybody the chance to have a relaxing start at the time of their choosing. The events are non-competitive, we don’t give out prizes, and instead we give out lots of spot prizes.

The courses are fully marked but every rider will get a small ‘backup map’ in case the marking is not 100% clear, gets damaged or removed. 

Once you’ve managed to complete your ride and come over the finish line make sure you don’t just race past the commentator and the timing crew as you would miss out on your unique finisher present and on your chances of getting one of the many spot prizes that we will give away again. As always we will have bike-cleaning facilities near the finish line where you can clean your bike for your next outing or simply your drive home.

And don’t forget there is lots more going on alongside these two main events.

Event village / campground / local area
Whilst you are here why not check out ‘what’s on’ in the local town or hang out at the event village, and check out the stalls / retail outlets, facilities and kids entertainment or why not book yourself in for a sports massage on Sunday. We also have a caterer on site serving breakfast lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks supported by the guys from Café2You with the coffee van. 

For more information on what’s on, visit the local info page.

In case we did not cover all the things you want to know just click on contact and fire away. Alternatively you can give John @ John Lloyd Racing Events a call on 01982 552923.