The latest News, Information and Updates about our events or services.
Essex 100/50/30 Cancellation
December 28th 2023
Further to our post on the 21st below, we have taken the decision to cancel the Essex 100/50/30 events scheduled for next July. With only 9 entries so far we thought it was better to shut it down now than organise it one more time with all the issues listed in the below post.
We have refunded everyone in full and emailed everyone concerned.
That will be why you can’t find it if you are looking!
Lindley
New Backyard Race
December 23rd 2023
Hi all. Backyard announcement.
We have decided to go ahead and plan a London based Winter Backyard next year.
Weekend of November 16th at Redbridge Cycle Track. The venue is exclusively booked for 3 days.
I know this clashes somewhat with Golspie in Scotland and Gods Own Backyard in Leeds but it’s the only Weekend/Month we have free from other stuff and hopefully there is not much crossover in those wanting to enter as they are all much further north. It should be a different market. Apologies to those events.
It is about time London had one closer to it. Good local transport links with tube, bus and train not far away and ample car parking.
Indoor Space, toilets, changing, hard tarmac but undulating track of 2km, it will be 3.5laps per Yard. Usual chip timing. We will have some limitations on number of crew and space as we can’t camp or have huge numbers onsite. It will be 2 crew max per person for the 1st 24 hours and you get space for a small table/chair and your stuff. More info when the website goes live. Laz has agreed the course being laps. There are several around the world run on a similar style course or even one or two on a track!
It’s expensive to hire venues like this in London so unfortunately no discounts for groups and we are limited to 150 entries but we expect it to sell well and it will be priced at £120 the same as our Suffolk Backyard. T-Shirts will be an additional cost.
We will however be doing it for £100 for the month of January to get numbers into the event and ensure we can get early costs covered.
Entries will open Jan 1st and the event will appear on the website just after Christmas.
Any questions just ask.
Flitch Way Races – Announcement
December 21st 2023
Important announcement for 2024/5 Flitch Way races.
We are looking forward to next week’s Flitch Way New Year’s Eve events and the following week’s 12 hour race. As well as next summer’s Essex 100/50/30 event.
However we have taken the difficult decision to end all of these races on the Flitch Way after the next editions.
So next year there will be no New Year’s Eve events on the Flitch and no 2025 Flitch Way 12 hour or Essex 100/50/30 events.
This is for various reasons but below is a quick summary.
Flitch New Year’s events, though these are popular and profitable and sell out we struggle to get volunteers and only run a skeleton crew on these which does not make me feel comfortable
There are also issues along the route with planning/access and locations that are getting to be more complicated as new housing and developments are being planned along the route.
I also have more commitments and pressures on my time around this time of year with the growth of the First Aid side of the business and my expedition travels and increased work load at the Spine Races at the beginning of January which all mean it’s a struggle to fit it all in.
Something has to give.
The 12 hour and Summer Essex 100 are both small events that are not really profitable and combined with increased workload for Spine Summer Races and for my expedition travels and First Aid work are an easy decision to remove from the calendar. We also have the same issues with development along the route and access and getting volunteers to ensure it’s run how I would like.
We understand this will be disappointing to some and these events were loved by many but things need to change and we are not going away. In 2024 we will be adding another Backyard event and possibly another Ultra in 2025 but at times of year where we have more time capacity to fit them in with current commitments.
It will also mean I can devote more time to growing and improving the current events you all love.
Have a great Christmas and I will see you in the new year if not on new year’s eve.
Lindley and the team.