European Transcontinental Race

[Long Hall]

Hi Everyone

There have been a few discussions about un-supported RAAM type races in the past and after our World Cycle Race last year my sponsor and a few other people were keen to put on a similar event with more formal organisation in 2013.  The result is the 'Transcontinental' - a race which follows some of the bikepacking racing principals and is on road.

We have not formally launched but its imminent and our site is live at www.transcontinentalrace.com

I wanted to invite the bikepacking community to come and take a look first.  Any feedback and reaction you wish to give will be gratefully accepted.

The intention long term is that the World Cycle Race will run again in 2014 and every two years with a transcontinental race in the intervening years and will move about so that riders around the world can experience a shorter, lower cost format which does not require so much time away.  The race will serve as a good test event for the World Cycle Race so riders can use this to judge and fine tune their training, packing and logistics measures, or they can just race it for its own sake.

Thanks for looking

Mike Hall

[Mauro_N]

Dude that is Awesome! Count me in, TD in June and The transcontinental race in  August. I think i might just do it on my single speed, why not!

Thanks for setting this up, seems really cool!

Edit,

On second thought single speed is out!

[Chew]

Sounds fantastic and on the 'to do' list.

One question though. Why London to Istanbul?
Logistically the other way would seem better. Seems more straight forward to start at the more difficult city to access, ending at the city with more options to depart from (Heathrow/Eurostar would give loads of options).

[Long Hall]

There's a few reasons, including that its better all round for the title sponsors and events team who are all UK based.  Having a race sponsor means that the race works economically because the value for them is in the amount of people following it, not competing.  Hence the entry fees can be much lower and the fate of the race does not rest on having a minimum number of riders to be viable.

Istanbul is a major international hub, getting out of there won't be difficult.

[Mauro_N]

What will the entrance fee be?

[Long Hall]

Its TBC but about £95 +google checkout fees

[Mauro_N]

cool, sounds good. have you gotten a good bit of interest in it?

[chainagent]

Hi guys,

that was just a matter of time that a transcontinental race across Europe become reality. The route London-Istanbul would not be my first choice. Starting anyway in Sweden or Norway with skirting Denmark, Germany and a long horizontal stretch through the Alps with ending up in Spain or Italy would be my first choice. But it's just a matter of taste. I'll keep watching the event and maybe we gonna meet 2015 in London.

               Michael
       

[Mauro_N]

Hey Mike, I saw on the website that there is several checkpoints along the way, are these confirmed yet?

Thanks
Mauro

[phil_rad]

Sounds interesting. Too bad I have this year already planned. Maybe in 2015.

[Long Hall]

Yep there seems to be a good bit of interest already and we haven't really told many people about it yet.  There seems to be quite a few from mainland Europe registering their interest too which is great.  We're really keen to have a properly international field.

Yes there will be at least one, maybe two, checkpoints they are more or less decided but the logistics details need closer looking at before we confirm there exact location.  Assume for now that riders won't get away without going over at least one big climb in the alps.

No decisions on 2015 yet but when I say we're going to move the transcontinental about a bit I mean it might not necessarily be on the same continent.  That said if there's enough demand that could be in addition to, rather than instead.  If the format proves successful there might be lots of different ideas for future editions but we need to get this one done and done right first, until then all bets are off.

London - Istanbul was also chosen as its a popular section of a circumnavigation.  Yes there are some great routes available but sometimes you just need to go with what you know.  

[Mauro_N]

Just a heads up, the race is now open for registration. I believe it is limited to 100 riders.

Any one else registered?

[mathieu]

The race is on. Mike Hall is not in it, but he has a worthy stand in : Kristof Allegaert from Belgium. After 5 days he is leading by a wide margin, averaging about 370 km (230 mi) per day.
See http://trackleaders.com/transconrace13
There is no prescribed route, so the riders are scattered over the map.
For rules and riders, see http://reportage.transcontinentalrace.com/?page_id=357