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Taking place each year on the first Sunday in October, the Challenge starts and finishes in the village of Redmile near Belvoir Castle. Cyclists follow a marked route along canal towpath, rough tracks and minor roads in rural North Leicestershire - through fields and woods, over surfaces dry and wet, good and bad. Part of the route is along the ancient Sewstern Lane - believed to date from the Bronze Age and later travelled by Romans and Vikings.
Periodic refreshment stops for cakes and drinks revive flagging energies, with an even better spread once you arrive, weary but fulfilled, back at the Redmile marquee. A well-deserved reputation for copious supplies of home-baked cakes (provided free of charge) brings many people back year after year.
The event started in 1995 when a local parent came up with the idea of using the local section of the ancient Viking Way as a means of raising much-needed funds for Redmile Primary School. In the first year 98 cyclists completed the circuit, raising £580. Since then, both the numbers taking part and the total money raised have grown enormously.
In each of the last seven years the number of entrants has exceeded 1,100, with over 700 completing the full course. Riders come from as far afield as Newcastle, Kent and Bristol, and the annual amount distributed to good causes has varied between £15,000 and £36,000.
The event still supports the local Redmile School, but for the past six years there has also been a national charity link, the money raised being shared equally between the charity and the school.
As a sponsored event the Viking Challenge is unusual, in that each year's ride supports a different charity. Charities that have benefited include: Multiple Sclerosis Society, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, National Meningitis Trust, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Lukemia Research Fund, Mencap, NSPCC, Macmillan Cancer Relief and Help the Hospices. This year Cystic Fibrosis Trust will to benefit.
For some riders the Viking Challenge is a sporting event - their personal target being to get back before their friends, or to beat their fastest time in previous years. For others it's a delightful day out in splendid countryside, riding peacefully through the beautiful Vale of Belvoir, up the escarpment into scenic High Leicestershire, along the rutted Viking Way, and finally back home through the majestic Belvoir Woods. In wet weather the muddy tracks are heavy going, and it's a challenge simply to complete the course.
And for a strange but welcome few it's a golden opportunity to make a statement!
The Viking Challenge is not a race, it's exactly what it's called - a 'challenge'.
To enter, select enter online or print off the Entry Form from July, complete and post to the address provided in our Contact section, or for further information, e-mail us on info@vikingchallenge.org.uk
