Etape Cymru falls way short of the mark

17 comments
By John Whitney in Bath, UK | Monday, Oct 24, 2011 10.50am

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Closing roads to traffic for cycling events is a tricky thing for organisers to get right. If they do, it’s a riding experience like no other. If they don't, it creates a situation arguably worse than if the roads had been left open. So it was a shame the inaugural Etape Cymru, held earlier this month in North Wales, ended up squarely in the latter category.

The day didn’t get off to the best start, after I came across an email from organisers saying they were no longer able to supply the £20 gilet promised with entry. Instead, I’d be getting a £5 note back at registration. While I’m loath to turn my nose up at hard cash, it was unlikely to keep me warm atop the Horseshoe Pass.

After a lengthy drive from Lancashire down to the start on a Wrexham industrial estate, I signed on, took my place with around 1,500 others and readied myself for the mass start. Staggered starts are the norm in sportives, so for many this wait – similar to that prior to a running event – was a novel experience. The heatwave of early October was long gone, in its place a mixed bag of gusts, gales and showers. The last thing anyone needed was a delay, but that’s exactly what we got as we departed 15 minutes behind schedule.

The starting gun sounded and, being pretty far back in the waiting pack, it was some time before I crossed the line. When I finally clipped into my pedals, it was frenetic stuff. For many, entering an event like this is all about getting to the finish as fast as possible. I count myself in that competitive number, so being penned in like cattle for the first 20 minutes was frustrating. What didn’t help was that the route immediately gave way to singletrack farm roads that just didn’t seem suitable for 1,500 adrenaline-fuelled amateur cyclists.

Early warnings that the roads wouldn't be totally closed came not from a car, but one of the event’s own race support motorcycles, which weaved its way fast through the field and threatened another Jonny Hoogerland incident. It wasn’t long before I encountered my first vehicle and it became clear this was a ride I should treat like any other.

The promise of no traffic may have caused some to be complacent and take unnecessary risks round tight corners in the belief there was no chance of a collision. At the finish line, a spectator who'd watched the race at the bottom of Horseshoe Pass told me he'd seen motorists simply swerve round road blockades, while a marshal looked on passively. Worried that somebody could be seriously injured, a local resident had taken matters into his own hands and started to direct traffic. Not exactly ideal.

Signage also proved a major problem. Ideally, you’d have a marshal at every junction to direct riders but failing that, you’d at least have a sign sprayed onto the road. Instead, the Etape Cymru used tacked-on signs, which could be tampered with easily. It was no surprise that I ended up getting lost. It took a fair amount of luck to get back on track but with 60 miles to go, and my momentum shot, the goal was to just make it back to Wrexham.

I got lost another two times, on both occasions running out of marshals, signs or both. According to organisers, problems with signs being removed or switched caused them to ditch the entire hill pass of ‘The Shelf’, meaning century hunters would be left disappointed by the 90-odd miles they’d clocked at the finish (distance was dependent on how many wrong turns you made).

Other gripes included a missold parcours and empty food stations. The route, advertised as 100 miles with just over 6,000ft of climbing, shouldn't have been an issue for me, even with the 36-25T bottom gear I was running. But by the time I'd limped back into Wrexham with just shy of 10,000ft on the clock, my thighs were screaming for mercy.

It wasn't just a faulty GPS either; it felt like 10,000ft and other Etape Cymru participants venting their grievances on the BikeRadar forum backed this up. Many of the roads were also totally unsuitable for the volume of riders that would pass through as a large bunch. I recall seeing one guy on the deck during a section of the route that can only be decribed as a stream.

The other big issue was the feed stations. While it didn't directly affect me, judging by the forum, I was one of the lucky ones. Running out not only of food but water is pretty unforgivable and bearing in mind organisers were looking to attract almost 2,000 riders more than they eventually did, showed just how badly they'd misjudged things.

That's not to say the ride didn't have its good points. The North Wales countryside was spectacular, as was the support from many spectators on the day (a man dressed in full jester get-up, madly ringing a cow bell, pulled my day back from the brink). However, both came in spite of the organisation, not because of it.

Organisers are already accepting registrations for next year's race, but I'm not sure many who took part this year will be in a hurry to part with £65 again (this has been reduced to £55 for 2012, presumably because they've ditched the gilet). The event needs a lot of work, both in terms of an appropriate route and its ambition. £65? Really?! And does it really need to be held on closed roads? They could learn a lot from challenges such as the Fred Whitton, held on similarly filthy B-roads but open to motorists. Better to know there's a car around the corner than to mistakenly believe there won't be.

Did you take part in the Etape Cymru? How did you find it? Let us know your thoughts below...

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User Comments

There are 17 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 17 of 17 comments

  • IT'S NOT A RACE!!!! It's a sportive FFS.

    Something needs to be done about this. It's extremely dangerous for unmarshalled sportivists thinking they're in a race taking risks on open public roads. At some point there will be a terrible accident, and all organised group rides will be put at risk, including well-marshalled organised races.

    If you want to race then enter a properly organised race, not an unmarshalled sportive.

  • Hibbs, I think the main point is that it was advertised as a marshaled sportive on closed roads but didn't happen that way and that this only became apparent during the ride. I agree with you this is a very dangerous situation but I don't think it's fair to berate the riders. I'm rather shocked by the story and hope that no serious accidents occurred. hope we hear from the organisers in response to this article as some fairly serious charges are made. A shame as Wales offers fantastic riding

  • I was due to travel up from London to ride this with a mate, but for various reasons we binned it off, and by all the accounts I've read I was very glad that we did.

    I've ridden in a few sportives now, and seeing how people ride on closed v open road events it's fortunate there weren't more serious incidents on this ride.

    I wonder how Geraint Thomas feels about it now? He was heavily associated with the event, and I'm pretty sure it would have fallen far short of his, Mavic's and ZipVit's expectations. It's sadly probably done them all more harm than good.

  • bomberesque, yes, but in general (not particularly about this event) it concerns me how many people think a sportive is a race. There have even been newspaper reports recently of people "winning" sportives. It concerns me that this is causing people to ride recklessly in large groups on open roads, which could result in proper organised races being put at risk. After all, the police won't care about the distinction between a race and a sportive if a group of cyclists take a junction recklessly and kill themselves or others. If people want to race, then race, but in the proper environment.

  • If Sportives are not races then organizers need to stop giving timing chips, posting results and prizes for the 1st 3 finishers for example. It has long been known that sportives are all but an open road race in name.

  • As a fellow Etape Cymru 'survivor' (and it really did feel like a war at times), this piece pretty much hits the nail on the head. Terribly badly though-out event on many levels.

    Obviously the weather was outside their control (this piece doesn't quite capture how strong the breeze was on the high passes) but pretty much every other element was a cock-up too. The feed stations were particularly mad - running out of water is unforgiveable and the staff clearly had little concept of rationing food for later riders.

    Perhaps worst of all, they don't seem to have done their community comms properly - I spoke to at least one apoplectic shopkeeper claiming to have received no warning about road closures.

    I feel bad being so critical - cycling needs support and the more proper events, the better - but there were just too many errors here to avoid mention. Having done the Etape Caledonia a couple of times, it is clearly possible to run a closed-road sportive efficiently in this country. I for one shall not be entering next year's ride.

  • I ride a fair amount of the route used on a regular basis and was amazed when I found out that they were starting everyone off at the same time. It was one of the main reasons that I decided not to do the event. That and the £65 entry fee.

    As for the cars on the route and the missing signage, I'm afraid we don't live in a true cycling nation so there will always be people that think it's clever to remove signs, ignore road blocks etc.

    I rode the Etape Caledonia in 2009 (the year of the tacks) and It kinda put me off even attempting another so called closed road event, in this country at least. I'm hoping to do one of the big European sportives in the next few years where at least closed roads should mean closed roads.

  • I've done a few sportives (all but one in the North) and not yet suffered from any sign tampering but maybe I've been lucky. As for closed roads, the Fred does fine without - they do have marshalls on the junctions to stop traffic when cyclist approach which works well.

    @HIbbs - plenty of places on the forum to vent spleens about Sportives as races without being irrelevant here!

  • I must be in the few that rode the event and really enjoyed it.

    Challenging Welsh windy conditions but shock horror, thats what you get on the hills in Wales in October!

  • If you are doing a closed road event then yopu are "racing" yourself for a time. This means being able to take risks you wouldn't on a normal Sportive on corners, descents, etc. That is what you are paying for.

    If the organisers fail to achieve that then they should be giving back refunds

  • It becomes much harder for idiots to flip direction arrows if they are also printed with the words LEFT and RIGHT as on one sportive I rode.

    Simple, but effective!

  • I might be missing the point but at £65 per rider surely events like this can pay for marshals on the day - at the very least provide expenses for them!!!! Pure greed - if you expect top dollar entry fees at least provide top dollar organisation

  • Alternatively, find out where the route is and do it yourself for free on a different day. Keep doing this for a bit, get fit, and enter a road race.

  • Give me £65 each and I will give you a tour of North Wales and I might buy the cakes & tea at the cafe stops.

  • Is it any surprise this event was sabotaged when TetraPak, who were heavily involved in the promo and creation of this event, closed the factory in Wrexham leaving 150+ workers without a job for Xmas?..

    Seeing thousands of fat, middle-aged office types on Italian exotica ride up my street whilst I struggle to make ends meet might provoke something of a negative response.

  • Not a great advert for cycling. I really wonder if the organisers had any experience of putting on a sportive before attempting this 'closed road spectacular'. Poorly organised from the very (delayed start), through to the inadequate roads, inadequate feed stations, unexpected vehicles on the course, inadequate signage, inadequate route information (10,000 ft of climbing instead of the 6000 ft advertised), NO SUPPORT VEHICLES (where were Mavic?), inadequate marshalls, and to top it off a shortened route. Oh yes, and no event medal when you finished. What exactly was the £65 for? I have tried to get my money back but the organisers have completely ignored all of my complaints and constructive criticism...which is mind boggling. I hear there is an inquest into this ride on 3rd November due to health and safety fears. Hope thye identify all of the failings and correct them in time for next year - although I for one will NOT be particpating.

  • I have to agree with the author of this article. The event was shockingly bad, and if anything, incredibly dangerous.

    Towards the end of the event I heard of a serious accident and many near misses, including myself nearly colliding head on with a car on the wrong side of the road. The marshalling was sparse and many of them were unable to speak English and had no idea what mile marker they were standing at.

    A group of riders, including myself got lost on numerous occasions and had to rely on another rider's GPS and the signage was poor at best. Some of the riders timing chips failed to work or went missing - can't imagine how pi$$sed off they must have been given the other issues that happened.

    I'm afraid to say next year's 2012 Etape Cymru will suffer as result even if they try put it right. One bad experience is all it takes and the organisers clearly and categorically failed to properly prepare, liaise with the local community and council in respect to road closures and holding such a highly publicised event involving thousands of riders.

    We were mis-sold and mislead.

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