Hello all. I am organising a 44 mile mountain bike challenge from Clennell Hall in Northumberland National Park. I am curious to see how many people have cycled round there and what the general opinion is of the type of long distance riding with multiple ascents/descents available in the area.

Me loads of times, you problem is you can’t hold events on public rights of way without getting permission first.

As long as it is a challenge rather than a race you should be OK on PRoWs. I think.

Most riding in the Cheviots isn’t particularly technical but there’s plenty of climbing. How tough it is will depend on the weather – some trails can get boggy.
It’s also quite big so be aware that you’ll need to marshal/sign/guide or run the risk of your challengers ending up in Scotland.

Thanks for all the feedback. I’m steadily working my way through all the organisations and getting the bits and pieces in place. One restriction is that it will have to stick to the main rights of way and not divert onto single tracks. So I’ve gone for a starting point of Clennell and then some small hills to warm up before doing a loop of kidland and working over to Barrowburn. this then goes up the Border Cyleway and connects to Salters Road that takes it all the way across to High Bleakhope before turning south to Alnham and then along route 68 to Biddlestone and heading on a diversion past Puncherton and back to Clennell. I do it in around 4 hours but I do stop to eat and enjoy the view! I did the Kielder 100 a few years back and the general terrain reminds me of that but thankfully only less than half the disatnce. In fact just thinking about the Kielder 100 has given me nightmares 😆

I should also mention that yes it is a challenge event, you must have known about this regulation already Shakleton, and it will try and focus on more on making a weekend of it with free camping and stuff. I’ve did loads of events but end up leaving the wife, kids and dog at home.

So if the general concensus is that 44 miles is just about right I’ll keep pressing on.

Thanks every one.

are you expecting to make money from this?

given the demise of the K100, and problems the Kielder lads have had putting on events I’d think long and hard before ploughing any money into it. Especially as it’s not a ‘race’

I organised the North Pennines MTB Marathon last year, it may or may not be happening again this year.

It was supposed to be a fund-raiser for the Tyne Valley MTB Club, to go into trail development. We had 125 people ride it at £28/head and we made a tiny profit. Hopefully, its a good learning curve so will make some more money next time.

If you want any advice on organising, drop me an email, address in my profile.