going rate for Enduro these days? throw in a burger and a couple of beers and I might have been interested but £54 😯 hope the marshals are getting paid well…. 😐

It sounds a lot, but I doubt they will make much profit from that. From what I can see these things are extremely difficult to organise, and even harder to make into a great enjoyable event, especially in the UK.

yes it does sound expensive. But is it 2 days biking like the Polaris series years ago. This was 7 hrs sat and 5hrs Sunday, then beers etc, If it is like this it is worth it

ukge is £60 or similar. keep in mind that ard rock is on tracks that normally cant be ridden. 14 different landowners are involved. seems ok value for money to me

Have a look at IronMan triathlons and you start to realise that MTB events are actually very reasonable.

Marshalled last year
we got free camping / food / and beer and donations to Singletraction trailbuilders for each marshal.
was a great weekend and as Arnie says I will be back .
might be as a rider on the sat and marshal on sunday
Its a very well run event and I think good value at that price .

scott trial in same area less than £30.00 and covers the same area’s

Motorbikes appear to be much more acceptable up there than mountainbikes

mtbmatt – Member

Have a look at IronMan triathlons and you start to realise that MTB events are actually very reasonable.

An acquaintance in the bike industry reckons triathletes are well known for having high disposable incomes and an unnatural level of dedication to their chosen discipline.
He sells a lot of very, very expensive bikes to triathletes.

😉 Lucky me I live close enough to do this from home…

the trials clubs up there have put ££££’s in to the local charities over the years and quite a few farmers up there have family that compete,won’t do any harm.still it’s better value than a downhill event.

I cannot quite make this out. is it a 2 day event and how much riding?

still it’s better value than a downhill event.

usually I’d be with you on that, but a DH is say £70 these days? And for that you get uplift and proper marshalling included. I don’t think there’s much in it on this occasion

£54 is ridicules makes Scottish open double up deal great value for money!
What do you get for £54 t-shirt beer and food?

I cannot quite make this out. is it a 2 day event and how much riding?

For £54 you get the 40km, 5 timed stages on the Sunday
But you can also ride the loop on Saturday to practise

As pointed out this is scott trial country and Richmond Motor club are an old fashioned not for profit club and the voluntary support they get is huge and yes they raise £££££ for charity – I doubt the MTB boys will be getting free land access and it depends on how many people turn up to ride – but coming from a motorcycle enduro background £54 quid seems a tad expensive?

54 quid to ride round reeth for a weekend……..bit too spensive.

2 x nights at grinton yha = £30
1 x gallon of ale = £24

bargain….. 8)

Yes, but you can’t normally ride these routes ton. I’m sure joe said that they have to go through 18 different landowners, and I bet they get more expensive every year.

Add in two nights at grinton, a **** belter of a weekend for less than a ton (excuse the pun) that’s about the price of a spurs ticket.

If folk think it’s too expensive, don’t go, more room for me and my mates.

While no one has explicitly mentioned it yet, I imagine BC dropping Enduro and thus leaving organisers to arrange their own insurance had an impact, too…

Its the same price as last year which was a pleasant surprise.

I organised a race once. There were loads of prizes, it was insured, we had a sound system, it took all day and it was a tenner. 100 odd people entered and we ended up with about £400 for Mountain Rescue at the end.

Most races are too expensive.

Most races are too expensive.

If they were, they wouldn’t sell out.

seem’s crazy you can ride a trials bike in a local event for £10/£15 pounds and get 4/5 hours of riding,mountain biking always has been pricey remember nemba rounds in the 90’s been £20.00+ BUT compared to some sports it’s not to bad ,if it’s once a year and a cracking event you pay if you want to play.

Well I’m in 🙂

There was nowhere to shove the extra fiver on for camping though? Paid anyway – will mail the organisers…

I’m in as well, the camping if it’s anything like the nutcracker xc race there, is payable at the dales bike centre on the day.

I’m in too. Assumed camping was organised separately.

£54 seems good value for a weekend event, if ArdRock is the same price as last year, then more so as it’s fast become a very popular event (supply and demand and all that). MTB events is not my bag, but Joe and Alex Rafferty are good guys in my book as they have done their bit for local volunteer trail building over the years, either turning out to volunteer occasionally or in recent years including financial contributions to SingletrAction from this event. IMO, if they were in it for just the money it would be substantially more next year now it’s very popular and established, but it’s the same price according to DarrenSpinks. They’ve got to make something off it tho, they’re not doing it for kicks! and for a week or more I presume they cancel all their coaching.

I’m in too 🙂

You pay for camping at the event.

I’m in, this will be my first Ard rock. Hoping to pull in a few PMBAs before then tho. Coming from a motocross background, it ain’t too bad price wise. We used to (gladly!?) pay £25-30 to race on Sundays, for that we got 5 min practice and 3 15min races….so 54 quid for 4-5 hours….seems better value for money. These problems are easy to sort out tho, don’t like the price, don’t enter the event. !!!

i was thinking of doing this and making a weekend of it – however for the cost for all my mates to do it including camping we could get a proper boss cottage in the lakes, a couple of kegs of real ale, a load of grub in & do some of our favorite routes in the UK, and still have spare change and come out smiling. i’m out

I’m in. I did the All mountain race on the Saturday last year and loved it. Will do the same again. If you don’t like the prices no one is forcing you to go.

I’m not sure whether to view this as expensive or OK as I don’t really have a frame of reference re. MTB events but I’d say it’s about in the middle compared to other sports.

A typical fell race entry fee will be anywhere from free to £20 but most are in the £5 range. A road race can be anything from £10 upwards – the Great North Run costs £50 for example. Road sportives are typically in the £20 – £30 range.

Then you have the organisational setup: is it someone just doing a low key event as in most fell races, something like the Three Peaks is an exception and is the £20 example above; or is it a professional organisation: Pennine Events and Evans Cycles are behind many road sportives for example. I don’t know if Evans run their events as a promotional tool for their stores or it’s a separate financial operation that has to pay its way.

There’s quite a lot of work that goes in to organising something like this (actually a lot of work) along with hiring of all the kit like the timing chips, insurance. Each will take a nibble out of the entry fee. By the time the costs are removed and you work out the remainder any profit will probably work out at less than the minimum wage if looked at on an hourly basis.

One think I’d like to see (and this applies to all the above type of events) is a profit and loss sheet publicly available. This would let everyone decide if they are being ripped off.

Looks like it’s full.

My entry’s showing “Entry on Waiting List”, no option to pay. Dilly-dallied too long methinks. Ar$e!

IIRC it was on Forestry land and the local riders later complained that the tracks had been trashed (or was that a different one?)

Surely it all depends on whether or not you want to race – or is it the attraction of “out of bounds” trails that would swing it for you?

I’m in. Price is the price innit. You either want to take part, and pay the entry fee, or don’t, simple really, no use grumbling about it

Price isn’t all that bad. You can pay £18 to slide around a park in Derby for 45 minutes at the NDCXL series.

I don’t get why people compare it to normal rides, as if running a race isn’t harder than just going for a bike ride. If you’re not into racing, it might seem expensive since you’re not getting the benefit, but that’s like saying vodka’s too expensive because you don’t like vodka, and potatoes are cheap.

(edit for non-terrible simile)

I don’t think it’s expensive at all, to be honest. Can’t afford it, but I don’t think it’s expensive anyway.

Even if it is expensive, even if they made a billion pounds profit, what’s the issue? You want to do it or you don’t, if you begrudge people making a profit out of their effort and works I do hope you’re donating your salary in full every month to some worthwhile cause or working as an unpaid volunteer for one. I don’t see why anyone considers these things should be not for profit. We are not a charity that needs supporting by event organisers giving up their time for us to have fun.