Full details of how to enter next years ride will be on our site on December 1st. There are various ways to enter the event and all the information will be available then.

Next years ride will be on Sunday 12th May 2019

The Fred Whitton Challenge

The Fred Whitton Challenge is one of the most popular sportives in the UK and is also famed as being particularly difficult. Riders rank it alongside European events such as the Marmotte in terms of difficulty.

The ride is a real challenge and everyone who completes it has a true sense of achievement. The Saddleback Fred Whitton Challenge is a charity event in honour of the late Fred Whitton who was a great advocate for cycle sport in Cumbria and North Lancashire. It is with respect to Fred and his ideals that the event remains just that, ‘a challenge’. Fred, who died aged just 50 in 1998, was an extremely popular member of the Lakes Road Club.

The Fred Whitton Challenge consists of a 112 mile sportive around the Lake District, starting at Grasmere and taking in climbs of Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Whinlatter, Hardknott & Wrynose passes.

The very top riders complete the route in just under six hours but eleven hours and over are not uncommon for the average Sportive rider. This is a very tough route and going on rider feedback the hardest one day ride in the UK, the event includes all the Lakeland passes, one with a 30% gradient and this comes at 98 miles.

There’s an excellent description of the 2018 ride from Ollie Bridgewood from Cycling Weekly. Ollie completed the ride in under 6 hours (one of only three riders to do so), on a slightly longer course–including the Blea Tarn climb and the whole of Great Langdale. He made a great video of the ride too. A big thanks from all at The Saddleback Fred Whitton. You can see the video here.

Latest News