FAQS

The All Points North entry process is not ‘first come, first served’.

Places on the event are limited so if the entry process was left to own devices it would fill up incredibly quickly with white British males aged between 18 and 45. We want to make sure that the event has a diverse line-up with a wide range of experience, from first-time ultra riders to the more experienced who are using APN as a training platform for bigger events later in the year.

So here’s how we do it…

The simplest way to describe the process is a controlled ballot.

First we read through all of the entries, concentrating on the answers that you provide in our ‘about you’ section. This gives us a good idea of your understanding of what the event is and the kind of situations you may face out on the road. We don’t feel comfortable offering places to people who are underprepared for the conditions that may arise during the event. We don’t necessarily expect you to have ridden an ultra before but we do expect you to have some outdoor experience and the ability to navigate your way out of trouble if the situation calls for it.

We are aiming to have a balance of 50% male and 50% female participants (we achieved this in 2022 in the Rookie category).

As it states on the application form, we try to prioritise entries from those who feel that they are from an under-represented group in cycling.

Then we break the entries down into smaller groups based on age, nationality, experience, how many times an applicant has applied previously, whether an applicant has taken part before and whether an applicant has volunteered for us at previous events.

Once the applicants have been broken down into smaller groups, we do literally pull the names out of a hat. It’s the only fair way to do it as some of the sub-groups are still oversubscribed.

A balanced line-up with a wide variety of riders makes for a more interesting event. Rookies can learn a lot from chatting to the more experienced riders when sharing their stories at the end of the event and we hope that our new formats will enable more riders than ever to make it back to the finisher’s party in time.

The entrance fee will include a race cap, space blanket, reflective harness, refreshments and snacks at the start line and finisher’s meal at Event HQ.

We’d like to open up the event to all those wishing to give it a go. The only requirement is that you understand the risks involved in participating in an unsupported, long-distance cycling event and have some prior experience of solo expeditions and/or similar endurance events.

If you’d like to make it back in time for the finisher’s meal at 8pm on Monday, 27th May, you will have 72 hours in which to cycle between all 10 checkpoints. The Event HQ will remain open until noon on Tuesday, which gives you 88 hours in total if you’re a regular rider.

In comparison, an Audax event would give you 75 hours for a 1000km event and you would also be required to follow a set route.

The rider community is important to us – we don’t just want riders to finish, we want you to have the opportunity to share your experiences out on the road with one another, to sit down together, enjoy a meal and celebrate your achievement with people who understand what you’ve just done and why you’ve done it. This year, rookie riders will be able to decide how long they think it will take them to visit all ten checkpoints and get back in time for the finisher’s meal. They can choose to start at any time from 10:30am on Wednesday 22nd May. If starting at this time, you would have 129.5 hours to complete the ride and enjoy the finisher’s meal. You would have 145.5 hours before the Event HQ closes.

The Dales Bike Centre checkpoint in Fremington has a dedicated area where you can bivi. It also has toilets and water accessible 24 hours a day.

The Event HQ will offer a place to kip for riders that arrive back late on Saturday or Sunday.

The Dales Bike Centre checkpoint in Fremington has a “cafe and cakery” which is open every day between 9am and 5pm.

There will be food and refreshments at the Event HQ.

Event crew will be at the Event HQ in Sheffield throughout the event.

The Dales Bike Centre checkpoint in Fremington will be staffed between 8am on Saturday, 25th May until 8am on Monday 27th May.

There will be no crew on the road or at any of the other checkpoints.

Accommodation can’t be booked in advance until the event starts, and then only for the night ahead. The reasoning behind this is that riders book speculative accommodation that they subsequently end up not using and it denies other riders of a bed for the night.

All riders will need their own third party liability insurance.

For UK riders, this is usually covered by membership of British Cycling or Cycling UK. You will need to bring evidence of your current membership to one of these organisations to registration. If you have a separate insurance, you will need to bring along evidence of this to registration.

For overseas riders, please ensure that you have travel insurance and that it covers you for taking part in cycling events.

You can call us on +44 (0) 114 250 7717 and ask to speak to Ang or Tori. Or you can email us at ride@allpointsnorth.cc.

During the event, riders will be provided with a mobile phone number to contact us on.

If you need to cancel for any reason, as long as you cancel by 29th February 2024, you will receive a refund minus a £10 admin fee. This provides us with a 12-week gap to offer the place to another rider and enable them to have enough time to train to take part.

After 29th February 2024 we aren’t going to offer refunds as we think it won’t allow us enough time to fill the place and give the new entrant enough time to get ready, and we don’t really want to encourage unprepared riders to take part.