Boudicca Sportive

Named after Queen Boudicca – famous for her red hair, fighting spirit and for owning a pretty tasty set of chariot wheels – the event ran for the first time in 2012 and received a huge amount of positive feedback.

The Boudicca Sportive will be three years old in 2014 and will be celebrating by introducing a few changes – some big, some not so big – to make sure that the event maintains its place as one of the premier events in the sportive calendar.

Norfolk is ideal cycling country – low traffic volumes, few main roads and a vast network of minor roads and lanes make for relaxing riding. The sportive routes have been chosen to showcase some of the best of Norfolk’s scenery and quiet roads. Don’t be fooled by the lack of big hills, Norfolk’s rolling countryside and rural roads make these routes a real challenge!

Our aim is to give you the best sportive experience possible – including all the ‘must haves’ but avoiding the gimmicks – based on the feedback from the 2012 event we think we have got the balance just right. But we haven’t let the praise from 2012 go to our heads – we will be introducing some changes in 2013 that we hope will raise the bar even further. After a near perfect day in 2012, the only thing we can’t promise to improve is the weather!

The Boudicca Sportive is a non commercial event set up to support local charities and to help develop competitive cycling within the region. In 2013, World Horse Welfare will be the sole charitable beneficiary – over the past couple of years they have been a great supporter of cycling, making their HQ available for a wide range of events, allowing the sport to grow and giving more people access to both competitive and recreational cycling.

Having seen what the World Horse Welfare venue had to offer, local club Iceni Velo hosted a round of the Eastern Cyclo Cross League there in December 2012. Not only was the event a great day out for the riders and their families, it raised the profile of the charity and generated income via the excessive consumption of frites, bacon rolls and cake! Read about the event here.

As well as delivering a well received event in 2012 we are extremely proud to have been instrumental in encouraging a significant number of riders to join existing clubs and, in one case, to form a new social cycling group. Sandringham & West Norfolk Sunday Cyclists established themselves by using the contacts they made at Boudicca in 2012 and now have a community of around 80 riders.

Getting new members into existing clubs and encouraging new clubs to develop has a big role to play in securing the future of cycle sport and continuing to raise the profile of cycling. New members bring new ideas and new energy and keep the sport moving forward.