MORE than a thousand cyclists will take to Dartmoor's roads this Sunday in part of Devon's biggest-ever cycle race. This will be the inaugural year of the 'Dartmoor Classic' — but this weekend's event has already been recognised as one of the top five long-distance races in the country, and has attracted competitors from as far away as Japan. Event organiser Ken Robertson, of the Mid Devon Cycling Club, said: 'We capped entries at 1,200 and sold out weeks ago. Hundreds more would have liked a place but I agreed an upper limit with the police and thought it sensible to stick to this in our first year.' Almost 70% of the competitors will be aiming to complete a 104-mile route through Dartmoor National Park in under nine hours — with the elite riders at the top of the field aiming for times of around five hours. The remainder of the competitors will be taking on a 64-mile shorter option. Among the cyclists will be at least seven Okehampton residents, including several members of the Okehampton Cycle Club, and another seven riders from the Tavistock area. Phil Haygarth, 40, a grassland scientist at the IGER and a keen cyclist who has taken part in many events, said: 'I cycle about 20 miles a day during the week, 30 or 40 a day at the weekend. 'It grounds me and keeps me fit between travel and conferences for work.' Even so, he has been training for this weekend's event since Christmas. 'It's the equivalent of a marathon on a bike,' he said. Phil is looking forward to a race on home turf: 'I can think my way around every bit of the route, and it passes so close to my home in South Zeal that I could amost bunk off for a cup of tea!' He predicts that the toughest stretch of the route will be the section over the moors between Tavistock and Princetown‚ though the weather forecast is for a westerly wind for the day which might mean that it will be behind the cyclists on that part of the route. Devon County Council is one of the event's funders, and reserved 200 places on the race for Devon residents, who are debutantes at distance riding, as a way of encouraging occasional cyclists to become regular bicycle users. Among those Devonians will be the race's oldest competitor, an octogenarian from East Dartmoor, and its youngest - two 15-year-old Plymouth schoolboys. The first wave of 100 competitors will set out at 8am on Sunday from Kingsteignton, with further waves of cyclists setting out at ten-minute intervals after that. From there, the cyclists will head through the Teign Valley and Moretonhampstead to Whiddon Down and North Tawton, where a 'feeding station' will be located, handing out rations which will include 3,000 bananas. The two different routes will then diverge, with the shorter route returning to Kingsteignton via North Bovey and Bovey Tracey. The longer option, meanwhile, will continue through Sampford Courtenay, Exbourne and Lydford as far as Tavistock, Yelverton, Walkhampton Moor and Princetown, before returning to the start. The organisers warn that the event will inevitably cause some disruption to traffic on Sunday, particularly in the Teign Valley, but promoter Ron Keegan said that the organisers have 'made every effort to cause as few problems as possible to all who are out and about'. 'We are asking everybody to be patient and would like the general public to bear in mind that a number of good causes will benefit from the sponsored efforts of individual riders and the Mid-Devon Cycling Club will be making a couple of substantial donations to national and local initiatives which will benefit young people,' he said. For more information about the race and its route, visit its website at http://www.dartmoorclassic.co.uk">www.dartmoorclassic.co.uk
