Etape Caledonia - Where Does the Money Go?

Just do what my mate and I do - turn up and ride. They can't stop you from riding your bike on a road. then stick 30 quid or so into the charity.

I was considering signing up for the Etape Peninnes last year seeing as it starts about a mile from where I live but I thought £61 was far too pricey for a ride especially when I realised Marie Curie don't get any of the cash

Aye, but how much do they have to pay in tacks?

(Somebody had to say it)

A great example of a local sportive supporting charities is the Catford CC who run the Hell of the Ashdown sportive. They pick a different charity each year and donated £10,000 from their entry fees to the event this year to the Save the Herne Hill Velodrome campaign. A significant amount for a small event and for the charity.

Cost to the charity? Nada. Just a few volunteers to help marshal.

That's a shame Issacforce. Some clubs are a little disfunctional. It seems you've experienced one.

I would look at joining a larger club as they tend to have a group that caters for new comers: 30 miles or so at 14mph and no one left behind. Our club has one run by the older sportive riders. You get used to group riding and people will help fix stuff.

I will sound pompous here but being able to maintain bikes yourself is a common courtesy to other riders in clubs. They forgive poor legs but not poor bikes.

At this time of year it is a real pain to be out with even a friend with a mechanical. You're standing around getting colder and colder with them bent over their gears saying "Oh they've been slipping for weeks..."Mechanicals happen but we have a guy in our group that never looks after his bike, always has some problem and patience is wearing thin!

We're buying him Haynes book of bike Maintenance for Christmas. Maybe something for your mates stocking?

hi dave
you say join a cycling club, two of us did and on our first (and i must say our last outing with them)my mate has a problem with his gears i stopped to give him a hand to sort it out, but not one person from the club stopped to help, so we didn't know which route they were taking, it didn't take long to rectify the problem but in that time they had all disappeared into the distance. hence we never went back

There's a guy I know who runs Sportives on a profit basis, but claims they are for Charity. On being questioned he admits the that all the income from the entry fee goes to him. The only money that goes to charity is the extra money the entrant voluntarily chooses (if at all) to donate on top of the entry fee!

All the mainstream (old established) cycling clubs, have known for a long time that most Sportives are just rip offs of the newcomers to cycling.
They are aimed at, and obviously cater for judging by the numbers who ride them, newcomers who seem unable or unwilling to read a map or route instructions and think they are "racing".

For 100 years, traditional cycling clubs have been organising similar events, but under the name of "Reliability Trials" or "Audaxes". These events are run by volunteers in the clubs, and make virtually no profit, with entry fees typically £5 or so. Any tiny profit that is made goes into the cycling club for the benefit of cycling in general, not some corporate monolith having no interest in cycling. The "downside" if you can call it that is that you have to read a detailed route sheet, thus avoiding the cost of someone having to produce a lot of route signs and then go out, erect them one day and then remove them the next.

Most cycling clubs look enviously at the numbers of unattached cyclists attracted by sportives, but who seem unwilling to join a proper club. Perhaps that unwillingness is based on a fear that they would "not be good enough", or the clubs are "aloof", both of which are totally wrong.

Join your local cycling club and get so much more out of the sport for less money!
The British Cycling website lists clubs in your area, all of whom would welcome you with open arms, and YES you would be good enough!

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/clubs for club info.

Amazed at how little in relative terms the Police charge. Thanks for the journalism. Top marks Road.CC. Where there's money to be made the fleecers will follow and cycling is no different. My advice is to take the routine and ride it yourself with friends.

"...it’s quite possible none of the above will matter to most sportive riders. The thrill of riding one of the UK’s few “closed road” events will outweigh any concerns over how expensive the entry fee is, or whose pocket it ends up in."

It might matter to individuals or it might not. But it's certainly disingenuous at best to make the association with the charity, to whom not a single one of your 6,100 pennies goes.
It smacks of misrepresentation. If none of the money goes to Marie Curie, it should be in the documentation somewhere.
It's the UK's most expensive sportive. You see Marie Curie in the name, you assume you're supporting the charity.
Cynical, cynical marketing.

Their facebook page is at
https://www.facebook.com/#!/EtapeSeries
Why don't you let them know what you think?

I read the Mails article and emailed the MS Society as they have a stake in this years event as I wanted to know how my £61 would be spent eg to IMG, I received the following reply

The race is being organised by IMG. The entrance fee goes to the company, while the money you raise will go to the MS Soceity. There is no minimum sponsorship as you would be getting your own place in the race. Let me know if you sign up and I can send you a fundraising pack. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Nice little earner for IMG. It does not justify it being a closed road event as they pay a flat fee for this.

Can you let Marie Curie know I will organise the event for them and do it for a 50% discount, thanks

No doubt a profit is made, how about painting the full picture and completing the story by finding out what profit IMG actually make, its OK saying they got charged £500 by the council, lets pick the smallest amount shall we, how about other costs, there is no mention of St John Ambulance, the Drinks & Food, the advertising of the event, the web site etc. etc. etc.

This is a one sided sensationalist article which could damage the event which won't help the sponsors will it !, now clearly we could find out that IMG make an 80% margin, in which case it's a complete disgrace, but we could also find out they make 2% (though I doubt that very much).

So lets stop having a go at them until we know exactly how much profit they make, I hate this type of reporting.

Sounds like Marie Curie Cancer are placing a bet at 10:15 on.

If I'd entered thinking my fees were going to a good cause I think I'd be pretty hacked off to discover that's not the case. Thanks for a really informative expose.

Good article, Trever. Eye-opening.

Hmm that is just strange. I would have expected a proportion to go to the charity. These things cost money obviously and commercial companies also need to make a profit - but not one penny being shared, weird.

Charities in general do seem to be doing different things to raise money and approaching it in a different way but stuff like this should be transparent at the point of payment.

This is remarkable. Thank you, a very interesting article.

I do not mind (a) organisers of events making money or (b) charity fund-raising. This seems to be an odd combination in which the charity subsidises substantial profits in the hope that the participants will, in addition to paying the substantial entry fee persuade friends and colleagues to give something to the charity.

Obviously Marie Curie are going into it with their eyes open, but it doesn't smell quite right and if it was in my fridge I think I'd bin it.

Very interesting, thanks for the info.

Can't believe that a big company would charge a cancer charity £100k to be the 'partner' charity! Maybe I'm just naive.

This is journalism.

Daily Fail could learn something from this!