Here's how you can ride a sportive this year completely free

The ‘No Excuses’ sportive series will take place in March, featuring two events in the Midlands and South West, with over half of proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity.

It comes as the charity announces it has extended its successful two year partnership with specialist sportive organisers, UK Cycling Events, and will take up the position as a headline sponsor of ‘No Excuses’.

This year alone, the ‘No Excuses’ series raised a total £38,762, the majority made possible by cyclists choosing to donate their entry fees at the events. In total, the partnership has raised more than £140,000 for dementia research, with funds given to support the charity’s groundbreaking research projects across the UK.

Plans are now in place to launch a further two cycling sportives in Autumn 2019. Both events will support Cycling Down Dementia, the charity’s popular winter cycling campaign which every year encourages hundreds of riders to get in the saddle and help raise cash. Details will be released in spring.

Julia Sobik, Senior Sporting Events & Partnerships Manager at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with UK Cycling Events for another year and become the headline sponsor for ‘No Excuses’.

“We can’t thank all the riders enough for raising so much money for pioneering dementia research over the past two years and look forward to another hugely successful year.

“There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK and the condition has a devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of families. Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are now one of society’s biggest medical challenges, but with research they can be overcome.

“The vital funds raised will help us in our mission to make life-changing research breakthroughs possible for people with dementia.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HobxLbPhrMc

Natalie Hicks, UK Cycling Events Manager, said: “Alzheimer’s Research UK is a progressive charity with a world-class research programme and we’re thrilled to make them our chosen charity partner for a third year running.

“Judging by the grave statistics, it’s likely many of our riders and their families will already be affected by dementia in some way, or will be in future. By entering our events, we’ll be giving riders more opportunities to make a positive difference, with a method that’s unique to all our events.”

The No Excuses series consists of two sportive events in Staffordshire and Exeter. UK Cycling Events will be giving away free spaces on both events to riders who enter, turn up and ride.

All riders who do will be given the option to get a full refund, unless they choose to donate it to Alzheimer’s Research UK. Any riders who don’t turn up to ride will see 90% of their entry fee given to charity.

There’s also a ‘Half Excuse’ ticket option, for riders who simply want to secure a place on the start line, but these tickets will not be refunded.

Riders can enter online at UK Cycling Events here:

Alzheimer’s Research UK No Excuses - South West

Alzheimer’s Research UK No Excuse - Midlands

All three events will see epic and standard routes, with finisher medals, fully stocked feed stations, fully-signed routes, and on course medical and mechanical support.