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The Viking Challenge

The UK’s largest off-road amateur charity bike challenge

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    • Entries open 20 June 2024
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Our history

How it all started

We held our first event in 1995 as a way of raising much-needed funds for the village school, Redmile CofE School. 

A parent from Redmile came up with the idea of using the local section of the Viking Way and in the first year 98 cyclists completed the circuit, raising £580. We now have over 1,000 riders who take part in the event and the route still includes the beautiful Viking Way.

What is the Viking Way?

A 147-mile route that stretches from the banks of the River Humber, through Lincoln, and ends in Rutland.

It is called the viking way as it traverses the area occupied by Norse invaders in the 9th century – naming the region Danelaw. Many remains from this period have been found in the area that the Viking Way passes through, and villages and towns today still bear its influence in their names ending with ‘by’, meaning village, and ‘thorp’, meaning hamlet.

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