GRAVEL: 63 miles/100 km, 48 miles/78 km, 36 miles/58 km, 22 miles/36 km, 14 miles/22 km

Devon Grit

August 25, 2024
from 7:30 am
Register for a race

Which race? See below..

Overview

Our gravel event returns for a fifth year. It’s ideal for gravel bikes, MTBs, cyclocross bikes & ebikes & takes in the best gravel trails of East Devon.

All five routes take in some of the best sections of Woodbury Common. Highlights include Woodbury Castle & some great single track on the common, a section of the Exe Estuary path, a climb up for views of the sea at the top of Beacon Hill and also Mutter Moor.

The routes are designed to be ridden on a gravel bike but a cyclocross bike or a lightweight XC mountain bike will be almost as quick. E-mountain bikes are also welcome. The ride is not suitable for road bikes & we recommend a minimum tyre width of 35mm and 40mm+ will be best. For 2024 the 100 percent trail Micro route is fully marked. The Micro includes all the Woodbury Common sections of the course where it is easiest to miss a turn. For all other routes you will need a Garmin, Wahoo or phone for navigation purposes. Don’t underestimate these rides! You need to add at least 50 percent onto the distances to get the ‘road’ equivalent in time & energy required to take them on.

We are now able to offer camping at Bicton College over the bank holiday weekend. This event is featured in 2024 UK Gravel Events Best of the Year on offroad.cc

What you get

  • Quality cotton T-shirt
  • Professional chip timing
  • Event photographs*
  • Full Covid-19 plan & risk assessments
  • 5 route options (100K, 76K, 58K, 36K, 22K)
  • .FIT & .GPX files &amp detailed route descriptions
  • Feed stations with water, energy drinks, quiche, homity pie, gels, bars, fruit, cakes etc
  • Public Liability insurance
  • Professional First Aid
  • Bike & rider recovery service
  • West Coast Caterers at finish proving hot food & drinks
  • On site camping or camper van parking on Fri, Sat & Sun night (additional charge)

* photos free with Sportiva Events logo at social media resolution. Hi-res downloads with no watermark & prints are available for an additional charge

RACE STATS

DEVON GRIT EXTREME

SUN 25th AUGUST
1 lap of 103KM
Total Ascent: 1700M
AGE
18+
Start Time: from 8.00 am

DEVON GRIT FULL

SUN 25TH AUGUST
1 lap of 75KM
Total Ascent: 1270M
AGE
15+
Start Time: from 8.15 am

DEVON GRIT STANDARD

SUN 25TH AUGUST
1 lap of 60KM
Total Ascent: 1070M
AGE
11+ (or 15 unaccompanied)
Start Time: from 8.15 am

DEVON GRIT MINI

SUN 25TH AUGUST
1 lap of 36KM
Total Ascent: 530M
AGE
9+ (or 15 unaccompanied)
Start Time: from 8.30 am

DEVON GRIT MICRO

SUN 25TH AUGUST
1 lap of 22KM
Total Ascent: 300M
Fully marked course
AGE
8+ (or 15 unaccompanied)
Start Time: from 8.30 am

EVENT INFORMATION

Parking

There’s plenty of free parking at Bicton College. Just turn right at the top of the drive & park in the main car park.

Directions

Google Maps tends to take you down narrow lanes & through the narrow back entrance straight into the path of runners. The best way to avoid this is to install the free What3Words app on your phone & use the location https://w3w.co/torched.broth.earpiece with google maps. It’s a  spot on the main drive & should ensure you arrive at the main entrance.

Navigation

We had a long think & decided not to mark the Devon Grit routes with Arrows. Marking a 100km off-road single loop thoroughly is a huge job.  It’s also extremely prone to tampering. It only needs one arrow turned the wrong way or removed to send everyone off course! For example, for the Exmouth Triathlon we organise locally, we checked all the arrows on the 20km bike course at 6.30am on the day of the race. By 8am, when the first riders arrived, a crucial arrow had been removed by someone & a number of riders went off course.
That said for 2023 we are fully marking the Micro course which is on the common where multiple path alternatives can be confusing. We also have special custom signage at the course splits.

Self Navigation

Devon Grit is self-nav.  We’ve decided to put our time & effort into producing excellent, accurate GPXs & course descriptions. And to providing technical support to make sure everyone arrives at the start line with the correct route loaded on their device of choice!
Read our article Read our Navigating with GPX article for more information.

The road sportives we organise are all fully marked see sportivaevents.co.uk/cycling-events

FAQs

How environmentally friendly are you?

We're doing our best to minimise our environmental impact. Here are a few of our initiatives. Trees Not Tees For all the events where we include a t-shirt, we're now offering the option to plant a tree instead. We've partnered with Treesnottees.com to make this happen. Avoiding Single Use Plastics We use paper cups designed to be fully recycled back into high grade paper. Medals now optional We know quite a lot of competitors are not interested in finishers medals so they are now optional. We make a £2 charity donation for every medal not selected. Swim hats on request We still supply swim hats for our open water swim events as they help the water safety teams keep track of swimmers. However for all our pool events, swim hats are now on request to reduce wastage. Zip Ties & waste We only use reusable zip ties. We minimise single use plastics & sort rubbish for recycling after our events. Food is not wasted For events, such as our cycling sportives, where we're know for our excellent feed stations, all left over food goes to the local foodbank. Reducing Car use In Devon where most of our events take place this is easier said than done. However at our Burrator 10K running race we offer a £5 discount to anyone who commits to walking or cycling to the event. We'll be looking to add this to other events in the future. To read more about our sustainability policies read our article

Do you allow ebikes in your gravel events?

Yes we do. Electric gravel bikes & electric MTBs are both welcome. We can't guarantee charging around the course though so make sure your battery life is sufficient for the distance you've chosen.

Are your gravel events fully marked?

The Haldon Heroic is fully marked. The Devon Grit is self nav. See our article on why the Devon Grit is self-nav.

Do I need a gravel bike for your gravel events?

Definitely not. A mountain bike or a CX (cyclo-cross) bike will be almost as quick. The only thing we stipulate is that you use tyres that are at least 33mm wide & we recommend 38-40mm. ebikes are also welcome.

Will there be timing chips?

Yes, timing chips are mounted on the back of your race numbers. These need to be attached, using the zip ties we provide, to the front of your bike. Please ensure, as far as you can, that the number is not covered up by cables, bags or anything else.

Are there any age restrictions on your sportives?

Yes there are. You need to be 15 or over to take part in any of the sportives unaccompanied. Age guidelines for the various events & distances are on the individual event pages.

Do I need to be a member of a club to enter?

No, all our events are open to all whether you're a member of a club or not.

ROUTE MAPS

DOWNLOADS & LINKS

Race Manual
Route map
Start List

LOCATION

Bicton College, Woodbury Common, East Budleigh, EX9 7BY

Event Gallery

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What a fantastic event, brilliant organisation and superb challenging course, had a bit everything. We will be back next year
Jake Goddard

Results

View results here
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