Cyclists rode a combined 47,740km at this year’s Broughton Castle Sportive
11/09/2025
Trophies and charity cheques were presented at Broughton Castle on Tuesday evening
Over £10,000 was raised at this year’s Broughton Castle Sportive cycling event, taking the total generated for local charities and good causes since the first Sportive to an amazing £106,600.
The Sportive, which took place in June, is organised by the Rotary Club of Banbury Cherwell.
A presentation evening was held at Broughton Castle on Tuesday night during which team trophies in the four distance categories were awarded.
A combined total of 47,740km was cycled this year. Overall 408 riders completed one of the four routes on offer.
Fifty-five of them finished the new 200km “Monster” route – set up in response to requests from previous participants for a new challenge. A number of others who had signed-up for the mammoth undertaking dropped down to shorter routes due to the hot weather on the day.
The most popular route was the 100km “Classic” with 193 riders crossing the finish line. Amongst them was a team from the Wellesbourne Wheelers who were last night once again presented with the Presidents Cup for the fastest time around the course – something they have achieved every year so far.
Woods Wonders (pictured above) collected the trophy for the best performance on the 40km “Tour”.
Rotary Club of Banbury Cherwell President, Phillip Brody, thanked the many people and organisations who helped the event run.
He also thanked the sponsors, who between them covered the Sportive running costs of around £5,000, meaning the cyclists entry fees could all go directly to local charities. Supporting this year’s event were Banbury Charities, Norbar, Mail Boxes, Prodrive, Finders Keepers, gHawk Accounting, the Westminster Group and Tugo Foods, who provided meals for everyone involved in the Sportive.
Speaking to Banbury FM Mr Brody told us the club were happy with how the event had run.
“The feedback, where we get it, is universally amazing,” he said. “People love the organisation, they love the friendliness of it, they love the fact that we give more to the riders (in terms of the free food on their return).
“Its very costly to put on – it may not be apparent from the outside but it certainly is. Having a lot of that fixed cost covered through our sponsors means that virtually everything that the riders pay is going to charity. The vast majority of which has been spent in the Banbury area with local charities.”
Next year’s Broughton Castle Sportive will take place in June 28 and will run along pretty similar lines to this year’s event.
“I think what we’ve learned is that what we have is quite a gem,” said Mr Brody. “Just looking at tonight, the friendliness, the fact that people don’t want to leave because they like it. I think we want to retain that.
“Of course, we’d like to grow it, but I wouldn’t like to grow it to the point that we lose control of it.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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