Continental bike tyre distributors Cambrian Tyres, who are based in Aberystwyth are again the organisers and sponsors of the 2015 Welsh Wild West Sportive. Now in its third year, the friendly event forms part of the four-day Aberystwyth Cycle Festival.
Being held in an area that had not been covered by any other sportive, Cambrian Tyres saw this as an opportunity to both utilise the beautiful landscape and to promote their brand.
"Cambrian Tyres are avid supporters of the sportive scene in the UK, and we've worked on most of the big annual rides over the years including the Dragon Ride, Virgin Money Cyclone, Dartmoor Classic and Ride London promoting our Continental brand via sponsorship and event support. We realised that our own neck of the woods, Ceredigion, did not have its own ride and being that it's such a quiet area with some real unchartered sportive territory, we put two and two together", says Shelley Childs, brand manager for Continental.
"We have a team who've witnessed event management first hand for many years and in partnership with Ystwyth Cycling Club, we've formed the AberCycleFest team to host this event plus of course all the other cycling events over the weekend", he added.
This has included a round of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series in recent years, which is a fantastic free-to-watch town centre professional race and is televised on ITV4.
"Having the likes of Ed Clancy, Roger Hammond and Ned Boulting hanging out in Aberystwyth for the day is fantastic and we hope to have them back again in 2015. The criterium races take place on the Friday and we host many support races during the day so that everyone who wants to ride the course, can do so. Then on Saturday, our cliff-to-urban downhill race at Constitution Hill brings the likes of World Champion Manon Carpenter and her Madison-Saracen team to the town", he added.
Sunday's Continental Welsh Wild West Sportive rounds off the festival meaning cycling enthusiasts can enjoy a whole Bank Holiday weekend of activities in Aberystwyth next May (22-25).
Four distances
Starting out with 250 riders in year one, and 500 in year two, the event has added a fourth distance of 41 miles, called 'Y Diafol' (the Devil), after rider feedback showed organisers that many of those riding the 'Corrach' (Dwarf) distance of 28 miles wanted more.
"It's a very hilly area as we're not a million miles away from the Snowdonia National Park and we have the Cambrian Mountains to our east. Therefore 28 miles here can be a bit tougher than 28 miles in a flat area!
Nevertheless, our riders are ready for the next challenge and so we now offer 28, 41, 70 and 114-mile distances", Childs added.
The sportive is proudly Welsh, with a bilingual website, bilingual race day commentary and Welsh-themed feed stops.
"Wales can't claim salted potatoes, but we do offer Welsh Cakes, Bara Brith (a type of fruit cake) and Cawl (Welsh broth)! Aberystwyth is a strategic centre for the Welsh language and many of the villages and towns that the ride passes through are Welsh speaking".
Other features of the event are chip timing by HS Sports, rider photos by Short & Round, energy drinks & gels via High 5 and mechanical support by Continental tyres.
The event is also suppororted by Aberystwyth Town Council, Ceredigion County Council and Aberystwyth University.
Competition
Entry to the Wild West went live in September and anyone who enters before Halloween will be entered into a draw to win an Orro bicycle.
Orro bikes are exclusively fitted with Continental tyres and see the event as an opportunity to promote their brand to their target audience.
