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The Transcontinental is a race from point A to point B, via control points on a bicycle for solo or pair riders without any dedicated assistance. It’s pretty simple really and to reflect that we keep our rule book simple; one page, 10 rules. They are few but we expect them to be taken seriously.
The rules are designed primarily to promote safety, sportsmanship, self-reliance and equality. Riders of the Transcontinental Race must abide by the 10 simple rules at all times whilst racing and any rule infringements will be taken seriously by the organisers. Our founder Mike Hall developed what has become the 'Spirit of the Race', an ethos of fair play that all our riders aspire to.
All riders must meet these 10 rules in order to be awarded a completion and finishing time for the Transcontinental.
We award two types of finish for the Transcontinental Race, a GENERAL CLASSIFICATION FINISH and a RACE FINISH. The objective is to distinguish and reward those riding a true solo or pairs effort, therefore qualifying for a position in their chosen category. This qualification for the GENERAL CLASSIFICATION FINISH requires a higher level of scrutiny over the basic rules and therefore a higher level of diligence from riders. Put simply...
In the presence of doubt Rules compliance is generally assumed, but qualification for GC must be proved. If a GC finish is desired it is in the rider’s interests to actively avoid doubt. Where evidence of rule infringements is present the organisers will act accordingly.
Riders will qualify for the Solo or Pairs General Classification if:
A solo finish is regarded as a finish ‘with honours’ and qualifies riders to contest the overall General Classification. (A rider cannot win the Transcontinental if they do not qualify a solo finish)
In the pairs category riders in the pair act as a unit and may share food, equipment, information and resources between themselves and help each other including riding in each other’s slipstream but no support is to come from outside the pair and resources cannot be shared outside the pair.
Riders who do not validate at controls within their designated times of operation by definition lose contact with the validation procedure provided by the event. Transcontinental does not operate a ‘cut-off’ for these riders by which they are not included in the event listings but also cannot provide basic contact to give even the minimum assistance at controls. Riders in this category are not held to the same degree of scrutiny as category finishers and an official race time (D // H // M) is not awarded.
The ‘dot’ is a marker on our map which symbolises a GPS tracking unit that each rider carries on their bike. This marks the rider's last transmitted position and tracks their progress. It is a rider’s responsibility to look after their tracker and maintain its signal or collect evidence of their ride to prove they rode in the spirit and to the letter of the rules.