Sunday 16th March 2025 will see the club celebrating a special 25th edition of this ever popular open audax event. Entries are open on the Audax UK website and the event is filling up fast.
In a departure from tradition we will be using a new route out to a different village hall in Charlton for our first control this year, which we think is lovely and a befitting venue to celebrate the Flapjack’s 25th Anniversary. We will also be using the usual Village Halls in Kemble and Sherston to make sure our riders are well-fed!
ENTRY AND HELPERS
We need around 25 helpers on the day to make the event a success. We offer a limited number of FREE ENTRY places to any Chippenham Wheeler club member who can help on the day, whilst also riding the event. If you’ve ridden and enjoyed the event previously we encourage you to volunteer and help others enjoy the Flapjack fun!
Full details on how to register to help and/or ride on the day can be found in the club calendar by clicking this link.
If you just want to enter and ride the event then please do so promptly through the Audax UK website as we will have to close entries when we reach capacity. The event always sells out and this year looks no different.
25 YEARS OF Flapjack FUN – A BRIEF HISTORY
The event was started in 1999 by the late Eric Fletcher and his wife Gill. The first event was called The Fairly Easy Intro and then in 2000 changed to the Fairly Easy 100. Back then there were only 30-40 participants each year. Eric said it was during the second edition that Roy Shillaker suggested the event be renamed The Flapjack on account of the vast quantities of the riders favourite food served up by Eric and Gill at the control venues! The Flapjack name stuck and each year the event grew in popularity growing to as many as 125 riders by 2010.
Many local riders came back year after year to ride the event, which was as much a social occasion as it was a challenging ride. It was made challenging on account of running in the depths of winter, initially in January and then moving to February. The 2012 edition was famously hit by heavy snowfall but that didn’t deter riders from setting off. With snow falling heavily the event was eventually cancelled when the riders reached Brinkworth Village Hall. They were served beans on toast and hot drinks to warm themselves up and then returned to the old Club HQ in the Scout Hut on Derriads Lane.
In 2013 the classic Flapjack route was reversed with the first stop at Sherston Village Hall, then Kemble and finally Brinkworth but this format did not work well and was never repeated.
Eric stepped down as organiser after the 20th edition held in 2018 having, with the help of Gill, built a legacy of a much loved event.
The event didn’t run in 2019 on account of having no organiser but then, in 2020, Sheni Jiwa took over the reins from Eric, who mentored him as a new Audax UK organiser. Alas, Sheni’s first edition in February 2020 was hit by Storm Ciara, where gale force winds led to an on-the-day cancellation. A handful riders went on to ride the route as a weather-cancelled AUK permanent ride in the following month, albeit without the usual Chippenham Wheelers hospitality.
2021 then proved to be another fallow year after the Covid-19 pandemic stopped all mass participation events due to the social distancing restrictions in force.
The event shifted to an early March slot from 2022 onwards, to fit better in the monthly cycle of Club Audax rides. The Arrivee venue also changed to the club’s HQ at Chippenham Sports Club where the riders have been able to enjoy a post-ride drink and even more food to round off the day.
The event is now also used to raise funds for the Club’s Charity of the Year where the riders have generously showed their appreciation by making charity donations for the grand day out that the Chippenham Wheelers volunteers have given them.
A recent trend in the event has been the encouraging increase in participation by women, with 1 in 3 female riders at the last edition. Overall participation has continued to increase too with a record 132 validated finishers in 2024.
So who has COMPLETED the most Flapjack EVENTs?!
The Audax UK website lists names of all validated finishers for each edition since on-line record keeping started in 2000. From this we have been able to compile the results of all editions of the event, except the very first one in 1999. We can see who has completed the most Flapjack events since edition #2 in 2000. The record stands at 13 editions and is held by Steve Oxley of Newbury Road Club The event was obviously popular with Newbury RC in the early years as their Cliff Voller completed 10 editions up to 2010. The Chippenham Wheeler club member with the most events with 9 editions is Tony Hull, who went on to become regional South-west & Wales DIY Organiser for Audax UK. Also, from our current club members, Dylan Spencer is in joint 4th place with 8 editions.
Many club members have ridden the route as “rider-helpers” over the years, riding out early ahead of the main bunch in time to set up the village hall controls desks, kitchens, tables and chairs. This unique aspect of the event allowed club members to both ride the route and help at one of the controls on the day. After tidying up the village hall they then enjoyed chasing down the other riders, sometimes reaching the finish before many of the main bunch! The operation at Kemble Village Hall serving beans-on-toast to the 100+ arriving riders quickly and efficiently was perfected over many years, led by “chef in charge” Gill Fletcher with help from many others.
In 2021 the club decided to affectionately rename the event as Fletcher’s Flapjack, in memory of Eric, who sadly passed away earler that year. The club resolved to keep up the tradition of a “well-fed” event that Eric and Gill so capably ran, introducing so many people to the pleasures of Audax riding. Eric would be delighted that each year so many riders continue to accept his challenge, to go home heavier than you came!
