We want you to make a weekend of it with us and we have arranged free camping within Grizedale Forest Park for Friday and Saturday nights, should you require. If you wish to camp, we ask that you pre-book with us and tell us how many tents you want to pitch, your car registration number and how many people you are bringing. If you fancy somewhere with a little more comfort, then there is no shortage of excellent and varied local options, ranging from nearby campsites with facilities, cosy cottages to fabulous spa hotels.

Log onto http://www.golakes.co.uk/accommodation/ to browse quality accommodation in the local area.

Grizedale Forest Park and Southern Lakes

Grizedale Forest Park has long been renowned as a superbly rugged location set within the Lake District National Park. Popular with families, walkers, artists, cyclists and adventurers, the area is also renowned as a top-class centre for mountain biking, with numerous facilities populating the lush forests of the area. It is perhaps this infrastructure and emerging buoyant adventure scene that gives the Polaris Challenge and ACE Race its natural affinity with the area and will ensure that the event will excite and amaze. These events have a reach far beyond the 'shelter' of the Park, and you can expect them to access and straddle both mighty lakes Windermere and Coniston, and the mountains beyond.

Autumn in the Lake District

These events will be arriving at a time when the Lake District transforms from Summer to Autumn, and really does look and feel sublime. This colourful area harbours some of the finest terrain we can find for an event of this nature. Fresh air, dense forest, gurgling burns and iconic large lakes east and west all combine to give a fantastic backdrop. The forested hills and high moors of the area are rounded and they have stature and scale, framed against the often changing sky.

Grizedale Visitor Centre

This popular Centre will be the location for the Dirty Weekend event village. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5K2B6B. The Centre has become a highly rated focal point for family adventures over recent years, with the nearby high ropes course Go Ape and various grades of Mountain Biking including the cutting edge North Face Trail. Facilities* at the Centre include cafe, toilets, picnic seating, shelter, various parking areas and Grizedale Mountain Bikes, bike hire and bike wash.

Plenty to do then, even before you've got to the Start line!

* Please note, the Centre buildings are under reconstruction works through this year and the winter, however, all facilities are still operating.

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