Strava Segment of the Month

Join the Venta Segment of the Month Competition Supported by The South Downs Social

VC Venta hosts its eleventh annual Segment of the Month (SotM) competition during 2025. A friendly competition, open to all fully paid-up VC Venta club members.

New for 2025, our updated competition now has three categories with individual competitions for men and women in the open and senior categories. In addition, 2025 sees the introduction of a mens veteran category, and more monthly prizes than ever before thanks to Neil Wyatt and his team at The South Downs Social.

_{2025 Competition Prizes}

Monthly winners in each group (Open Men, Open Women, Senior Men, Senior Women, and Veteran) will receive free hot or cold drink at The South Downs Social café. 

In addition, there will be a draw for a further 15 individual free hot or cold drinks every month. Any club member recording a time over the monthly segment will be entered into this draw. 

Winners will be notified by email.

Overall winners in the open category (men and women), the senior category (men and women) and the overall veteran category will all win a VC Venta Castelli Squadra Jersey (worth £65).

Overall Runners-up in the open category (men and women) and senior category (men and women) will each receive an X service from Bike X - Bike X Service (worth £55).

_{2025 Competition Categories}

Open Category (Men and Women)

Open to all club members of any age incorporating a separate men's and ladies competition.

Join the Strava Club Open Category

Senior Category (Men and Women)

An age-group category, available and open only to club members aged 40 and over (as of 01 January 2025) incorporating a separate men's and ladies competition.

Join the Strava Club Senior Category

Veteran Category ***New for 2025***  

An age-group category, available and open only to club members aged 60 and over (as of 01 January 2025).

Join the Strava Club Veteran Category

_RULES

Each month a different Strava segment will be selected. Whoever records the fastest time (men’s and women’s) over the segment is the stage winner in that competition category.

Points will be awarded to the top 10 monthly finishers in each month, and contribute to the overall General Classification (GC) in that category for the year. 

Club members can only enter and participate in one category so eligible riders will need to make a firm choice, joining only one Strava club for the one category they select (either OPEN, SENIOR or VETERAN). Any women competitors over 60 should join the Senior Strava club. Mid-year changes won’t be allowed and any duplicate Strava club entries will be removed.

• The competition is open to all fully paid up members of VC Venta.
• You must have a personal Strava account and join one of the VCV SOTM Strava clubs (you do not need to be a paid Strava subscriber - see Strava features)
• Set a time on the nominated segment between 00:01hrs on the 1st of the month and 20:00 on the last day of the month (20:00 cut off is to allow enough time to consolidate results before the ‘monthly’ analysis disappears in Strava).
• Only your best time counts so have as many goes as you like.
• Your time must be recorded on a human-powered bicycle!
• Use of TT bikes or TT bars is not permitted, to ensure a fair contest.
• At the end of each month the top 10 riders will be announced (male and female) in each category and respective KoM and QoM points for the GC will be awarded.
• Over the course of the year there will be a good mix of flat, rolling and mountain stages.
• Equal points are awarded to both competitors in the event of any tied times.
• All stages must be ridden solo with no drafting for your time to be counted.
• There will be 10 stages (January to October). The riders (male and female) with the highest cumulative points across all stages (GC) will be declared the 2024 year winners in their category.
• The organiser’s decision is final in any dispute.

A reminder that the rules of the road must be observed and the safety of yourselves and others is always the first priority

Please note that the club’s own insurance covers this competition for third party claims, however, any participating rider is strongly advised to make sure they have in place their own personal cover for injury or damage to equipment.

_{Point Scoring}

GC: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points in descending order for 1st to 10th places

One nominated segment will be the Queen Stage with double KoM/QoM points.

_{Suggest a Segment}

If you’d like to see one of your favourite local Strava segments in this year’s competition, please send recommendations to [email protected]