It’s that time of year again and we are delighted to announce that we will be back in 2025 with the 9th edition of THE MERIDA EX presented by Shimano.
The dates for next year’s event are 12-14th of September 2025 and we will once again set up camp at our traditional location in the beautiful chocolate box village of Allerford. Our venue is situated on the edge of Exmoor National Park, which will once again be the playground for our event, providing us with some of the most amazing trails the South West has to offer, perfectly interspersed with breathtaking scenery and fantastic sea views.
The concept:
As in previous years, we will have a course of over 20 timed stages over three days, with some exciting night racing thrown in for good measure, courtesy of Exposure Lights.
But as always, there will be plenty of other things on offer over the weekend that make THE MERIDA EX so unique. From the vintage ‘enduro’ tea stop to the Friday night post stage BBQ, from daily yoga sessions to a table service dinner party, from top class enduro racing to delicious food throughout the weekend and from a super relaxed and friendly atmosphere to a well-stocked free bar from start to finish.
Another key element of our event that will remain is that we only have 80 places up for grabs. So, to increase your chances of getting in, please add your details to our pre-registration list and receive the private entry list 2 days before it goes public. The link has never been made public before and every year it sells out within minutes, so pre-registering is essential if you want to join us next year.
Pre-registration details:
You can pre-register here, by simply adding your email details to the list you can find on our pre-registration page.
Unfortunately, for our 2025 event, we will have to increase the entry fee to £425. This is something we have tried to avoid in the past; however, in order to make our all-inclusive event sustainable without cutting corners whilst continuing to add new and exciting elements to our programme, we have no choice other than to increase the entry fee.
Almost every cost element for our event has increased by 15-25%, and in some cases even more. It is very important to us to keep the event small as we know the low number of riders ensures our unique atmosphere, so covering costs by increasing the number of entries was not an option for us. The low participation numbers also ensures the integrity of the land we have access to. We get a lot of support from the industry and our partners have been very generous over the years, but even with their continued and sometimes increasing support, the entry fee increase is unavoidable.
We hope you understand and that this doesn’t affect the interest we’ve seen over the last few years.
What you get:
What remains unchanged is the all-inclusive nature of our event. From the moment you arrive at the venue in Allerford (from Thursday afternoon) everything is included in the entry fee. All food, all drinks, facilities, races, yoga session, evening entertainment… everything.
Here more specifically what is included in the entry fee:
- 6-8 gravity special stages each day with dibber timing system
- Access to private land using trails that are not available to the public outside the event
- 30-45 km of riding a day with approx. 1,500 – 2,300 m climbing each day
- Thursday afternoon warm-up ride (approx. 2 hours, 4 pm start)
- Exposure Lights Friday night enduro stages (make sure you bring your lights)
- A fully marked course
- Uplift at the start of each day
- Medical cover and marshals throughout
- On-course water/feed stations
- Enduro/World-famous vintage tea stop
- Scrumptious locally sourced food and drink (breakfast/lunch/dinner)
- Fantastic barista coffee made daily using our Italian coffee machine
- A free bar on-site if you fancy a few beers or ciders featuring a broad range of Bristol Beer Factory beers
- Comfortable camping facilities
- Evening entertainment
- A uniquely designed participation jersey for each rider
- Yoga classes each day
- E-bike charging facilities
- The most relaxed racing and event atmosphere around
See what it is all about:
If you didn’t get the chance to be part of the most ‘epic’ EX in our history, check out our highlights video below or visit our gallery pages for lots of pictures and videos from previous years.
For all the other event details, check out the details page, and for any questions you don’t find answered there, simply jump onto our FAQs.
New for 2025 – PAIRS category
For 2025, we are adding a Pairs category to our event to further emphasise the social aspect of THE EX. In our Pairs category we will have two riders (both male, female or mixed) who will try to work together as a team to achieve the fastest time. The team will only have one dibber, will have to start together and their time will be taken when they have both crossed the finish line. Influenced by the fact that we all have that one buddy who shows us the perfect line and allows us to go that little bit faster by following her or his wheel, we thought that the Pairs category would be the ideal addition to our category offering. There will be a special ‘PAIRS’ button available when the online entry opens, making it quick and easy to enter the Pairs category without the risk of only half the team getting an entry.
Online entry
The registration for our 2025 event will open on Sunday the 2nd of March 2025 at 9 am (UK time). Only people who have pre-registered will receive the private entry link needed to enter. If you don’t have this link, you won’t be able to enter.
So, if you want some more EX action, or have hopefully heard good things about us and want to give it a go, then make sure you go to our pre-registration page and follow the instructions.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at ride@the-ex.co.uk.
We wish you all a Happy New Year and hope to see you on Exmoor next September.
Paul, Michael and all THE MERIDA EX team