£150 for medical certificate for Etape d'Tour - discuss !!!

jasonoh

Seriously? £150! What a rip off. I popped in to my GP, been there 3 times in my life, explained the Etape form, she quickly checked my medical history, asked me if I felt fit to do it and signed it for nothing. Even if there is a fee surely it must be standard?

gsk82

i dropped mine off with my GP surgery yesterday. I was told they would ring me once its signed so hopefully they won't request an examination and will just sign it for free. i wouldn't mind too much if they asked me to pay 20quid or something since i expect them to rip people off.

k1ng_of_england

I had the same problem when I did the etape, but I found that you could submit a racing licence instead of a medical certificate.

The racing licence is supplied by 'British Cycling' and it includes a very comprehensive insurance policy. At £74 it's less than a £150 medical, and more useful.

Don't know whether this still applies though.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership/article/mem-st-Racing-Licence-Prices-0-Need-a-Racing-Licence--0

term1te

I'm fortunate to have a medical centre where I work, and the Doc there was happy to sign one for the Marmotte a few years back gratis. That said they didn't bother to ask for it when I collected my number. Again when I did the étape de légende even further back I had the certificate and that was never looked at either.

nickwill

k1ng_of_england wrote:

I had the same problem when I did the etape, but I found that you could submit a racing licence instead of a medical certificate.

The racing licence is supplied by 'British Cycling' and it includes a very comprehensive insurance policy. At £74 it's less than a £150 medical, and more useful.

Don't know whether this still applies though.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership/article/mem-st-Racing-Licence-Prices-0-Need-a-Racing-Licence--0

My understanding is that British racing licences are no longer accepted in lieu of a medical certificate. They got wind of the fact that you don't need a medical for one in the UK.

nwallace

It's not NHS-able so phone around places.

Dad was something like £60 for his MSA competition licence from the local doctors but apparently the doctor at Knockhill only charges £30.

I had to get confirmation that I can see ok from my optician, they only charged £20 for it which was the price of a normal NHS check before the charge was scrapped here, but could have charged whatever they wanted.

It's all basically the same thing, except for MSA ones there's specific conditions you must not have if you want to race cars.

graham_g

That's nuts, I can't believe that a one day sportive would ask for a medical certificate, especially when they'll be meaningless to the organisers given that they'll come in umpteen different languages. Christ, even Paris-Brest-Paris organisers have stopped asking for a medical certificate and that's 1200km FFS!

usedtobefast

Thought I'd post an update on the thread I started.

As one of the early replies suggested I had an appointment with my GP, explained what I needed and why, and hey presto I walk out with the required certificate and not having to pay even an admin fee. The GP was great and it turned out her brother in-law was also doing the Etape so she knew all about.

Thanks for help all.

AlunP

my cert cost me 3 quid

money wasted ...

http://3415milesonabike.blogspot.com/