More than 50,000 people have entered the ballot for the 2014 RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive just 24 hours after it opened.

Some 15,883 riders completed the inaugural 100-mile sportive on August 4 – including RCUK’s Mark Bishop. The course followed a traffic-free route from the Olympic Park to the Surrey Hills, before a grandstand finish on The Mall.

The event, which was televised live on BBC television, was part of the two-day RideLondon festival of cycling, which also saw an elite women’s criterium and men’s road race take place on the streets of the capital.

The ballot for entries in to the 2014 sportive, which is set to take place on August 10 next year, will close when 80,000 people have registered.

And event director Hugh Brasher has urged riders to sign-up quickly to be in with a chance of securing a place on the start line.

“The success of the inaugural Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 has galvanized people to take up this unique challenge, of being able to cycle on traffic-free streets, past iconic London landmarks and through beautiful Surrey countryside. It took us nearly five months to get to this landmark figure in the first year,” said Brasher.

“As the largest inaugural timed mass-participation event in the world, this amazing response – only eight days after our first event – shows that Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 is destined to become one of the must-do events of 2014.

“The excellent example set by The Mayor, who finished the 100-mile challenge in a superb 8 hours and 4 minutes, shows that while 100 miles on a bicycle is a long way, it is well within the grasp of a determined entrant who cycles regularly.”

Enter the ballot online at www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk