Lots to report on so please read everything, it may affect you.
Pre-Season Track Warmup/Accreditation
This year we are combining the registration/warmup sessions with the accreditation sessions.
The purpose of this is to encourage the new riders to get more used to being in a bunch of other riders.
Those already accredited and attending will not have to pay a fee but are expected to leave the track for short periods if required by the coach and to join in with the new riders when necessary.
The dates for the sessions can be found here.
League Registration Fees
This year the committee have decided that the league registration for senior riders must increase from £5 to £10. Junior and youth riders will remain at £5. This is to help cover increasing costs for hire, replacement numbers etc. as well as making the league sustain itself better, rather than being reliant on our other events to subsidise it.
Whilst this may seem like a large increase in percentage terms, ten pounds is still incredibly good value as most other leagues for both road and track racing will cost at least, and often more than double this amount.
Seniors riding in Youth Major
In line with what the regulations allow, this year we have decided to trial giving female riders, of junior age or 2nd/3rd/4th category of any age, who feel the pace is too high in the C league the option of riding with the Youth Major group as non-scoring riders.
Some of the committee have found through their own experience that riding in a group of older youth worked well for both parties as the bigger bunch was always more exciting to race in.
Juniors and seniors who opt to race in this group will NOT score any league points OR have any listed results and youth will still be placed within their own finishing positions (i.e. a youth who finishes second to a senior rider would still be first in terms of results).
The committee have decided not to opt for restricting gearing for seniors in this group for now. If you can push a bigger gear than the older youth you should probably not be riding with them anyway!
Participation in this group will be at both the commissaires and leagues discretion, and riders who are obviously going much faster than the youth on a regular basis will probably be asked to return to the senior races.
If you think that this would suit you, point out your request at sign-on and you can be signed in to the youth major group.
Track Commissaire Training
British Cycling have a track commissaire training course at Herne Hill Velodrome on Sunday February 23rd. It’s from 10am to 5pm and is absolutely free. Click here to register on the British Cycling website.
With ever more racing taking place in the South East the pressure on commissaire availability is only ever increasing. Please consider attending and giving your time to train as a commissaire. Who knows, you could be commissairing at the worlds or olympics one day!