Entry for our first Winter Circuits on Feb 20th are now open.
Enter on RiderHQ here.
Still no volunteers on the sheet. No volunteers = no race. Go here to add a name in to the spreadsheet.
Category: Racing
Categories
Race News
Hi everyone. A bit of news about the winter circuits but first ….
The volunteer list is still entirely empty.
If there is no-one to marshal and fulfil the required roles: no race.
So get your name in a slot for outside of your intended race time, or persuade a friend or family member that you are bringing with you to fill a role. Click this link to go to the volunteer page and just follow the instructions. Or if you can’t figure it out, email volunteering@scrl.co.uk.
The six marshal positions can be filled by anyone. If you’d like practice to fill a judging role on a regular basis, please sign up and we can arrange for an experienced hand or two to show you the ropes. Likewise sign on/gear checker. If all roles are filled (which would be nice!) do please add a name in the backup person slots, as its not unusual for someone to have to not show at the last minute.
Remember that SCRL is not a commercial organisation making money for personal profit, nor is it a “club” with members to call on for raising funds. all profits from the racing go back into the league and the track to KEEP SUSSEX RACING!
OK, so to the races
We are mostly set and ready, but are still waiting official final sign-off from BC.
You can go to the series entry page on RiderHQ at this link.
Once we have opened the entry there will be a website post and social media posts, so sign up to the website notifications and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
The rest of the races are all set to open at 9am on the Monday following the previous race.
Keep ’em peeled!
Categories
League News
With Christmas behind us it’s time to start looking to next season.
Race Dates
All the calendars have been updated now with our provisional dates for the winter and summer circuits, and track league.
There are Regional A Circuit level points (points band 4) races for both women and general entry in the winter series this year.
See the appropriate calendars for details.
Volunteers for races
We also need to start filling the volunteer spreadsheets. There is usually a coffee or two in it for you if you cover all day.
Remember: No volunteers = No racing
The volunteer page with links to the spreadsheet is here.
Vacant Positions
There are still some positions to fill to make sure we can race next year. If you are interested, you can email committee@scrl.co.uk or use the contact us form.
Note that only the promoter is an elected committee position. The others can be filled by any person at any time.
Promoter(s)
Organiser(s)
Sign On
Judges
Rider Whip
Marshals
Catering
Promoter(s) (Committee Position)
The promoter oversees the running of each SCRL event, from registering with British Cycling, managing entries, organising volunteers, booking with our various suppliers through to managing the arena and the event on the day itself, and the follow up of posting paperwork to British Cycling.
There is a great bunch of committee members and willing volunteers who take a lot of that work away and can be relied upon to know what to do. You mostly have to oversee the operation and ensure all the roles are filled, look after the volunteers, liaise with the commissaires etc.
Current promoter will cover the Winter Series but a replacement must be found in time for track league and summer circuits.
You must be a BC member, and will have to undergo a short tutorial on the use of the BC Event organiser dashboard. This takes a couple of hours and can usually be done online via skype/teams/zoom etc.
Organiser(s)
This is essentially the promoter “on the day”. It allows a promoter to pass on the running of the event on the day to another person. This person must also be a BC member and have done the event organiser dashboard training as above.
If a regular pool of on the day organisers could be found, the current promoter would probably be happy to carry on in the back-office role …..
Sign On
The person responsible for sign on will print the BC start/sign-on sheets, arrange for the numbers to be collected/returned by riders, and manage on the day entry, day licences and other add-ons if appropriate
They will pass the sign on sheets to the commissaires/organisers and return them to the treasurer who will pay the levies and expenses.
Judges
A judge is there to track and record the finishing positions/points scored of each race we hold.
They will commonly be watching and tracking lapped riders (mostly an issue in a circuit race) and recording finishing positions for each race.
They will also learn to use an i-pad to record and verify finishes if necessary.
Judging can take a bit of practice but we can’t rely on the same people all the time. Some of them would like to race also! On-the-job training will be given at our circuit races and/or track league.
Rider Whip
Mainly for track races, a rider whip is solely responsible for ensuring that riders of the next race are prepared and brought to the edge of the track in time, ready to line up for each race. This keeps the racing flowing and allows us to make maximum use of our track time. It also frees up the other volunteers to concentrate on their primary role i.e. commentating, judging etc.
Marshals
We always need these! Their function is primarily to “guard” the arena and its entry points to inform the public that access is not possible. This is to keep both the public and the riders safe. Allez opi-omi!
Do not worry about having to “man-handle” transgressors or wrestle anyone to the ground. This is not a marshals job and physical confrontation is not encouraged. In the event of a “difficult” member of the public who jumps the fence or otherwise tries to cross the arena, a marshal will simply try to alert the riders and officials to their presence and the appropriate safety precautions can be taken i.e. race is neutralised or similar.
Catering (Track League Only)
We all like to make use of a cuppa and a star bar. Someone needs to be responsible for filling the urns with hot water, and bringing them along as well as setting up and packing away.
You don’t necessarily need to “run” the stall. We mostly left it as an honesty system last year and it seemed to work well enough.
Categories
Pursuits Competition
Week 17 (that’s 4th August, not the coming Wednesday) will see our annual pursuits competition.
Entry
- Entry will be by pre-sign up only, but it is free.
- The competition is open to Senior riders and any youth riding in the senior categories only.
- Eligible youth may use any equipment as is valid for their category according to current BC regulations.
- It is not open to youth minor or major riders.
- Entries will close on the TUESDAY before at 6pm.
- Up to the closing you will be able to change your mind and remove your name from the entry list yourself using RiderHQ.
- After the closing time you are committed and are not eligible for the non-pursuit races.
- Click here to enter.
Conditions
- Entry limited to 16 riders (4 heats).
- Once full a “waiting list” of 8 riders will be available on RiderHQ to fill gaps of people who drop out.
- If there are only 8 riders or less we will not run qualifiers and final placings will be decided on times alone.
- Championship placings are from 1st down to 9th. 9th place will be fastest non-qualifier.
- Entrants for the pursuit may NOT race in the non-pursuiter races regardless of qualifying status.
Do please note the “non pursuit” races in the calendar. Even if you are eliminated you cannot ride these races. If you fail to qualify it could be a long wait.
Volunteers
We will also require more volunteers than usual. There is a separate spreadsheet here so please sign up yourself or get someone who can help to sign up.
If we can’t fill the spots we can’t go ahead, as we will not have time to run heats with less than 4 riders. We might be able to run it with the riders themselves filling a couple of roles but this depends on numbers (you would basically need a full 16) and everyone would have to accept that other riders were in fact responsible for recording their time.
Still two volunteers short of our bare minimum for marshalling for this evening (we really could use four more).
No marshals = no race.
It’s a very simple job, basically just standing at the back of the track and making sure people don’t try to jump the fence or otherwise get into the track. There’s usually a free hot drink or two from Coops Coffee in it for you as well. From 6 to 9pm (latest) needs to be covered.
If you are racing, consider that marshalling before or after your race means the whole thing can go ahead. No one steps up, no one gets to race. Consider:
- Racing race 1 = marshal race 2 or 3
- Racing race 2 = marshal race 1 or 3
- Racing race 3 = marshal race 1 or 2
If at least two marshalling positions are not filled for the FULL evening by 3pm the evenings racing will be cancelled.
- To put your name down on the spreadsheet click here.
- If you cannot access or use the spreadsheets in the link, please email volunteering@scrl.co.uk letting us know your name, contact number, times you can cover , and if there is any role that you will particularly not do.
Your co-operation, as always, is appreciated.
Categories
Volunteer Shout:Track+Circuits
We are looking at almost blank spreadsheets this week for both track this Wednesday and our last circuit race this Friday.
Many usual volunteers are away this week which is why we need people outside of these regulars to step up more often, so that the jobs other than marshalling can be given to more than just one person.
Remember, no volunteers = no racing.
- To put your name down for track on Wednesday click here. Please note that we now ask for some marshals from 6pm when we lock up the track for the safety of riders during warm up.
- To put your name down for circuits on Friday click here.
- If you cannot access or use the spreadsheets in the link, please email volunteering@scrl.co.uk letting us know your name, contact number, times you can cover , and if there is any role that you will particularly not do.
Your co-operation, as always, is appreciated.
The results of our poll put each senior category at less than 10 riders, and the youth categories at just three each. This leaves the league in a loss making position (though that is not the only consideration it is an important one). With the volunteer positions being a bit stretched as well we have decided that we shall cancel this week and look forward to the Devil Championships next week.
So either enjoy the match(es), or go enjoy the empty roads for a couple of hours.
See you next week.