The entries are starting to build up, but where are all the women racers? If it looks like there will be no entries at all we may cancel that race and replace it with something else to make use of the track time.
Volunteers are good for race #1 but races #2 and #3 are still missing volunteers, so please sign up here to make sure the day goes ahead.
If you don’t already, you might be interested in racing our track league through the summer every Wednesday evening. If you have UKVA accreditation, it would be great to see you at our weekly league this year. If you are not UKVA accredited, read on …
Track Accreditation
We have arranged two track accreditation sessions to run on Sundays March 5th and 12th, right after the races finish. These will cover both parts 1 and 2 of the accreditation at once so that there is no need to arrange a second session (note that this is NOT UKVA accreditation, read more about that here).
Accreditation is for senior riders. Youth members of PPYCC and VCJ will be accredited at their regular Saturday morning sessions. If you are (or are a parent of) a youth rider not a member of these clubs, please contact us for suitable options.
We will also require volunteers to marshal the track, just the same as racing. Please sign up here or get a friend to. No experience is necessary.
These sessions will also be open to already accredited racers (seniors and youth A/B only) to get some track time and to help out. There is no charge for these riders, just turn up.
At time of writing we have had no takers for the committee/non-committee roles announced vacant which will either immediately or soon require filling on the committee.
There was a very poor turn out for the AGM, and the committee had two very real and urgent concerns that threaten the future of racing at the track to discuss but with lack of attendees nothing could be resolved.
Firstly they heard our Treasurer report that once again the track league made a loss, around £440 this time.
Secondly came the all too familiar request for help to run the league, both on the day of racing and also with the day to day tasks that need to be done so that racing happens.
It was a struggle throughout 2022 to get enough volunteers and for the first time ever we had to cancel one night because of this. On top of this we are losing several key members of the committee and the SCRL family this year, some permanently.
Dave is intending to move away from Sussex in 2023 and whilst staying on as treasurer for this year he won’t be taking on any event day duties which means we need help with sign on, judging and the general maintenance of facilities (race numbers etc).
Ben is also moving away (it’s a family thing) so whilst he will continue for now as Chief Judge and also Recorder (making sure results are published and tallied up over the season) he may not be able to see the season out and definitely won’t be here in 2024.
Toby won’t be continuing as “in-person” promoter this year (but can run the back office part for this year only), he tried to step down before last season but had his arm twisted. He is prepared to be at a couple of events for the purposes of training new volunteers but that will be all.
Unfortunately none of the few that attended the AGM felt able to take on any of these roles so 2023 isn’t looking promising.
With that in mind, the committee have decided that none of the racing calendar will be submitted to British Cycling until we at least have commitment to the main roles required for each event in advance.
For now, we have made available signup sheets for our intended Winter Series (see below). All roles need to be filled by lunchtime Friday 20th January or the winter series will not go ahead at all.
There are further issues to discuss regarding the financial feasibility of track league as compared to being subsidised by the circuits but we will see how the winter series goes first. If we can’t run a winter series to subsidise track league the costs for that will go up, probably by at least 50%.
There is another reminder further down the page here about the roles which need filling.
Winter Series
There is a volunteer signup page available for each race (links below) where primary volunteers (non-marshals) can put their name down.
The marshal positions will also require filling prior to the event but these will be on a separate signup sheet closer to the time.
Remember you won’t be left on your own from the off, you will always be shown what to do, and there is nothing you can do that would cause any serious problems or get you into any kind of trouble if you “do it wrong”.
Committee positions are elected representatives. Please contact the committee if you wish to fulfil one of these positions.
Promoter (Register races with BC, set event schedules etc. Back office role covered this year only but will not be attending events)
Treasurer (Manage finances including with British Cycling. Back office duties are covered this year only but needs someone to learn the ropes this year to take over)
Non-Committee Back Office Positions
Facilities manager (Help manage equipment at the track, ensure electronic devices are charged, order new equipment).
Volunteer organiser (Manage the volunteer requirements through the year).
To volunteer for these positions, please contact us.
Event Positions
These are non-committee positions but work best when there is a pool of experienced volunteers who can help train new volunteers.
*Organiser (General running of the event on the day)
Sign-On (manage rider sign on, take payments, handout/retrieve numbers)
Judges and Chief Judges (Judging duties for track and circuits)
*Organisers have to have attended organiser online training with British Cycling and have had the organiser dashboard enabled on their account. If you are interested in this training please contact the promoter.
Well it certainly was well timed. We’ll be keeping an eye on the weather tomorrow. Right now it’s slightly more in favour of it raining up until about 4pm. Even at 20 degrees, that’s still a bit iffy as to how much the track will dry, so we’ll keep you posted throughout the day and endeavour to give a definitive answer by 5pm. But even then nothing will happen unless we get some …..
Volunteers
Spreadsheet is empty at the moment. Click here to add your name. Also Dave is away, so anyone who could cover sign on is welcome to take it up. Otherwise you’ll have to fend for yourselves and anyone who needs to enter on the day may have to wait until the end of the evening when I’m free to take the payment.
Post Season Drinks
Don’t forget post season drinks are at the King and Queen at the bottom of the road after the racing (if there is any). If we have to cancel, I will pop a post on our racers forum on Facebook where people can flag if they are still up for coming down.
Race Numbers
Don’t forget to give back your number this week after we finish please. All league members will receive an email shortly giving them options for returning outside of a Wednesday evening.
Could still use a couple more volunteers for marshalling this week. Please add your name to the spreadsheet here.
Numbers
If you are not intending to race after this week please remember to hand in your numbers at the end of the night.
Those of you already done for the season, please email registrations@scrl.co.uk for a return postal address.
Any numbers not returned have to be replaced and this is an extra cost the league could do without.
Move or refund an entry
All entries from last week have now been moved to week #17. If you can’t make it this week and/or next week, here is a quick guide on how to either move them to the “holding event” or refund the entry.
This week is the highlight of the season for many people, our Sprint Championship.
How this works is different for youth riders from senior riders, so please read the notices below.
Youth Minor/Major
Youth riders do not have to do anything different at all. All youth riders are automatically entered into the youth sprint champs and they also still ride other races. Essentially like a normal week with their sprint champs running alongside.
When you arrive there will be a notice posted on the notice board by the finish line with your heats. Find out your heat number and be ready to race.
Youth competition consists of one round of heats and then a major final.
Senior Riders (inc. Youth riding up)
Unlike our other championships, the Sprint Championship is elective entry. That is, you must decide if you want to race the championships, or race the “regular” races instead. You cannot however, do both. There is a provisional schedule here which shows the sprints and the races for non-sprinters. This may be altered depending on the amount of sprint entries.
All riders regardless of choice must enter week #10 on RiderHQ as normal to pay their entry fee.
If you want to race in the sprint championships, you must register a separate entry here. Entries close Tuesday 21st June 6pm.
The competition will start with a timed 200M flying lap for each rider. The starting order will be posted to the notice board by the finish line.
The competition will then progress to elimination heats. See table below (1A is fastest TT time, 1B is second fastest etc.).
Heats will run from the nearest amount of riders available to complete a full heat i.e.
If we have 18 riders, 16 will qualify from the TT, two will be eliminated, and we start from the 1/8 finals.
If we have 12 riders, 8 will qualify from the TT, four will be eliminated, and we will start from the 1/4 finals.
Points scale runs from 9th to 1st.
9th = 2 points
8th = 4 points
7th = 6 points
6th = 8 points
5th = 10 points
4th = 12 points
3rd = 14 points
2nd = 16 points
1st = 18 points
STARTERS
SYSTEM
EVENT
COMPOSITION
1st/2nd
OTHERS
16
1/8 Finals
1
1A–8A–9A–16A
1B/5B
Note 1
2
2A-7A-10A-15A
2B/6B
3
3A-6A-11A-14A
3B/7B
4
4A-5A-12A-13A
4B/8B
8
1/4 Finals
1
1B-8B
1C
Note 2
2
2B-7B
2C
3
3B-6B
3C
4
4B-5B
4C
4
½ Finals
1
1C-4C
1D1
1D2
2
2C-3C
2D1
2D2
4
Finals
1
1D2 – 2D2
3rd (bronze)
4th
2
1D1 – 2D1
1st (gold)
1st (gold)
Note 1: Ranked 9 to 16 according to 200 m TT Qualifying Note 2: Ranked 5 to 8 according to 200 m TT Qualifying
Regardless of what I said last week, this is actually the halfway point of the season. Looks to be a scorcher! No rain in sight!
This week we will have a new race: The Snowball.
This is like a tempo race but with increasing points. So first over the line on lap one gets one point. First over the line on lap two gets two points, and so on. Tied points are decided on final lap placings.
Week #10 will be sprint champs week. We can’t publish the schedule in advance until we know how many riders we have for the competition, but sign up is now open here.
There is information on the event in RiderHQ, but for those who have not raced our Sprint Championships before, here’s a quick rundown:
Senior riders (and youth riding in senior categories) must elect to enter the sprint champs OR race the regular league schedule. They cannot do both. Sprint riders can only race the “non sprint” league races once the sprint final has completed.
Senior sprint riders ride a qualifier 200M flying sprint to seed the heats.
Youth minor and major do not need to sign up separately. All riders are automatically entered and seeded for sprint heats with their league entry.
All riders must still enter week #10 on Rider HQ as usual to pay their fee.
Free Track Time This Friday
We have another accreditation session this Friday. We always need some experienced riders to give the new riders a proper feel of riding in a bunch, so please come along and have some free pedal time!
If you know anyone who might want to join the accreditation, they can still enter here.
Forecast currently at 30% chance of light showers in Brighton for 6 and 7pm. So the odds are favourable and with the higher temperature a (very) light shower may well be tolerable to racing. The forecast has changed a few times though so we will be keeping an eye on it.
If the forecast stays the same and the track is still actually dry enough at 5pm we will be trying to race.
As usual, keep an eye on Facebook, Twitter and the website.
After an iffy looking weather situation it stayed dry and the champs went ahead. Congratulations to all our winners! Youth rider parents there will be an email to you shortly with a private link for photos.
“Is it that time already?” as one committee member mentioned.
Yes we are already at the first of our four championship evenings.
For those new to the league, we host four championship evenings a year, where triple points are on offer for each of the usual top six places, along with podiums and medals for the top three. This is part of the normal racing schedule and requires no extra action on the riders part, just enter the event on rider hq as usual.
This year the scratch championships are sponsored by Angry Pablo, an up and coming on and off the bike clothing range co-founded by ex-PPYCC and SCRL rider and now Olympian Felix English.
Angry Pablo will be providing some prizes for the podium spots as well so there’s even more to play for! They are also promoting a ride-out on May 28th to The Brewhouse Project in Arundel, where they have partnered with the Arundel Brewery to launch their own Angry Pablo Pale Ale. You can read more about the event here.
