Category: Volunteers

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News Racing Track League Volunteers

Friday: Riders Required (and other stuff)

Friday Riders Required

It’s the last of our accreditation sessions this Friday (April 29th) and we need to get some regulars to turn up to increase the bunch size.

It’s a free session, from 6 to 8ish (track booked to 9) so if you haven’t managed to swing a leg over a fixed gear yet, get down there and give yourself some track time. No sign up required.

Sign On

From next week riders must return to manually signing on in the hut, whether pre-entered or entering on the day. Your co-operation is appreciated.

Race Day Staff (again)

Radio silence on volunteers for race day staff for the summer series, so this is a last call. If we don’t get some in a couple of weeks the summer series will be called off. Read the original post here. Note that this may well apply to track league too next year, so have a good think about it. If every adult involved was capable of being an organiser/sign on volunteer, probably only about half of them would have to do it once a year …..

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News Racing Track League Volunteers

Almost there …

It’s nearly time. Weather looks good. We’re all set! Just a few notes prior to the big day.

Mixed Racing

As numbers are so low for the first week (Easter Holidays?) we are going to merge the Senior A and B riders (and possibly C) and have the second part of Fridays cancelled accreditation running concurrently. Accreditation riders will use the track in the gaps opened up by merging the senior races.

Some of them will have completed their accreditation that evening so we might even get to bring them in for a race or two!

Race Numbers

As usual you can pick up your numbers when you get there. These are still being tweaked so we can’t advise of which number you are until tomorrow.

Speaking of which, we have a LOT of missing race numbers. If you still have last years please bring it back or contact promoter@scrl.co.uk to return it by mail if you are not intending to race.

If we keep having to replace numbers, it costs us money, reduces any profit we might make, and brings us closer to considering things like doubling the registration fees as a form of deposit.

Registrations/Entry

There are still quite a few that have registered but have not sent us the required proof of membership/race licence as per the accreditation page. We are now way past the official cut off point, but if you get it sent in you might get lucky and I’ll approve it prior to the week #1 entry cut off time (3pm on race day).

THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO IN PERSON REGISTRATION ON THE DAY – NO IFS – NO BUTS – NOT REGISTERED = NO RACE

Calendar and Schedule

If you take a look at the calendar page, you will see that this years schedule is much simplified. We have just two week variations, Week A and Week B, and the running order is always youth minor, major, seniors C, B and A. Each week has a “slot” for one feature race which we will vary each week. To allow us a bit more flexibility, we will also be only publishing weekly schedules about four weeks in advance.

This makes things much easier to run on a week-by-week basis and ensures that everyone (youth especially) get more practice at the races which will almost always feature in other competitions.

Volunteers

As usual, if anyone knows they will be there to marshal, please add your name to the spreadsheet. Link here.

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Circuits News Racing Track League Volunteers

League News

Winter Series #5 – Riders and Volunteers

Winter series #5 is now open for entries. As always we can’t run anything without volunteers to marshal, so please put your name down or get a friend to volunteer.

Track Accreditation

Our track accreditation sessions are now open for entry. Please just enter your first one for now. Then you can enter any additional sessions as and when you know you can get to them.

Read about our accreditation process and why we have it here.

League Registration

For those riders already accredited registration is now open. Please take note of the instructions in regards to sending in your licence details.

SCRL now have their own set of racing rollers!

You might have been at the AGM a couple of years back when we borrowed the BECC rollers to spice up proceedings a bit.

Well a BECC member found their spare set in his garage and offered them up for sale. After (not all that) lengthy negotiations they were obtained for a very reasonable price indeed!

So now we have them, lets make some use of them. Any ideas for how we can use them to raise funds in addition to just having some fun with them would be welcome.

So far thoughts are:

  • Perhaps have a winter league where we can have a “social” evening once a month through the off season, probably at the Knoyle Road hall.
  • Maybe if we can have short notice use of the pavillion a “rained off day” event.
  • Hire out for use by other clubs, organisations and events.
  • Provide for use at local summer fairs etc. as an advertising/awareness raising tool.
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Circuits Racing Volunteers

Volunteers for #4, yet again…

Once again we find ourselves asking people to step up to fill the volunteer roles we require to allow racing to go ahead. If you have raced all the races so far but not volunteered it’s time to put your hand up✋

Again may we suggest the following:

  • Bring someone with you who can marshal during your race OR
  • Volunteer for the race after yours (or in the case of the last race, come down early for the first one)

Go to the link below to put your name down:
https://scrl.co.uk/current-volunteer-status/

All the roles marked * AT A MINIMUM need to be filled by 5pm or the races will be pulled.

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Circuits Racing Volunteers

Volunteers for Race #3

Thanks for all those who have put their hand up to volunteer this Sunday so far.

It does seem to largely be the same names each week though.

We are still especially short of positions to cover the first (cat 4) race.  If you are racing PLEASE see if you can persuade someone to come with you to cover a marshalling spot and get them to put their name down on our request form here: Current Volunteer Status – Sussex Cycle Racing League (scrl.co.uk).

The other positions are at a bare minimum too, which means if someone is a no-show then racing won’t go ahead, so please put your name down for those as well if possible.

This is an all or nothing situation.  We won’t put on one or two races which we have cover for, the whole event needs cover or it doesn’t happen.

Just a reminder: this isn’t a commercial enterprise, it’s volunteer driven to keep the track in use and provide some local racing.  If you like racing at it, you need to put back in to keep it going.  If everyone does their bit, you probably only need to do one or two slots a season at most.

Thanks in advance

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Circuits Racing Volunteers

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!

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News Racing Uncategorized Volunteers

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.

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Racing Track League Volunteers

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.

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Volunteers

Volunteers Again:

We are still short a couple volunteers this week at track league for marshalling. Please add your name to the spreadsheet here.

More importantly, we WILL be short a number of regulars over the coming weeks so please add your name to the future weeks in the spreadsheet too (the tabs at the bottom have all the remaining weeks).

Especially important is the job of judging and i-pad camera operator which will be empty at various points over the final weeks, including next week (week 16). If you can help out and would like some practice, please come and speak to Ben at the finish line before racing starts and he can help get you up to speed.

Remember. No Volunteers = No Racing.