Cycling Reports

3rd Cats Again ! ! ! in response a reader writes ;-

To whom it may concern,

I have read Gerard Cromwell's article on third cats on the irishcycling.com website and have decided to put some of my thoughts on paper. I have lived and raced in Ireland and England I have put down the good ideas I have seen from England (in particular the Surrey League) with some more ideas of my own which I feel could benefit racing in Ireland. With increasing competition from other sports and changing lifestyles changes are needed to halt the decline in numbers and create growth in the federation. We should not rely on the fortunes of our professionals to capture peoples imagination and increase participation. I believe that the federation is doing a good job and put the following forward as possible suggestions for improvements. I think a change in the existing points system is required. The last change to the system reduced the number of points required to gain a 1st cat licence to 15 points. However this has failed to increase the numbers competing at 1st Cat level. I believe the main problem is that organisers are failing to return points scored to the federation. Riders are reaching the quota but are not been promoted to 1st Cat. I believe that it should be mandatory for all race results to be returned to the federation within three days of the race. With email, post, fax, phones and answering machines there can be no reason why this cannot be done. It should be the duty of the ICF commissaries to ensure that this is done. The riders ranking for all categories should also be updated and posted on the ICF website every Friday or made available to another site (eg Irishcycling.com). Details of the events received to date should also be available. This will allow riders to see if all their points are included.  The last rider ranking I have seen from the ICF was at the end of the 1997 season. The BCF operates a system as outlined above from their website despite having 20 or more events on a typical weekend. I believe that the federation should also go one step further and promote a special club award to the club that has the highest combined total of all its riders at the end of the year. All points should carry the same value and their should be no limit on the number of riders contributing to the total. This will encourage clubs to grow, develop and encourage talent in its ranks to race. The higher the merit that can be attached to such an award the better results will be across the board.

The second problem with the points scheme was that with only 6 points available on the line it is extremely hard to score points unless you are riding very well. Most breaks will have more than six riders at the finish. Placings and points scored are the measure of a riders ability. In the current system the majority of 2cats get a zero!! This is disheartening and I believe leads people away from cycling. While their performance may improve drastically, scoring points can still be beyond their current ability at which point they throw in the towel. The points system needs to reward more riders.  The BCF use the following point system shown below. The longer the race the greater the points awarded and most importantly more places are awarded. Races up to 50 km 1st = 6 points 2nd = 5 points 3rd = 4 points 4th = 3 points 5th = 2 points 6th = 1 point Races of 51 to 100 km 1st = 15 points 2nd = 13 points 3rd = 10 points 4th = 8 points 5th = 6 points 6th = 5 points 7th = 4 points 8th = 3 points 9th = 2 points 10th = 1 point Races of 101 to 130 km 1st = 20 points 2nd = 18 points 3rd = 16 points 4th = 14 points 5th = 12 points 6th = 10 points 7th = 9 points 8th = 8 points 9th = 7 points 10th = 6 points 11th =5 points 12th = 4 points 13th = 3 points 14th = 2 points 15th = 1 point Short races will always be fast and furious but often longer races end up with time gaps of 6 and 7 minutes between the bunch and breakaway group. The points system above will result in more competitive racing as riders will have still be chasing worthwhile points even with the break up the road. I do not believe that prizes need be given out to everyone who wins points. This should still be reserved for the top six riders. Giving out points for more places will bring the points back within the grasp of the peleton and not just the elite. It will also reward to riders who continue to race all season picking up lesser placings that previously would go unnoticed. At the top end of the second cat more riders will score points and be promoted to first cat. Currently promoted riders find it extremely difficult to score points in the 1st Cat races but with such a point scheme even promoted riders can continue to score points.  Finally I believe that their should be a re-introduction of the third category. The standard of the second cat is too high. Cycling needs to increase the numbers racing and with more people working longer and longer hours at work an avenue must be made available for these riders and beginners. A new category should be created. This category should require 6-10 points before promotion. The aim should be to keep 2nd cats as the dominant category and keep this 3rd cat as a novice/feeder cat. Cheaper one day licences could be available especially at these races or possibly a special 3rd cat licence which limits the rider to five races before a full ICF licence is required. Another possibility is to examine is short course racing in the 3rd cat. This is where riders would race over short circuits in short races less than 10 miles. A series of rounds would lead to a semi or final with 10 or 15 riders progressing at each stage. Riders should be guaranteed the same number of races whether they continue winning or losing (B/C-finals etc). The better riders will be challenged as they progress and the newer riders will also get to compete at their own level as the racing progresses.

I believe that their should be a return to a national points series for all categories. This should be held in the spring and summer. This should also include a 2nd cat series. 2nd cats are the biggest category racing and every effort should be made to ensure that these riders are given an adequate platform to race. The argument here has been that riders would avoid scoring points in lesser races fearing promotion and save themselves for a 2nd cat series. The first point on this is, so what? Other riders will be scoring the points in the lesser races so good luck to them. If riders do start holding back then it is because they hold such a series in high esteem and want to win it, hence it will have achieved its goal of bringing out the best and raising standards in that category. Some leeway can be given to preventing such actions by making the results count only from the best 3/5 or 4/6 or 5/6 etc. This would act as a handicap system. This way a rider can ride three/four of the series events, get promoted and retain his points in the 2nd cat series. Other riders can then try and catch back on the points lost riding all events if no promoted. Their should be regional championships on a Sunday in the summer (late July) and should be the only fixtures listed on that Sunday. These races should also be of minimum length (~75miles) and less than 90miles to ensure higher participation.

Finally I think that coaching information should be included in the handbook. Even concise information explaining the basics is of great benefit. This can be followed up with details of where to find further information, coaches in your area and good reference books on cycling training.

Regards,

Kieran Keane