Cycling Reports |
ICF Seek Help on GRADING-ISSUE!By Gerard CromwellAlthough
the season may be just a few weeks old there still seems to be a lot of
confusion, anger and disillusion over the federation’s handling of the issue
of third category racing. Having
only attended two races so far, the Cycleways Cup and the Ben McKenna Memorial,
I am not entirely surprised. At the start of the season I was contemplating
taking out a ‘B’ licence and giving it a go. Although I haven’t raced
seriously in about 8 years and don’t have a lot of time to train, with work
and a new baby to keep me occupied, I would still like to race at some level. Watching
these two races made me glad that I wasn’t stupid enough to fork out £60 for
a licence this year. (Last year I took out a licence, rode 2 races - got
hammered and that was it, end of season - apart from the odd club race!) Both
races saw dangerously high fields of almost 200 riders, varying in degrees of
fitness and experience from those who went on to win prizes to those who got
dropped after a mere 500 metres! In both races I witnessed large groups of
riders plodding around the course in the freezing rain over 3/4 an hour behind
the leaders. For what? Don’t tell me these guys enjoy it. They don’t! They
simply don’t have any other option if they want to race and a few more races
like these and they wont want to anymore. After
Navan, one rider approached me and said that he “Might as well have stayed at
home. I payed £60 for a licence, £10 for petrol, £5 to sign on and probably
another £20 for food on the way home. All I got was wet and hammered! There is
no incentive for me to keep racing. What’s the point in even having a ‘B’
category, never mind a ‘C’ category, if they don’t put on a separate
race!” There
were about 50 or 60 A riders in both races, that means there were well over 100
‘B’ riders in each race. So how many prizes went to ‘B’ riders? Three!
That meant that over 100 ‘B’ riders were wasting their time and money.
At
present, Irelands has 98
first cats. What’s wrong with having one first category race each
weekend and letting them all ride together, instead of trying to fill a bunch
with second category riders. Having two separate ‘A’ races on any given
Sunday simply means that the bunches are very small, and this is what most
‘A’ riders seem to be complaining about. There
are 404 second category riders in the country at the moment. Some of these
deserve to be first category, some are properly graded as second cats and more
would benefit from a third grade. There are 69 Juniors and 92 Vets (a lot of
whom only ride the Vets league races etc.) If
you have one ‘A’ race, one or two ‘B’ races and a Junior Vets and third
category race, the numbers would even out more and you would get decent sized
bunches of riders of the same ability and everybody should be happy. This would
also be a lot safer than having such a big bunch tearing along narrow country
roads. One well known ‘A’ told me he attacked in Balbriggan because he felt
it was too dangerous in the bunch! Did
you know that the ICF has brought out a new
category this year? The NEWCOMER’S
category is ‘Intended to introduce new Senior riders into racing at
a reasonable standard for the first year” according to the handbook.
Newcomer’s can race with the Juniors on unrestricted gears, gaining experience
and fitness. The handbook also states that “Organisers should have separate
category prizes for newcomer’s” Did
you also know that existing
club riders who wish to apply for this category may do so. If you are
a club rider, maybe racing in club leagues or maybe coming back from a few years
break, you are entitled to apply for this category and “Unless you are an
international rider or something like that you will be considered for that
grade” says Maurice Murphy of the ICF. Another
new category in this year’s handbook is that of Masters.
This is open to anyone over
30 years. If
you take the newcomers and the Masters and allow them to race with the Juniors,
you are both reducing the high number of ‘B’ riders
and increasing the number of riders in the Junior, Vets races and making
them a bit more competitive. If anyone has seen our Junior races over the past
couple of years, they will know that you can almost predict the top three
finishers every week. While we still produce good juniors, maybe a bit of
competition from more experienced riders and even young enthusiastic seniors
will progress them even further. I
know that technically, Phil Cassidy could take out a Masters licence and win
every race for the next year, but he’s not going to! If you make a rule that
anyone who takes out a masters licence may
not ride in an ‘A,B’ race, then you will only get genuine guys
applying for it. Anyone with intentions of riding the Ras or the championships
will not take out a masters licence, because they won’t be allowed ride. To
enable a rider who is progressing in experience and fitness, move up the ranks
there should be a points system. Say, 6pts for a win, down to 1pt for 6th
place. Any newcomer with 20pts gets upgraded to B and remains there for next
season, while any master with 20 pts is upgraded for the rest of that season but
may return as a master the following season as the rider is also getting older
each year and if you are in your 30’s it is harder to get motivated to race a
bike than it is if you are a 20 yr old. As
regards prizes, there should be only first 6 in each race, with no special
prizes for newcomers, masters or Juniors. There
should of course be ladies prizes, although I feel to develop the Ladies side of
the sport there should be one separate Ladies race each Sunday and perhaps a
season long handicap series to help introduce new girls to our sport. There
could still be 3 unplaced veterans (over 40’s) prizes. As for stage races,
there should be at least one 3-day where this group can race alone, without
‘A’ or ‘B’ riders. One
of the main things that must be done is riders must be upgraded as soon as their
points quota is reached. A few years ago, commisaires used to sign your licence
if you got points and when you had enough, they would notice it and make a
request for a new licence for you, whether you wanted it or not! This is a good
idea. Also a computer database of everybody’s points would increase the
chances of people being in the proper grades all of the time. As soon as a rider
reached a certain number of points the ICF would know and could issue a new
licence immediately, while notifying commisaires to look out for whatever riders
are upgraded in that weeks races. There
is a huge gap in ability in cycling as there is in every sport. But if you’re
a crap footballer, your teammates can carry you to a certain extent and you keep
playing, maybe even get an odd goal or play the odd blinder. If you’re a crap
cyclist, and I should know, you can’t hide. You ride around on your own or in
a small group miles down and pretend your doing it for training for the next
race, when in fact, you don’t really know why you’re doing it and when you
start to think about it you don’t want to do it anymore. Every year there has
been a drop in numbers. Cycling is a tough sport. Making it even tougher will
only drive more riders away and dissuade others from ever starting. Let’s try
and encourage people to take up cycling. It’s to everybody’s benefit in the
end. If the races are that little bit easier when you start off, then you are
more likely to want to try again. When you do get the swing of it and can win a
race, then you should be able to move up another step, until you reach the top
of the ladder. Every
year there are new cyclists on that first rung of the ladder. It’s about time
we gave them a hand up. Maurice
Murphy of the ICF approached me to start this debate up again. Maurice has the
unenviable task of sorting this problem out and is genuinely looking for ideas.
He has come up with some, but says there are advantages and disadvantages to all
of them. Above are just some of my ideas, let’s hear yours! Think
before you write. You
can email Maurice at murf@eircom.net
Don’t forget to let us know what you think too! |
