Can you support our young riders?
If you attended the AGM back in March you'll recall that we spent some time reflecting on the ways in which the race day opportunities for our younger racers were enhanced throughout the 2024 season.
As we look forward to the start of the 2025 season the SCX Under 12s Working Group have proposed to our series organisers the following:
Course length: Ensure that courses are long enough, (potentially longer than 24-25 season)
Course width: Make the courses wider, narrow courses are resulting in crashes and riders becoming frustrated.
Start straights: Ensure that course starts are wide and long. With the use of random gridding this space and distance will facilitate the safe and fair start of all racing.
Dismount/remount: Keep mandatory dismount and remount lines in under 10s and under 8s racing. For under 12's racing have either a mandatory dismount remount zone, or at the discretion of organisers, and with input from commissaires, the inclusion of small low hurdles.
Parents: Introduce a point during the call up/gridding after which parents/guardians are asked to step out of the area and leave riders to be briefed.
Gender/Category format: U10s & U8s racing takes place co-ed, with open and female category racers competing side by side.
Large numbers: If large amounts of rider entries in these age categories, (40+), consider splitting the races in two and running separate female and open category races, one after another.
U12s: gridding and racing is done separately with starts for open and female category races. If both category races are run simultaneously the course needs to be long enough and wide enough to cater for both races, and that the gap between the start of both categories is long enough to facilitate plenty of room to race.
Gridding: U10s and U8s is random gridding and that the gridding position of riders is selected on race day at registration in a "Belgian style" approach. U12s it is proposed that the first race of the season a random gridding is carried out, following which all other races will have gridding based on performance in previous races, and that the working group will support and facilitate that gridding.
That being said, we cannot ask our series organisers to do this without offering them support. Everyone organising series events are volunteers, and to continue to ask for additional provision takes time, resources and hard work.
As such we, the SCX Committee U12’s Working Group are asking for people to step forward to help with the under 12s, 10s and 8s races. This doesn’t require a large amount of time, and the more volunteers we get the easier it is for everyone.
An hour of your time will make a HUGE difference, and not everyone is required to help at the same time.
Ways in which we need help:
Sign on. Supporting the organiser with the handing out of race packs at registration.
Course build. Setting out the course ahead of racing.
Marshalling. Throughout the practice and racing to ensure everyone is safe.
Line judging. Providing a manual check of the results in the unfortunate event of a failure in the electronic timing system.
Course derig. Taking down and tidying up the course afterwards.
If you are going to be at the first race of the series at Brechin and can give up some of your time to help please reply to this post or get in contact with SCX Committee via email at: hello@scottishcx.org.uk
Thanks in advance and see you at Brechin!
