National Youth Circuit Champs - £1600 prizes

[Hans Datdodishes]

[Plurien]

...and they don't bother replying to emails from organisers. Even when you have the email of the person that covers your area.

Thanks anyhow.
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Tucker: This thread ROCKS!

[Plurien]

Think we can safely say we saw a few stars riding today.
Seems like they may be new to some.
Huge thanks to all who made the event go so well with such great riding in all races, and to those who helped make the event run like clockwork right through to the u8 and u10s support races.
Brilliant riding throughout - Thanks.

More folks may now be wondering why there aren't more facilities like Hog Hill which safely disproved the old lie that circuits with technical turns, big climbs and descents can't be safe. It was fabulous seeing 100 youth A riders in one race with one minor incident. and very little custom for the first-aiders over the whole day. That's big races for 320 riders from 7yrs up to 17.
Let's have a big re-evaluation of risk for youth racing and place more trust in them to do it right. They did good today.

See you there again soon.

Michael Humphreys
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Tucker: This thread ROCKS!

[T12OTT]

A job well done Michael

Top days racing, some great rides and not just by the winners and established names

Watching, from the bottom, near on 100 U16's lads coming down the hill the first time was impressive

Well done to the lad (black kit - Rapha?) who ended up on the grass on the second bend and got back over the curb and into the middle of the bunch

[John McC]

[foxy]

[De Rosa]

[T12OTT]

[Plurien]

Huge relief that there were so few incidents in the races. We had the plan to start with a neutral climb to the line, but in the end decided against that because of the way the riders were behaving so 'professionally' about their day. I can honestly say I had only one minor outbreak of parent rage which was stilled by a reference to the inner calm that top athletes need to find. - I was prepared for far worse and am grateful it wsan't needed. I would like to think that is because the riders responded well to the way they were treated with respect and were part of a plan to keep it that way.
I can't say I wasn't nervous at the start of the youth A men's race, but they took their line-up talking-to well and responded with a well-ordered mass start into one of the most demanding turns with minimal fuss. I heard at least two bangs as tyres blew which is enough to send many into complete panic, but they all held their nerve and the six or so who went down were all remounted and rejoined at one lap, when we also withdrew the black flag just as the pack approached the line first time round.
If there are still any race organisers or old gits in the sport who somehow resent 'kids racing' we can only point out that you get back what you give out as an organiser or coach. If you don't respond well to riders who give 100% you probably shouldn't be working with youth riders or the top pros, since both types of rider must work to similar standards in order to succeed. - Hence the sign-up procedure, the website, the emails and the way the riders were treated on the day.
As someone who's had a little bit to do with it, I'd also say that all clubs should have a facility as good as Hog Hill. The riders and the sport deserve that level of provision.
These are interesting times for our sport and I'd like to see the admin make some massive leaps now to try and keep up. Come ON! Let's have the tech to get riders signed on and to keep track of races, results and rankings.
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Tucker: This thread ROCKS!

[Bally]

Speaking to Steve Freeman (father of Aaron who won the under 8's), he was saying how may parents who were top riders in their day now have youths and juniors competing - Lisa Brambani's daughter for one. If she has the same talent then that's one to watch out for!
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Bally: Putting the @rse into Grass.
www.easterleycycling.org.uk/CycleStatsLite.exe for Gears, Revs, Speed, BBAR calc, Pursuit Scheduling etc.
"your power is truly awesome" - John McC
"real class" - George Gilbert"

[foxy]

As more facilities like Redbridge, Stourport, Solihull Tudor Grange etc are built, the brighter the future of the sport. It definately is a facility based sport for young riders...much like any other sport. Those area's of the UK without traffic free facilities....either circuits or velodromes, are having to play catch up. It's great to see the number of riders competing. This, in itself, is going to improve the quality of not only the riders, but also the coaching and support infrastructure that they need.
Our experiences over the last 2 years since Tudor Grange was finished have been amazing...both in the number of U16's we now have (over 90) and also the fact that although we didn't get the results we hoped for at Redbridge, we have already started to see success at national level which is having a positive effect down the riders in the club. We acknowledge that its not all about racing either so we have a strong club where some riders can go on developing away from the racing scene.
We still have issues with what people call 'schoolboy' racing so I always get them to come to a big youth event to see what really goes on and then I don't here them use that term again !!
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I'd have won if it wasn't for those 20 blokes in front of me....