ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 15th April, 2019 – Important Announcement

Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

• From the Desk of the President – Important Announcement
• From the Desk of the Secretary
• Racing this Week
• From the Race Committee
• Race Reports

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

From the Desk of the President – Important Announcement

Due to a number of issues, the Club will be moving the Gunning two day event from the 18th and 19th of May to the following weekend (25-26 May – pending final approval). The Club has been fully approved by both the Council and NSW Police to undertake the race and has been advised by both authorities that a change of date should be straightforward.

The change of date has been necessitated by a clash with Cycling NSW Junior events that uses the same route over two days being scheduled for the weekend of 18/19 March. ACT Vets was working with Goulburn Cycle Club but circumstances beyond our control have created this clash.

An advantage of moving the event is that the Gunning two day will now avoid the Election weekend which is likely to see increased traffic on the roads. The club acknowledges that the 25th and 26th are followed by a holiday in the ACT and that some may have already planned trips away. This does however offer riders a recovery day before going back to work!

I really hope to see the strong numbers we’ve seen in previous years for this fantastic event.

Dougal Torrance
President
ACT Veterans Cycling Club

From the Desk of the Secretary

Your committee meets monthly to ensure the ongoing success of the club and its race program. Members are encouraged to talk to committee members about suggestions or provide input via committee@actvets.cc.

In particular, the 2020 race program will be drafted in the next few months so please let us know your thoughts on what you’d like to see on the program for next year. There is significant lead time in obtaining race approvals from ACT and NSW jurisdictions hence the early heads-up.

Minutes from committee meetings will be available to members once endorsed. The March 2019 minutes are here https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/minutes-4-march-2019-meeting.pdf.

The committee has recently finalised the Payment Schedule which sets out the amounts payable to volunteers for various race-related activities. Acceptance of payment by volunteers is optional. The schedule is here https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/payment-schedule-april-2019.pdf. Our treasurer, Kirsti McVay, will contact volunteers on race day (or as soon as practicable after) to arrange payment.

The committee has created a new role of Welfare Officer to follow up with members injured in racing/training incidents. Rob Langridge is the nominated contact via welfare@actvets.cc. Members are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the club’s insurance policy and claim process at https://actvets.cc/insurance/ which includes links to the AVCC website.

Jan Koehler
secretary@actvets.cc

RACING THIS WEEK:

Saturday, 20th April: No Race – Easter Long Weekend

From the Race Committee

Race Directing and Marshalling Records in RMS

The requests for members to help as race directors and marshals at races is based on race records held in the rider management system (RMS). So if you have helped at a race, please check that your name is listed as director or marshal in the race results. If you are not listed, please contact the race committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) so that the results can be amended. These records reflect rostered helpers who have agreed to help in advance and have given up the opportunity to ride on the day, rather than ‘casual’ helpers, for example, a rider who pulls out early and helps at the end of the race.

Event Traffic Controller course for 1 June 2019

The next ETC Training course is on Saturday 1st June.

We currently only have about 40 ETCs from a club of 300 members. Members need to share the burden of helping to run races. Having enough traffic controllers available in the club is critical to our ability to run races in the ACT and it is likely we will need to have ETCs for NSW races in the future. ETCs are eligible for reimbursement of $100 for marshalling at ACT road races.

Course details are available on Blended Learning’s web site – http://www.blendedlearning.edu.au/home/courses/programs-courses/event-traffic-controller/. I am still awaiting information on funding the training. YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY.

Upcoming Marshal Roster

Thank you to those who have already volunteered to help. Nominees, in blue have been selected based on results from the previous race season and the period since they last helped at a race. Nominees are requested to advise their availability/unavailability to the race committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) as soon as possible.

Summer series crit races are held at Stromlo Forest Park on Tuesday evenings and road races are held on Sunday mornings.

* denotes ETC required for ACT races.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACE REPORTS:

Cooma Handicap – 13th April

On a fast undulating 40km course, A grade was hoping for torrential rain, blustering winds and a broken road surface. Fortunately, for the more sane members racing in Cooma, conditions were perfect – a sunny mild autumn afternoon with light winds.

Rob Langridge’s handicapping ensured an exciting finish with most grades being represented in the first 15 of 34 riders.

Forty minutes after G grade had rolled away, Paul Welsh gave the first update. The tandem of John Barlow and Tony Beasley had overtaken G grade, dropped the rest of F grade, and turned in the lead with a good gap. C grade were chasing hard in a co-ordinated effort, followed by B grade that was breaking apart, and not far behind, 2 A graders who were thinking they were in with a chance. But the hardest part of the rising course was done by the turn, and the four legged beast, known as the tandem, was never going to allow their lesser bipeds to get back on.

At the finish, it was John and Tony (F grade), followed by Damien Copeland (C grade) and Chris Nolan (C grade). Marc Vroomans got the fastest time of the day.

It was another joyful day of racing for the ACT Vets. Well done to all.

Owain Tilley, Michael Foulds, Paul Welsh, Graham Hendrie, and Jim officiated with myself.

Michael Carr