Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  From the Desk of the President

•  From the Race Committee

•  Racing this Week

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

From the Desk of the President

Dear Members,

I hope that you have all had a relaxing, ride-filled Easter break.

Well that’s a wrap for 2020/21 Summer crits, road and track season! I hope that everyone that was able to get out and race had a lot of fun and enjoyed the challenges that racing brings.

Whilst there were additional challenges – more on those below – this year, we are now looking forward to getting as much racing as is possible, given the restrictions being imposed upon the club.

We also said thank you to Graham Hendrie for his many years of service as the van driver, timekeeper, race recorder, well basically pretty much everything needed to operationalise our race schedule.

We now move into a new era where not only will we need to get all of the ‘Graham’ duties reassigned but also make sure the van is prepared for each week’s particular race. We will continue to seek support from the members to ensure the club can continue racing as often as possible. Please be patient and supportive of the committee, race directors and marshalls whilst we are in this transition phase and be assured, we are doing everything we can.

Last but not least, I hope those involved in last Tuesday’s racing incident are healing swiftly. Thanks to Simon our first aider for helping Ken Birch and Dennis Puniard roadside.

Best Regards,

Seymour Savell-Boss
ACT Vets Cycling Club President.

From the Race Committee

Update on race approvals

The Committee understands a sense of frustration with race cancellations in 2021. Whilst we have had a Tuesday night crit race cancelled by Stromlo park management due to weather, a number of cancellations have been caused by increasing race approval requirements in NSW. Members may be aware that racing in NSW requires three levels of sign off, the local council, the local police and then regional police. This can take many months to process.

NSW shires that ACT Vets race in have applied new conditions for racing in 2021 including requiring Traffic Control Plans (TCP) developed by accredited individuals. NSW now also requires NSW accredited people similar to the ACT’s Event Traffic Controllers (ETC) to run the races. Unfortunately those people accredited as ETCs in the ACT are not accredited in NSW, even though the same standard is applied. The club has explored the option of paying accredited people in NSW, however the estimated cost of around $1,700 per race to hire external providers is beyond the club’s finances. This may put this year’s events at Gunning as well as all other races scheduled for NSW under threat. The club is exploring multiple avenues to try to resolve these issues and the Committee will update members as soon as we are able to provide further information.

Members may be aware that although the process to approve races is far simpler in the ACT, the process still requires multiple steps including submission of a Temporary Traffic Management Plans (TTMPs) and the use of trained Event Traffic Controllers (ETC) to set out the signage and control traffic. A further challenge in the ACT is the closure of some roads due to bush fire damage.

The club has a pool of ACT accredited ETCs however the pool is limited and needs to be expanded. Those seeking to assist the club in running races can nominate themselves for ETC training or join the Committee to assist with the race approval process.

Compulsory Race Pre-Entry

In order to reduce administrative overhead, the Committee has decided to require pre-entry for all future races. Pre-entry is done via RMS Calendar by clicking ‘Details’ for the required race, entering your race number and then paying by credit card using our Square payment link. Check the entry close off time for upcoming events and make sure you enter beforehand.

No on-the-day entries will be allowed at events. In the event of a race being cancelled, riders will be offered pre-entry to a following event. No refunds will be provided.

Riders will need to enter and ride in their assigned grades. The handicapper has confirmed that this needs to happen. It you want to ride in a different grade you will need to have the handicapper change you grade before the race. No grade changes will be allowed at the race. Visitors will need to fill in the AVCC Trial Membership Form and send it to the Committee prior to the event to be assigned an entry.

We understand this may represent problems for some members. RMS is not accessible for visually impaired members and other members do not have internet access. There will also be issues around tandems entering for some events as to how both riders will be assigned to a single grade. We will endeavour to work through these issues with members.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACING THIS WEEK:

There are no events this week.