Whether it’s APRs, Circuit Races, Time Trials or traditional bunch Road Races – we’ve had plenty of action in the first half of 2024, which has been great to see!
Underpinning all of this – our volunteer organisers, old and new, who have been a part of creating a vibrant and varied calendar to start off the year – a big thank you to all of you.
The purpose of this article is to provide the community with an overview of the season so far, and armed with that information, get input from riders to help shape the future of road racing, and inform any changes we make.
First up, there’s still plenty of racing to go at this year!
Event delivery throws up many challenges and for some organisers, this has unfortunately meant cancelling or postponing their events. We have worked with stakeholders to maintain as many racing opportunities on the calendar as possible, below are some of the changes.
The Outsider Events round of the Alba and Scotia series will no longer be going ahead, with the final round of the Scotia series now taking place within the Lothian Flyer event on the 8th September. While, the final round of the Alba series will now take place within the Lammermuirs Road Race on the 6th October.
Current Standings for the Series can be found here
Additionally, due to damage on the roads, the Falling Leaves Stage Race is unable to go ahead this year. The rescheduled Jack Campbell Memorial Road Race will take its place on the 1st September.
The Scottish Team Time Trial Championships will now be taking place on Saturday 21st September, hosted by Vanelli-Project Go.
We are happy to add the Senior and Junior Scottish Circuit Championships to the calendar on Saturday 28th September at Fife Cycle Park, which will also include support races for other categories. The Scottish Youth Closed Circuit Championships take place on the 14th September at the Ignite circuit. There are regular racing opportunities at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit in the lead up, with open weekly training sessions to help you prepare, whether that’s for your first or 100th race.
The full calendar of upcoming road, closed circuit and time trial events can be found here, with more still due to be registered on the system.
The bigger picture
Over the winter we brought together passionate volunteers from across the sport to take stock of where Road Racing is at and consider what actions we can collectively take to address the challenges we have identified. UK-wide, British Cycling formed an Elite Road Racing taskforce, and we’ve seen similar work undertaken across the Irish Sea; the recurring message coming through loud and clear is that there is work that we can all do to support the continued recovery of the discipline and broaden its appeal further.
As of the end of June 2024, we’ve seen a positive trend in entries, with entries into Road Races (including APRs) up by 44% compared to last year, and an 17% rise in Time Trial entries. Circuit race entries are down marginally, however the remainder of the season has double the number of races compared to last year, so we expect to see that number go up before 2024 is out.
To this end, it’s fantastic to see two brand new series live at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit: Thank Crit It’s Friday and the East and Central Youth Circuit series.
The latter has been formed as a collaboration between four of the local youth clubs: Edinburgh RC, Falkirk Junior BC, Stirling BC (Wallace Warriors) and West Lothian Clarion Cycling Club. It brings back youth circuit racing to the region for the first time in seven years. With three rounds already having taken place, the next round takes place on the 23rd July – enter via this link here.
Up in the North region, the newly formed Regional Development Group has led to a record number of 22 Time Trials on the calendar this year, a 46% increase on the previous year, including a new North vs Grampian racing concept.
While there’s lots to be positive about, we know that there are fragilities within the discipline, and our work for the last year through the focus group has been looking at what we can do to address these. We’ve continued to focus on ensuring that we have the right events, in the right place, at the right time, by working across regions to plan the calendar and maximising exposure for events.
As we pass the halfway point in the season, and have one eye on next year and calendar compilation process, we’re taking some additional actions:
Commissaire Recruitment
We’re indebted to everyone who gives up their time to support the sport as a Commissaire – racing could not happen without them. There are currently several Road Regional B Commissaire Trainee courses open for booking – see here.
We’re also seeking expressions of interest from individuals who want to become Circuit Commissaires; this qualification gives the individual the sole remit to officiate at Closed Circuits, providing the additional capacity required to support the growth of youth and adult at West Lothian Cycle Circuit. If you’re interested, please get in touch with our Workforce Officer [email protected] to find out more.
We’ll also shortly be consulting with all of our Commissaires to understand their aspirations for development and gain a greater insight into their plans for supporting the sport – so that we can align our calendar of domestic races with the current and projected need for officials.
Understanding who is Racing: Rider Survey – Past / Present / Future
The beauty of our sport is the wide variety of ways in which you can participate in it – Road Racing alone encompasses a range of different formats. Add in the growth of Gravel, the continued presence of E-Sports and the wider socio-economic impacts – we know that riders are approaching racing differently than they did previously.
We want to gain a greater insight into this to allow us to support event organisers to ensure that we have a calendar of high-quality events with strong fields across the country.
If you are a current Road Racer, have previously raced, or are considering it – we’d really like to hear from you! Please take five minutes to fill out the survey below. We’ll be gathering responses until the 31st of July, and we’ll share the findings in August. This will give us and organisers a solid reference point to build our domestic calendar – so your input really matters!
Please share your thoughts here