by DavidShort
Sun Oct 01, 2017 1:17 pm
First off all a big thank you to the few of the stalwarts of the TT series who turned up to the meeting on Wednesday night. Your contributions and suggestions were much appreciated. It is only through consultation with your good selves that we can improve and evolve the series.
To summarise the 2017 season we had 11 events, 2 of which were on a new course, Wheldrake, in partnership with York Cycleworks. We attracted 77 different competitors over the series including more women and juniors. The increase in fees clearly has not had a negative impact on competitors and the financial contributions to organisers and timekeepers has been well received. All good stuff!
The Wednesday night discussion revolved around a number of issues.
1. There appears to be a view that the Bulmer Bank & Terrington Bank circuits are losing favour. I have my own reservations on the safety of these descents and I for one would not be sorry to see them dropped. They are also the circuits which attract the least numbers of competitors which probably tells us something. That said, one or two members do favour these courses.
2. Concern was expressed at the finish of the Sutton flat 10 in Moxby Lane after a left hand turn at the end of a TT. We have debated this at length and the consensus is that the challenges of bike handling skills negotiating a turn so close to the finish outweighs the risk to rider safety with the previous finish on the straight towards Sheriff Hutton.
3. On the issue of having longer circuits Chris Rowley suggested me might consider a 2 lap event over the Sutton 10 mile circuit. Dr Dave suggested reintroducing the longer Hovingham circuit we dropped last year. This of course brings in Bulmer and Terrington banks as discussed in point 1 above.
The options I propose for consideration then are as follows;
A. No change, format and circuits as per 2017.
B. 4 circuits, Sutton, Brandsby, ( a most popular circuit), Wheldrake and High Stittenham. Each of the three former circuits to be repeated 3 times with the latter, High Stittenham on 1 occasion as a shorter 'Come and try it event'.
C. As B but with a 2 lap event for the Sutton 10 circuit on one occasion.
D. As B but reintroducing the longer Hovingham circuit.
E. As B but reintroducing the Farlington circuit proposed by Dave Cook in 2016.
F.A permutation of the above I have not thought of!
There was also a debate about the perennial problem of organisers not coming forward until the 11th hour. I would like to propose that 'organisers' step forward at the start of the season and if for whatever reason they can't run the event then they should find a stand in organiser.
With these suggestions and options which came out of the meeting I would invite you all to make your views known on this thread as part of the consultation exercise to ensure you have the opportunity to contribute to the running and evolution of the SPOCO TT series.
I have to submit our final decision and series proposals to the CTT governing body by January 2018 after which I then have to compile risk assessments and prepare the statutory notifications to the police etc. The sooner we get this done the better.
In closing I would like once again to thank you for your time reading this and giving the subject some thought. I would also like to thank to organisers, timekeepers, marshals, and of course participating members who made the 2017 series a successful and safe series.
Kind regards David
TT Sec'
To summarise the 2017 season we had 11 events, 2 of which were on a new course, Wheldrake, in partnership with York Cycleworks. We attracted 77 different competitors over the series including more women and juniors. The increase in fees clearly has not had a negative impact on competitors and the financial contributions to organisers and timekeepers has been well received. All good stuff!
The Wednesday night discussion revolved around a number of issues.
1. There appears to be a view that the Bulmer Bank & Terrington Bank circuits are losing favour. I have my own reservations on the safety of these descents and I for one would not be sorry to see them dropped. They are also the circuits which attract the least numbers of competitors which probably tells us something. That said, one or two members do favour these courses.
2. Concern was expressed at the finish of the Sutton flat 10 in Moxby Lane after a left hand turn at the end of a TT. We have debated this at length and the consensus is that the challenges of bike handling skills negotiating a turn so close to the finish outweighs the risk to rider safety with the previous finish on the straight towards Sheriff Hutton.
3. On the issue of having longer circuits Chris Rowley suggested me might consider a 2 lap event over the Sutton 10 mile circuit. Dr Dave suggested reintroducing the longer Hovingham circuit we dropped last year. This of course brings in Bulmer and Terrington banks as discussed in point 1 above.
The options I propose for consideration then are as follows;
A. No change, format and circuits as per 2017.
B. 4 circuits, Sutton, Brandsby, ( a most popular circuit), Wheldrake and High Stittenham. Each of the three former circuits to be repeated 3 times with the latter, High Stittenham on 1 occasion as a shorter 'Come and try it event'.
C. As B but with a 2 lap event for the Sutton 10 circuit on one occasion.
D. As B but reintroducing the longer Hovingham circuit.
E. As B but reintroducing the Farlington circuit proposed by Dave Cook in 2016.
F.A permutation of the above I have not thought of!
There was also a debate about the perennial problem of organisers not coming forward until the 11th hour. I would like to propose that 'organisers' step forward at the start of the season and if for whatever reason they can't run the event then they should find a stand in organiser.
With these suggestions and options which came out of the meeting I would invite you all to make your views known on this thread as part of the consultation exercise to ensure you have the opportunity to contribute to the running and evolution of the SPOCO TT series.
I have to submit our final decision and series proposals to the CTT governing body by January 2018 after which I then have to compile risk assessments and prepare the statutory notifications to the police etc. The sooner we get this done the better.
In closing I would like once again to thank you for your time reading this and giving the subject some thought. I would also like to thank to organisers, timekeepers, marshals, and of course participating members who made the 2017 series a successful and safe series.
Kind regards David
TT Sec'