About 18 months after the Cycling Ireland road racing working group first met, a whole raft of changes are now set to become reality for the domestic road racing scene.
The categories have been changed and the racing calendar has been overhauled. The idea is it should stop the decline in the number of racing licence holders - from 4,000 in 2017 to 1,700 last year - and to encourage those with licences to race more often.
With that in mind, the structure of racing - what types of races are being promoted each weekend, how big the events are, and where they are being held - has all been examined and changes made.
In this piece we outline what exactly is in store. It includes being able to avoid an upgrade even if you score enough points this year, Masters-only events, women's racing and why all road racers might find themselves in bigger bunches this season.
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Cathal Dillane of Galway Bay CC and Niall Doggett of Navan Road Club - both also involved in Connacht Cycling and Cycling Leinster respectively - have been part of the overhaul and they set out the main points.
Dillane said the changes were based on studying patterns in Irish racing in recent years. One significant factor impacting the drop off in race numbers as the season progressed was that riders were being upgraded from A3 too quickly.
It meant they soon found themselves racing as A2s, against the top A1s. In a bid to slow down that progression - so hopefully more of those cyclists will keep racing through the year - riders do not have to be upgraded, even when they score the points, if they don't want to.
Change To Racing Categories
The main change is a shift from four racing categories to three. Last year's A1, A2, A3 and A4 categories now become C1, C2 and C3.
"The end goal is to spread the riders across three categories that make sense for riders to be in," said Doggett. "We want to put riders into categories that are more equally balanced. The idea is that with a greater pool of riders, there's a better chance of a larger bunch, or peloton, at the races."
At 'national level' races - of which there will be 16 through the season - there was a "guaranteed" three races, a separate one for each of the three categories.
That is intended to bring about a race balance so cyclists will only race against others who are, broadly speaking, around the same ability.
Points, Category Grading
- All A1s will automatically become C1s for this year and all A4s become C3s. The remainder of riders - that is the old A2 and A3 categories - will be split between C1 and C2
- Any A2 who scored points last year will be a C1
- An A2 who finished on no points last year has been put into the C3 category
- As a default, all juniors will be C3s this year, though some high performing juniors will begin the season as C2s
- Some riders who requested a change in category had their requests granted but will be "monitored on an ongoing basis"
- Masters riders will all be categorised as a C1, C2 or C3
Dillane said the idea was to "create sustainable categories" - meaning more riders in each category resulting in sufficient numbers of separate races in each category.
Upgrading Category
Riders must secure 60 points to be upgraded categories. However, the default position is that even if a rider scores 60 points, they will remain in their category and will not be upgraded until the start of next season.
That means - with some exceptions - riders will race in the category they started the season with, even if they score 60 points, and do so quite quickly.
There will be a season-long table - or rankings - for each of the three categories. And it is hoped allowing riders remain in the same category, to compete for the best positions in that table, will encourage more riders to race through the full season.
"This will hopefully avoid a drop off in attendance at races in the second half of the year," said Doggett.
Dillane explained if riders reach 60 points and they wanted to be upgraded, they can "self select" to do so - meaning a mid-season upgrade.
Juniors who score 60 points will also be upgraded mid-season as the feedback to Cycling Ireland was that juniors want to make progress up through the ranks as quickly as they could.
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Dillane stressed it was "a new system" and may take some time to "settle", but the plan was the fairest one that could be formulated at this time.
National, Regional, Local Races
The 16 planned 'national' events are seen as the main event of a weekend - each with three races being promoted at those fixtures - with more points on offer. There will also be chip timing.
The intention is to "pool" riders from all over the country into the 'national' event of a weekend. And it is envisaged those riders seeking upgrades will go to the national races, looking for results and points.
Other races - described as "regional" events - will also cater for the top riders, but Cycling Ireland believes they will attract riders who perhaps take a more relaxed approach to their racing.
That means riders who do no want to travel all over the country for racing and who simply enjoy racing for the sake of it. These "regional" races will see categories combined in massed start events and/or handicapped races - as has always been the case with many Irish road races.
A third type of event - described as "local" races - will be midweek and/or league races, where Dillane said riders can get the racing "fix" without "big points on offer". He added the idea of "tiered" racing was an attempt to offer different types of events to suit riders with varying goals, or motivations for racing.
Racing Calendar Changes
Doggett said the calendar of races had been changed to avoid events clashing through the season. Based on the race entry data available to Cycling Ireland, holding three races in different parts of the country on a weekend was the "sweet spot" number.
He added there had previously been a "glut of races" - up to six events on a single weekend - followed by "very few" a week later and "that doesn't serve people very well".
Stage races and national races now had clear space on the calendar, meaning they were not competing with other significant events on the same weekend open to the same category of riders.
Doggett added Cycling Ireland had also focused on balancing national with regional races, and having an effective geographic spread.
This would, hopefully, avoid races competing with each other for numbers and draw out as many riders as possible to race each weekend.
Women's And Masters Races
Dillane said more women's races would be held this year and Cycling Ireland was also looking at plans to get clubs to cater for the Masters category, with Masters-only events.
Doggett said Masters racing was a topic that came up very frequently during consultations as 19 per cent of racing licence holders last year were Masters cyclists; aged 40 years and above.
Cycling Ireland had not offered much for Masters riders, Doggett said, and while promoting clubs could not be "forced" to run Masters-only events, they would be "encouraged".
The scale of the Masters category would be emphasised to clubs and talks were already underway with some clubs to try and put in place these events.
Riders wanted these races, and some clubs were interested in promoting them. However, a lot of change to road racing was about to happen at the same time and Masters events were essentially a work in progress.
Doggett added women's racing was also "a key part of the plan". There were more women's races planned this year than last season, for example.
While the number of women racing was "quite small" it would be about being "careful" as to where and when women's races would be promoted; where, when and on what kinds of courses.
