Cycling Ireland is proposing a new system that would see some National Championships races lapse into non-title demonstration events if the appropriate number of riders do not enter.
Under the new proposal, if a title race is planned in a season it will go ahead and count as a full championship race even if the number of riders entering is very small.
However, if there is a very small field in a specific event, that specific title race will be given a ‘yellow card’ and the Cycling Ireland commission responsible for that event will be notified of that warning move.
If there are low numbers again the following year, the title race will go ahead again but it will lapse for the year after. That means the title race will be run as a demonstration event that season and will not count as a national title race, even if a large field enters.
Advertisement
If enough riders contest the demonstration race - which would “demonstrate” higher interest in the event - it could revert back to a full title race the following season.
Related News
The plan comes after a
disappointing turn-out in some title races this year, including the junior
women’s road race and TT and the elite women’s hill climb championships. Only three
riders entered each of the events.
At present, a minimum number of riders must enter all national championships races – across all cycling disciplines and all categories – if the race is to count as a national title event.
For most races the minimum number of starters is 12 or six, depending on the event. In paracycling, a specific category can only count as a national championship race if three or more riders enter.
The new plan to move title
races into a lapsed or demonstration state has been put forward by the board of
Cycling Ireland. Its plan is a motion to be discussed and voted on at the
upcoming Cycling Ireland annual general meeting in Tralee, Co Kerry, on
Saturday, November 6th.
The full motion is as follows:
Any championship that is in the Cycling Ireland calendar – will be promoted irrespective of number of entries. (This is because riders have trained all year for an event that can potentially be cancelled a matter of days before it is due to happen.) The Table of minimum entry numbers becomes a table of starters for Nations Championships to continue unaffected. (If that minimum number of starters is reached the championship continues year to year.) If it fails to hit the minimum number of starters – the championship gets a warning “Yellow Card” sent to the relevant commission. (So, for example the 2021 junior Women’s TT would go ahead – with 3 entrants/starters, and a warning sent to both the Women’s Commission and the Road Commission for 2022.) The warning states that they have failed to meet the minimum number of starters; and should this happen again the following year this championship will become a lapsed or parked National Championship. Should the number of starters not be met for the second year in a row it would still go ahead in year two, but the championship will then move to a lapsed National Championships list, and the commissions advised of this. Should a Commission wish to bring a lapsed championship back – this will have to be run as a demonstration event with no medals or jerseys (to demonstrate interest.) If it receives the number of riders as per the table, it comes back the following year as a full championship in the calendar with jerseys and medals and starts the above process again.
