Some of the top junior riders have already ridden abroad for club, country and province as juniors and U16s, above. Would letting them rider A1 races at home help them or ruin them? (Photo: Maura Lynch Moriarty)
In an interview with stickybottle a couple of days ago, emerging young gun Darragh O’Mahony said he believed junior riders should be allowed to compete in A1 races.
O’Mahony - who looks to be on the verge of breaking into the Irish team after wins so far this season in Dungarvan, the Gorey Three Day and most recently last weekend in Currow - believed competing against A1s would help develop juniors like himself.
The O’Leary Stone Kanturk CC rider also noted the best juniors in the country rarely all competed against each other.
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“Gorey was the only race so far this year where all the juniors have met,” he said of the Easter three-day where he won the opening stage in a two-man escape from eventual outright winner Michael O’Loughlin (NRPT-Magnet.ie).
“There is a strong bunch this year though and I think maybe letting us do some A1 races would be of great benefit for the bigger races later this year.”
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Darragh O'Mahony winning the opening stage of the Gorey Three Day at Easter. He believes junior riders like himself could progress if they were allowed to race against A1s (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Aside from helping juniors prepare for the bigger domestic events; those in favour of the move argue it would better prepare them for racing abroad where the standard is much higher.
And with juniors riding A3 races and mopping up a lot of the points on offer towards regrading, the flow of A3 riders into the A2 ranks is slowed considerably.
A small number of juniors are winning and taking the minor placings every weekend, robbing A3s of those points and the chance to move up to A2 much faster.
However, others say the emphasis for juniors should be on letting them enjoy the sport and keeping them racing for as long as possible.
Many believe if juniors are exposed to very tough competition from as early as their first months out of the U16 ranks it will harm their chances of developing at the right speed and continuing to race for many years.
Let us know what you think in the messages section below and let’s get a debate going.
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