The National Cyclocross Championships take place in Armagh City this weekend. They are hosted by Square Wheels CC and it promises to be a great weekend of racing; a welcome return for these title races after they were cancelled due to Covid-19 last year.
The racing will undoubtedly produce worthy champions on a scene that has enjoyed a boom for much of the last decade. That said, when one compares the number of entries this year across all races with previous years, the news is mixed. Not all of it is good.
Let's start with the good news first. Youth numbers have not just increased this year, they are significantly higher.
Across the U16 and U14 girls and boys races, 108 riders have entered. That compares to 63 when the championships were last held, in 2020, and it is more than double the 45 riders who entered in 2019.
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If we look as far back as 2018, the jump in U14 and U16 numbers this year is very significant; 32 riders entered for the four races in 2018 compared to 108 this year.
It's absolutely crucial these numbers in the U14 and U16 races are up as these are the athletes who will very quickly progress up through the ranks and bolster the junior and U23 categories.
Very often in Irish cycling, when a boom occurs it's driven by riders aged 35 years and older taking up the sport. But in Irish cyclocross right now - indeed across Irish cycling - youth numbers are the good news story.
The picture is more mixed when we look at junior and adult racing. Across the junior, elite and Masters races this year, the number of entrants in the National Cyclocross Championships is a little lower this time around.
A total of 165 riders have entered, the lowest level seen for the last six years, according to data published by Cycling Ireland's Off-Road Commission.
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The elite women's category is the good news story here with 26 riders entered, the highest of recent years and far cry from the days when just a handful of riders raced for the title.
In the elite men's race, some 29 riders have entered; down from 42 in 2020 and some way off the recent peak of 54 in 2017.
In the Masters 40 and Masters 50 categories the numbers are slightly down. There are 54 riders in the M40 category entered compared to 62 two years ago and there are 29 Masters 50 riders, down just one. In the Masters 60 category, there are 11 entrants, up one on two years ago.
In the men's junior race, 16 riders have entered. This is much higher than at any time since 2016 - only nine junior riders entering in 2020, for example.
However, stickybottle recently highlighted the boom in youth numbers in Irish cycling last year, up towards an al-time high. And yet the increase in the junior men's field at this weekend's championships is still in single figures; seven extra riders this year compared to 2020.
Yes, it is a bigger field than before, but the size of that increase is perhaps a little disappointing when set against last year's surge in U16s taking out Cycling Ireland membership.
In the women's junior field, five riders have entered, which is one down on the number of juniors who lined up in 2020.
It may be the case that the boom in youth numbers will become more evident in the junior ranks over the next couple of seasons so it would be premature to read too much into it for now. More time is required to get a more complete picture.
Let's hope that longer term picture is more positive because if Irish cycling cannot convert the current youth boom into a junior racing boom in coming years, it will be a lost opportunity.
There are now fewer adult races - from A1 to A4 - taking out Cycling Ireland memberships, a trend we covered in recent weeks. With adult racing numbers falling, converting the youth boom into a bigger junior peloton across road racing and cyclocross in the next couple of years must be a priority for the national governing body.
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