CCA Cyclocross Race 6 Oct

Peter D

Thank you to everybody who has volunteered to help on 6th October. We now have sufficient people not just to run the event but also enough people to enable everybody to race if they wish and to work around parents with kids racing.

If you wish to enter the race please see the British Cycling website.

We won't need everybody to be at the venue all day and I have set up the marshal roles so that people will be on duty either for a morning or an afternoon. Roles and arrival times are as follows

Judges - 8.30am
Stef
Mark
Robert

Sign on - 8.15am
Sue
Jackie
Sam

General set up - 8.00am
Dan
Richard
Tim

Car park - 8.15am
Stuart
MC

Marshals
Daniel will act as Chief Marshal and we will brief marshals at 8.30 and 12 noon. Marshals will be issued with whistles, flags and radios.

Can the following people be ready for 8.30am
Simon
Jenny
Dave W
Iain
Ed
Mitchy
Mark S
Nat
Scott
Geoff

Can the following people be ready for 12 noon (if not already there)
Will
Graham
Brendan
Richard
Mark W
Dave H

Ben - I know you will arrive later and have you down just to marshal the seniors.

With regard to set up, we won't need so many people so I am proposing the following help set up on 29th and 5th. Both 10am at the school

Robert
Dan
Dave
Richard
Mitchy
Iain (5th only)
Daniel (5th only)
Mark W (can't remember what you said about your availability here Mark)

I think if we do this as per previous years with helpful kids we'll be fine. I'm yet to do a site visit and if it turns out to be more overgrown than expected, I'll maybe ask for others.

For those that don't know the venue is Princess Helena School, Preston nr Hitchin.

Peter D

….and I knew I'd miss someone..... Vince - I know you'll be there anyway but I have you down for marshal duty in the afternoon

Geoff_E

Looking forward to it.

Martinh

Peter, happy to help when not racing.

Vincent

Pete
Yes I’ll be there to marshal in the pm after vet 50 race.

Peter D

For those of you helping clear the vegetation on Sunday I am suggesting a 10am start in the car park. We can split into 2 teams to work on the 2 wooded sections and having walked the course this week and seen that it is not too overgrown, I think we'll be done in 2 to 3 hours. Bring gloves, cutting tools and robust clothing! We'll have Dave and Rob's petrol powered mowers and cutters for the heavy stuff. We'll run the course in the same direction as previous years and the design will be similar but we should try and introduce some new twists, wiggles and changes where we can.

I know there are a few more people from CCA who have entered including Martin. I suggest you come along to the Start area in the morning and we'll find you a job.

Thanks for all your help.

Peter D

The course is now all set up ready for final preparations this Saturday and the race on Sunday. Please do come down to race/ help or cheer CCA on. On line entries are still open for another few hours and we are already at 320 racers.

We'll be running a cake stall on the day and it would be great if people attending could bring a nice homemade cake along too. Please don't use nuts though and just give us a list of ingredients in case of allergies.

Vincent

Is the excellent Italian chap and van booked in?
Awesome food
To confirm Lucy and me can Marshall Sunday after v50 race and put down the course.
Lucy doubt a leadership course so keen to volunteer for this and other things.

Do you need help this Saturday still? If so Ella and I can get there for around 10.30am

Peter D

We are all good to go for Sunday and start times and roles are unchanged from my original note above.

We will need to formally brief all marshals at the start of their shift and propose 2 briefing sessions to be held around the start area (where the CCA Gazebo will be). First at 8.30 and second at 12.15. The main change from previous years are around BC's rules on marshal's use of flags and whistles - all quite straightforward but we need a formal briefing.

To confirm - Simon Risi, the 'excellent Italian chap' will be there with his tasty coffee and food. We will also be running a cake stall for homemade cakes in aid of InnerCycle charity. Please do donate a cake.

Vince - I'm afraid Lucy cannot marshal as she is too young but she is welcome to help you and no doubt we'll find her something else to do.

Iain - I will meet you at Smallgains at 9am to load the van with all the equipment and then drive over to PHC ready to set up at 10am on Saturday.

Pre-entry for the event is now closed and we have 402 entries, exceeding entries for previous years and there will be more people registering on the day. The V50 and Senior races are now both full but if you want to ride these, you should sign on to the reserve list as there are usually a few no-shows on the day.

That's it - see you at the weekend

Martinh

Hi, not having race this course before is its likely to be muddy on Sunday?

Peter D

Martin. You're welcome to come and help set up tomorrow, bring your bike and have a preview of the course. If it rains (and it probably will) then sections will be muddy but it won't be entirely muddy. Mud is of course a good thing in cyclocross!

BrendanR

Peter, would it be a major problem if I didn't make it tomorrow? I'm not feeling 100% and could do with taking it easy tomorrow, and staying out if the rain. If it's a problem, let me know and I will try and make it.

Peter D

Brandan - if you're not well, fair enough. Martin - could you step in for Brendan in the afternoon please?

Martinh

Peter - No problem. See you in the morning.

Stuart F

Well done CCA. From what I saw in the car park it all went very well. All that I spoke to found it tough but enjoyed the course.
Amazing weather considering what we went through on the the drive over.

wilburtrump

What a brilliant event! I was lucky to get the off camber corner to marshal so watched the best worried looking faces in the race.

Excellent course by the looks of it and nothing but positive comments from the racers.