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CCAshwell Criteriums - Cancelled
Regretfully this event has been cancelled.
Ill start the thread off and discuss where we are with the Festival of Cycling and from my point of view what is happening with the Criterium. I know that Adam will add his bit about the overall view after this.
A criterium race is a short circuit race around a circuit, which is twisty and technical. This makes it different to closed circuit racing or open road racing. The races are short in duration, typically a senior event lasting about 40 minutes. This means that there is sufficient time to run a number of races for different categories and age groups. It has long been a dream of some of the members of the club to organise such an event in the village, which would appear ideally suited to such an event.
In spring of 2013 I volunteered to promote the races and began to long process of making this a reality. There are a large number of hurdles to negotiate, some of which Ill outline here as well as trying to plan for the future.
Initially a route was identified which, as far as possible, gave the prospect of good racing as well as minimising disruption to the users of the roads in the village and residents. In short the route starts outside The Three Tuns PH and goes in an anti-clockwise direction towards the rec., turning left down Springhead left onto Cow Lane and left onto Mill Street. Up Mill Street part Crumps, and left at the Parish Rooms. Right onto Church Street and left onto the High Street at the Dentist. From there back to The Three Tuns.
The plan for the races would be to close this circuit with accompanying safety closures around the circuit for a period of six hours on Sunday 6th July 2014, a date selected to coincide with the Tour De France Stage in Yorkshire. This closure would be achieved with barriers, cones and signs.
The next hurdle is to have to course risk assessed and approved by British Cycling. This was done in the summer of 2013. The assessor was enthusiastic about the course and passed it stating that the maximum number of racers at any one time was limited to 50! (I was only envisaging 30). There is then a break whilst insurance is approved by British Cycling.
The next stage concerns a number of legal hurdles which have to be overcome. These entail coordinating meetings and paperwork between British Cycling, Hertfordshire Highways and Hertfordshire Constabulary. This process was commenced by consultation in late summer early autumn 2013. The process is complex and subjective. In short the Police have refused a permit to close the roads and without this permit the Highways Authority will not act unilaterally. Therefore the decision was taken to cancel the event rather than start an appeal against the decision with an ever-shortening time line.
This does not mean that we have given up the cause. The intention is to now pursue a similar application for 2015. To this end there are a number of things that need to happen to convince the authorities that the closure of roads in the village and promoting of races is a good idea. We already had the backing of the Parish Council, MP and District Councillor. On top of this the committee intended to mail drop all houses, businesses and organisations in the village to explain the plan and gain support for the event. This now, more than ever, needs to occur. The plan is to lobby public representatives to get behind the event, gain as much support from the residents and businesses in the village and to hold open meetings to discuss concerns. In addition a full traffic management plan will be drawn up, this wasnt done at the time as it wasnt requested and had a cost implication. Risk assessments will be conducted and other contacts will be made in various councils to gain support. The ambition is to convince both Hertfordshire Constabulary and Hertfordshire Highways that this is what the community wants and that the promoting of the event is beneficial.
The efforts continue and I would ask, at this stage, for your support, both in the run up and on the day, should it happen!
Thank you for everybody who has helped so far, from advice to offers of help on the day or just the enthusiasm, which has driven me forward when confronted by seemingly insurmountable issues.
Richard M.
Ill start the thread off and discuss where we are with the Festival of Cycling and from my point of view what is happening with the Criterium. I know that Adam will add his bit about the overall view after this.
A criterium race is a short circuit race around a circuit, which is twisty and technical. This makes it different to closed circuit racing or open road racing. The races are short in duration, typically a senior event lasting about 40 minutes. This means that there is sufficient time to run a number of races for different categories and age groups. It has long been a dream of some of the members of the club to organise such an event in the village, which would appear ideally suited to such an event.
In spring of 2013 I volunteered to promote the races and began to long process of making this a reality. There are a large number of hurdles to negotiate, some of which Ill outline here as well as trying to plan for the future.
Initially a route was identified which, as far as possible, gave the prospect of good racing as well as minimising disruption to the users of the roads in the village and residents. In short the route starts outside The Three Tuns PH and goes in an anti-clockwise direction towards the rec., turning left down Springhead left onto Cow Lane and left onto Mill Street. Up Mill Street part Crumps, and left at the Parish Rooms. Right onto Church Street and left onto the High Street at the Dentist. From there back to The Three Tuns.
The plan for the races would be to close this circuit with accompanying safety closures around the circuit for a period of six hours on Sunday 6th July 2014, a date selected to coincide with the Tour De France Stage in Yorkshire. This closure would be achieved with barriers, cones and signs.
The next hurdle is to have to course risk assessed and approved by British Cycling. This was done in the summer of 2013. The assessor was enthusiastic about the course and passed it stating that the maximum number of racers at any one time was limited to 50! (I was only envisaging 30). There is then a break whilst insurance is approved by British Cycling.
The next stage concerns a number of legal hurdles which have to be overcome. These entail coordinating meetings and paperwork between British Cycling, Hertfordshire Highways and Hertfordshire Constabulary. This process was commenced by consultation in late summer early autumn 2013. The process is complex and subjective. In short the Police have refused a permit to close the roads and without this permit the Highways Authority will not act unilaterally. Therefore the decision was taken to cancel the event rather than start an appeal against the decision with an ever-shortening time line.
This does not mean that we have given up the cause. The intention is to now pursue a similar application for 2015. To this end there are a number of things that need to happen to convince the authorities that the closure of roads in the village and promoting of races is a good idea. We already had the backing of the Parish Council, MP and District Councillor. On top of this the committee intended to mail drop all houses, businesses and organisations in the village to explain the plan and gain support for the event. This now, more than ever, needs to occur. The plan is to lobby public representatives to get behind the event, gain as much support from the residents and businesses in the village and to hold open meetings to discuss concerns. In addition a full traffic management plan will be drawn up, this wasnt done at the time as it wasnt requested and had a cost implication. Risk assessments will be conducted and other contacts will be made in various councils to gain support. The ambition is to convince both Hertfordshire Constabulary and Hertfordshire Highways that this is what the community wants and that the promoting of the event is beneficial.
The efforts continue and I would ask, at this stage, for your support, both in the run up and on the day, should it happen!
Thank you for everybody who has helped so far, from advice to offers of help on the day or just the enthusiasm, which has driven me forward when confronted by seemingly insurmountable issues.
Richard M.
Comments
Can't quite visualise 50 riders at speed in central Ashwell, but it sounds like it'll be an amazing event!
I am also grateful for the many expressions of support that we have received from club members, recognising that the fundamental principle of the Ashwell Festival of Cycling was about galvanising the enthusiasm that will build over the next couple of months prior to the Tour to make cycling participation accessible to the widest possible number in our community. Although the criterium represents the marquee event, the full AFoC programme has the potential to cement cycling as a vibrant and positive contributor to our local area, perhaps providing some upside for the majority of local residents who patiently work around our solo and club rides every week of the year.
A few successes worth noting:
British Cycling approval in principle for the Crit route (with associated liability cover now available)
A positive working relationship with British Cycling
Parish Council approval in principle
Oliver Heald, MP approval in principle
An open dialogue with Herts Police and a clear steer on how we might overturn the current position
Quite a lot of valuable thinking on the set-up of AFoC, alongside the logistics required to pull off a successful event for the local community
So
As Richard notes, we will continue to pursue a dialogue with Herts Police to find solutions to the current impasse. Notably, this will include a Herts and Minds campaign (hope you like what I did there) that has two strands 1) political influence/ engagement 2) local community engagement.
I hope to be back to you in the near future with an update on progress for 2015.
Regards,
Adam
Thanks for all your efforts at bringing this forward. I would love to see this take place in the (hopefully not too distant) future. Those pics on your PC of the town criterium racing elsewhere (St Ives?) looked fantastic and would be even better suited to Ashwell. Don't give up!
John
Matt, let's meet, maybe at the first Tuesday Pub Night to discuss putting something in the paper.
Adam, just noticed the 'Herts and Minds' quote, one word, no.
Thanks for comments all.
Adam
we will make this happen, just a matter of when.
I know you will get there in the end .
So frustrating but it will be great when it does happen!
glad Sophie is still into her cycling....hope Phoebe is doing it this year. drop me a line sometime :-)