Message #605

[Metro Commuter]

HillBillie, the great father of talent,

Spot on.

Kooragang, and the squoval at SR, are really good at getting people racing - you do not need great skill or great fitness or good tactics to have a decent race.  So they are great "feeders" in to the sport.

BH, and the Mick Chapman preferred versions of Steel River, are moderately harder courses in terms of requiring tactics, skill and fitness.  Some people simply will not want to race at them.  So they are not good feeder courses but they do present better racing for the "better" riders.

There are harder courses than BH.  We need to have the odd harder race, to remind us what we might face when we have a rush of blood and think we might place at an Open or State Masters race.

HDCC, IMRO, dropped the ball by hosting crits on other than the squoval course. Prior to the use of Mick's alternate courses there were great numbers and racing was fast and interesting - most people finished most of the race.  It was all high HR racing. When Mick had his way and the witches hats came out, numbers dropped.  Those courses significantly disadvantaged larger riders, and favoured the lighter riders.  One very large A grader vowed never to return after he was dropped after one or two laps - and he was a guy who was a strong A grader on the squoval course.  He has not returned, as far as I am aware. So it is not just that the witches hat courses were harder - it was that they were much harder for some riders than others.

One club might be able to balance the needs of all riders a bit better, and if appropriate ramp up the demands of racing for appropriate grades. The "one" club should, IMO, have a race committee comprised of people from all grades.  I would guess F grade has little interest in competing away or racing at BH, and the club would be silly to force them to do so.  But A, B and possibly C grade  might want a varied program that will assist in racing when away, and "one club" could manage that better not so much by removing choice but by providing racing that is determined by the needs of the grade rather than, at present, the different focuses that HDCC and KOCC currently have.