January 31, 2008 (Vancouver, BC) – Cycling BC recently announced the race structure for the 2008 Road BC Cup series. Since that announcement, Cycling BC has received feedback that the proposed format of women’s racing for this year’s BC Cup needs to be revisited. Specifically, concerns have been raised that the proposed format may discourage female rider participation and have an adverse effect on the development of women’s road racing locally.

Cycling BC would like to thank all those riders who took the time to provide their responses and concerns regarding the changes proposed for the upcoming race season. Additionally, we would like to assure all our competitors that cycling BC remains committed to the provision of an effective race season for all participants regardless of age, gender or ability.

Cycling BC is revisiting the structure it previously announced regarding this year’s BC Cup races and would like to invite female road competitors to attend a meeting on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 to help identify potential solutions that address the concerns of female riders while at the same time providing a realistic structure for race organizers. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum for female road racers to provide constructive feedback and recommendations for a viable alternative to the previously announced structure. There are always numerous factors and issues that a race organizer needs to consider when developing the format and structure of putting on races that meets the needs all those involved. Some of these include the number of participants in different categories, technical challenges of the race course, financial constraints of the organizer, and the length of the course.

Therefore, the goal of the meeting will be have those who attend to come up with alternative proposal for Cycling BC to present to the race organizers that will balance the needs of the various categories of male and female racers, the commissaires, and the dedicated individuals, clubs, and municipalities who organise races.

The meeting will be facilitated by Pamela Egger (Vice President, Policy Development) and Lisa Dorian (Vice President, Financial Oversight).

Room 106
Sport BC Building
1367 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
Date: Sunday 10th, February
Time: 2:30pm — 4:30pm

In preparation for the meeting, to ensure constructive comments and recommendations and efficient use of the time booked, the facilitators ask you to review the page attached. It contains an overview of some of the considerations race organizers have when planning the distribution and inclusion of categories in their events.

Cycling BC intends to make this meeting an annual occurrence to help facilitate the ongoing development of women’s racing in British Columbia and help ensure our female riders have a forum for addressing their needs across all our disciplines. Consequentially, we urge you to register for this meeting as a good attendance will demonstrate support for this type of consultation process.

Please email Cycling BC at paul@cyclingbc.net or call 604-737-3034 to confirm you attendance. This will ensure that we have a meeting room appropriate for the number of participants attending the meeting.

Considerations for race organizers when planning the distribution and inclusion of categories in their events include:

Circuit races (road races and criteriums)
– The length of time the road-use permit is in force; some races are able to use the roads for the entire day, others for only part of the day. This depends upon the location of the course and the municipality; the completion time of a provincial road race for the sub cat 1/2 ability categories is roughly 1.5 to 2.5 hours, plus 15 to 30 minutes to stage and start the next categories, so 2 to 3 hours per “start wave” in total
– The length of the circuit and width of the road; this limits the number of caravans that can be on the course on the same time
– Number of Commissaires required and/or available
– The availability of volunteers as course marshals and to drive caravan vehicles
– The number of early race registrations entries
i.e. a race organizer needs to plan ahead for race day and early registrations help the organizer plan effectively. The challenges faced by race organizers become far greater when large numbers of riders in a particular category register at the last possible moment.
– The number of entries in each category, on race-day
– The relative compatibility of categories, in case category combination is necessary or desirable

Point-to-Point races
– The length of time the road use permit is in force
– The number of volunteers available as course marshals and to drive caravan vehicles
– The number of entries in each category, on race-day
– Width of the road
– Number of Commissaires required and/or available
– The relative compatibility of categories, in case category combination is necessary or desirable

Time Trials
– The length of time the road use permit is in force From Cycling BC’s point of view, the UCI / CCA regulations and Cycling BC policy constrain the options that are available. Regulatory parameters that effect category distribution include:

UCI Regulations:
Maximum caravan size: 200 riders

Cycling BC Policy
Maximum number of caravans on the circuit (road race only): 8km — 10 km (at most, 2 caravans), 10+ km (at most, 3 caravans)”¦ may also depend upon the nature of the course (a slower, more technically challenging course would permit 3 caravans with a shorter circuit)

Undesirable Category Combinations
– Category 5 men with any other category (increased risk of a crash caused by unskilled riders)
– For circuit road races, no other caravans should be racing at the same time as the category 1/2 men (interruption of the sporting aspect of the race caused by the men overtaking other categories)

Combining categories becomes increasingly likely when registration in a category is low and difficult to avoid if the category has less than 15 riders.