Race Safety
Last year there were unfortunately some serious accidents during racing at Herne Hill Velodrome. We have taken some time to review and revisit incident reports and details of the races where crashes occurred to help inform our coached training sessions before the season begins. Crashes occurred in a mixture of racing formats and most involved riders regularly attending training sessions. We did notice some behaviours and factors that contributed to incidents: riders not leaving comfortable space behind the wheel in front, racing with eyes down and not looking up and ahead, and unnecessary sprints for minor placings or at inappropriate moments. If you didn't notice these safety points being highlighted in your training sessions in recent months please let us know since the coaches are all incorporating these messages into training.
This year, we will preview the Convene ESG Track League season with a non-scoring event in a race training format. There will be three categories of racing with detailed coaching explanations taking place between races.
Block 1 - For anyone with limited race experience or newly accredited, or soon to be, and aiming to take part in C Cat racing this season
Block 2 - For anyone feeling out of practice, coming back to racing after a long pause/injury and aiming for either C or B Cat racing
Block 3 - Anyone feeling well trained, but needing a refresher on some race formats and race situations before starting up again and aiming to take part in B Cat racing
There will also be a non-scoring race training session for U12 and U16 riders from 6-7pm.
Share your thoughts
We hope that racers feel comfortable to talk to any of the HHV staff and coaches about any ideas or concerns about racing, or directly to commissaires, however, we know not everyone is confident speaking up, so we have set up this virtual feedback box.
We've also set up a group of racing representatives who will be regularly here for races and training sessions and will be happy to pass your feedback to us too. We will be meeting with reps throughout the season and for this year they are Lauren Barwell, Alec Briggs, Max Capamagian, David Chambers, Mollie Little, Jono Maher, Amy Powell, Matthew Swann, Jack Thomas and Luke Waterfield and they're all really keen to hear any ideas you have.
Track League is a community event aiming to give racers a chance to build their experience in a fun and friendly environment. The only rules (apart from the ones set out by BC, of course) are that racers respect and support each other, as well as race officials and staff. Riding safely and within your abilities is at the heart of this. Sadly, anyone consistently ignoring coaches or commissaires instructions will be asked to stop racing. If you are found to be persistently ignoring safety instructions you may eventually have your race accreditation revoked and need to retake this to start racing again. We don't want anyone to be in this situation, so if you're feeling out of practice, please sign up for this special race training session alongside your usual training in advance of this year's Track League.
Race safe and have fun!
