well the final race in the 4 race smashfest criterium series was run on the weekend.  it has been a very well received race series with a couple of hundred riders each race.  catering for multiple grades across juniors, first timers, 3 women’s grades and the ultra fast boys, it had something for everyone.

there are a few things that we need to work out for next year, especially in relation to the teams format and the dates so close to christmas, but overall it seems to be a success.

from an organisation perspective, it ran smoothly and that was because of the multiple volunteers that we had out there every week.  for those that are not aware, these races are a combined effort between rccc and spr and we have been running with this formula for a few years now.  rccc do a lot of work behind the scenes getting approvals and traffic management in place, while we take care of the running the race and finishline duties.  it has worked well and we will continue this relationship into the future.

from our clubs point of view, i would just like to thank all the volunteers that have helped out over the 4 races.  there have been some that have been there every week and i really appreciate the efforts that you have put in.  getting enough people there early enough for the setup was usually the hardest thing, but we seemed to have people there bright and early to kick things off.  those people usually stayed around to help in the first few races and when it came to the juniors, we needed as much help a possible.  i thank those that managed to keep track of multiple age groups of kids all spread out around the track and were still able to work out the top placings.

those that did ice runs first thing in the morning, i really appreciated.  the car was usually full with all the club stuff, so there is usually no place for 9 bags of ice.  running the tuck shop can range from deadset boring during a race to a mad rush once 50 riders finish in the heat.  i thank you for keeping on top of all that.

picking the placings at the finishline can be an experience especially when you get 3 bike crossing the line at once.  those that came down, or stayed after their race, to make sure that it went smoothly made a difficult job easier.

for the first time we needed to provide a first aid volunteer and i thank those for their efforts.  we have a few people in the club that have the relevant qualification and gave up their time to be on hand, just in case.  race 3 was not a problem, but race 2 saw multiple crashes and about 3 collar bones to deal with.  big thanks to bec an louise that were there for pretty much every race.

this year there has been a push to get more women racing and we ran three grades to accommodate this.  the first race saw only 4 women turn up to c grade.  it was decided to run them in with b grade rather than on their own.  it didn’t last too long as many found the pace too high.  instead of just finding it all too hard, there was a concerted effort to attract more women to the event to allow them to have their own race.  leigh definitely pushed hard on this and the result was a big enough field in both b and c grade for the remaining races.

so, we have a few more races coming up to organise.  renae’s race in mid feb followed by  the club crit champs with us and rccc.  renae’s race is a women’s race across multiple grades with a few supporting men’s races thrown in.  the club crit champs will be just for our two clubs and it will be a social affair with a bbq etc.  it will be aimed at the entire club and we will look at getting those with a recreational licence also involved with a cheap day licence and cheap racing.  we will try to provide enough grades to cater for everyone.

so, again, the club thanks you for your efforts and i hope in the future we can continue to run events this smoothly.