Track league
| Check the Track League event calendar to make sure you don't miss your favourite event |
Full, onging results here |
Make sure you've signed up to volunteer judge for a night using the sheet here. Especially if you're in the running to win a prize
|
The Herne Hill Velodrome Track League is our weekly racing league. Racing will run from April 24th until September 18th in 2013 (slightly different dates to origionally advertised due to the overrunning
SOLP works) . Come to as many as you can and score points in each race every night towards your overall league ranking.
We are also having open track race training on 3rd and 10th April for riders preparing for Track League.
Details
Racing for Under 12s starts at 6.30pm, and racing for all others starts at 7pm. Youth A & B, and all senior riders can choose which category they ride in (A, B or C). Categories are flexible. Try one category one week, promote or demote yourself the next. Judges reserve the right to
advise riders to change categories if necessary. With 3 senior categories we want all riders to be competitive in their chosen category. The harder the category you race in, the more points you score towards the overall combined rankings. Ie, a rider who wins a lot of B category races, could be ranked higher than a rider who rarely scores in A category races. This year racing will be split into 4 categories:
- A category - Fast racing for riders who have been training hard and want a tough work out. Average race length 12 laps. Points awarded 1st 60pts, 2nd 50pts, 3rd 40pts, 4th 30pts, 5th 20pts, 6th 10pt
- B category - Medium speed racing for local-level racers.Average race length 12 laps. Points awarded 1st 6pts, 2nd 5pts, 3rd 4pts, 4th 3pts, 5th 2pts, 6th 1pts
- C category - More entry level racing for new, younger, older or less fit racers. Average race length 12 laps. Points awarded 1st 0.6pts, 2nd 0.5pts, 3rd 0.4pts, 4th 0.3pts, 5th 0.2pts, 6th 0.1pt
- U12 category - age group racing for riders in the British Cycling under 12 category. Average race length 5 laps. Points awarded 1st 6pts, 2nd 5pts, 3rd 4pts, 4th 3pts, 5th 2pts, 6th 1pt (in separate ranking).
Separate rankings will be made for seniors, women U14s and U16s.
Prizes
Generous sponsorship from
Cycling Weekly provides this year's prizes:
Senior Men
1st £300
2nd £200
3rd £100
4th £50
5th £50
6th £50
7th £25
8th £25
9th £25
10th £25
11th £25
12th £25
13th £25
14th £25
15th £25 |
Senior Women
1st £100
2nd £50
3rd £25
4th £25
5th £25
6th £25 |
All Youth Categories
Trophies and medals
Top youths may claim prizes from the overall senior categoires if they place high enough. |
All senior riders must have scored points to qualify for prizes and volunteered one nights judging in order to claim their prize (see below).
Costs
- Seniors £8 per week
- Juniors £6 per week
- Youths £3 per week (including youths riding as A, B or C cat)
All senior riders must be a
Friend of the Velodrome which costs £10 per year. We do allow new riders to have a guest pass for a week without becoming a Friend - but it all goes towards suporting the track, so why not
become a Friend anyway!
Whats new for 2013?
Sponsored by Cycling Weekly
We have a new sponsor this year. Having been involved with their local velodrome for decades,
Cycling Weekly have stepped up to sponsor the league and will the providing prizes.
Run by Friends of the Velodrome - by track users for track users.
After 3 years being run by VCL, track league will now be run by
Friends of the Velodrome. Friends of the Velodrome is the support network which brings together users of the track to help support the Herne Hill Velodrome Trust and volunteer towards Herne Hill Velodrome events. It makes sense that the users of the velodrome are behind the running of our weekly race league. We hope that regular racers and their supporters will be able to give some time back to help with the running of the league.
Run by Riders for Riders
One major aim of this year's league is to lead the way in self-sufficient bike racing. No-one benefits more from the racing than the riders themselves. So, we ask riders to consider giving up a 1 out of 24 night's racing to help judge. Not only does this contribute to the scoring of the racing, but is also a great opportunity to shadow our experienced regular judges. To ensure that those who get the most out of the league give something back, any senior rider qualifying for an overall prize must volunteer for one night's judging. To ensure we have a good spread of volunteer judges throughout the season we need riders to pick a "pre-book" their volunteer week
using the sheet here.
More accessible "C" race league
Previously Track League has split into two adult categories A and B. For 2013 we will add an extra C league. The categories are flexible so riders can choose which category they ride in on the night. The harder the category of racing, the more points are scored for the top 6 places in each race. All rider's points are ranked in the same overall ranking. In 2013 youth riders in the U16 and U14 categories will race alongside the seniors in whichever category they feel best suited to them (at the commissaire's discretion). Youth and women riders will be awarded their own prizes and ranking from the overall rankings.
We recommend anyone just starting out or unsure about their speed levels to start in the C category and work their way up. On average riders can expect 5 races each per night. We anticipate that C category races will be of a similar level to the easier group at
Monday night race training, while the B category will be of a similar level to the harder group.
- A category races worth upto 60 points for a win will be for faster racers with a good level of experience.
- B category races worth upto 6 points for a win will be for local level racers.
- C category races worth upto 0.6 points for a win will be for newer, younger and less fast riders. This is is ideal category for people who have worked their way through the training session pathway and are just starting out racing.
- U12 category is for racers under 12 years old on 1st January 2013
More racing weeks, longer hours
As part of the
SOLP plans we should be having low-level floodlights installed early in the new year. This means darkness will no-longer dictate our evening scheduled! We hope to run upto 25 weeks of Track League racing in 2013 (up from a scheduled 20 weeks in 2012). We will also be able to run upto 9pm every night rather than finishing early on darker nights. Evening training session will also be extended, more news on this in the new year.
Special events all year round
The staple of Track League are the bunch races and sprints, but its great to have the opportunity to try the less common events like pursuits, sprint time trials, team events etc.
Last year due to light constraints we had to squeeze some of the special events into the middle of the season. This year, with the floodlights, we aim to have them every other week throughout the season. We've also been considering making madison a slightly more regular event. We're considering having monthly madison training at
Monday night race training, followed by Madison racing that week at Track League. We aim to include practice for the special events at Monday night race training in the run up to their appearance at Track League. Riders can also practice their drills at
Sunday morning specific training.
A full schedule of special events will be published on this page nearer the time. Special events are not split into categories so receive A category points, usually down to 12th place instead of 6th.
2012 Results
Congratulations to all our winners in 2012. Full
results here. Photos are on
VC Londres' Flickr page.
