Season 2023

Event Notes: This event has a 18:45 start. Meet at top of Princethorpe hill on B4453.

Start on the unclassified road (Frankton Lane), level with TP7, just north of entrance to stables at Lazy Acres, approx 350yds from junction with B4453. At junction with B4453 turn left (B4453).

Proceed east on B4453 to junction with A45. Turn left onto A45 & proceed to island at junction with B4455 (Fosse way). Take second exit and continue along A45 to junction with A445 approaching Ryton-on-Dunsmore. Turn left along A445; through two “mini” islands; to island junction with A423. Turn left along A423 towards Banbury and continue through Princethorpe.

Finish 0.5 mile past B4455 junction at yellow paint mark in line with edge of hedge in gateway, about 0.25 mile before Marton bridge.

Marshals for all events are now booked through Google Spreadsheets. Please volunteer for at least 1 event for every 6 rides during the season. (Volunteer here)

Start List
1 – Allison Morris
2 –
3 –
4 – Birgit Scott
5 –
6 –
7 –
8 –
9 – James Daly
10 –
11 – Steven Scott
12 – Sam Barnwell
13 – Zoe Shepherd
14 – Dean Mason
15 –
16 – Tom Walker
17 – Andy Dean
18 –
19 –
20 –
21 –
22 –
23 –
24 –
25 –
26 –
27 –
28 –
29 –
30 –
31 –
32 –
33 –
34 –
35 –
36 –
37 –
38 –
39 –
40 –
41 –
42 –
43 –
44 –
45 – Brendan Hirst
46 –
47 –
48 –
49 –
50 –

Reserve List

Start list grading – After a member’s suggestion we have operated a trial to start ladies and juniors in the first 10 slots. Whilst any changes like this will never please everyone (so apologies in advance!) we felt the positives of grading outweigh the negatives and are therefore proposing an improved grading system which will be managed simply by goodwill and lots of co-operation of the riders. All this would mean is when you go to book a slot always try first and foremost to book within one of the three grades that apply to you, we understand this will not be perfect and there will be lots of exceptions (work, appointments etc etc) when this rule of thumb cannot be followed. This grading format should stand us in good stead for the future. For this event the permitted field is limited to 50 Riders, the proposed 3 gradings are:

• Slots 1-15 Juniors, novices and improving riders who would record times in the bottom third of our scratch times list.
• Slots 16-30 All riders who normally record times in the mid-range of our scratch times list.
• Slots 31-50 All riders who normally record times in the top third of our scratch list.

Clearly this grading by nature will be imperfect however after hours of discussion and suggestions the overriding factors that we considered were:

Safety – Starting riders in a graded format will result in racing completed well before we lose crucial light and visibility, and potentially limit the need of overtaking another rider.
Volunteers – Starting in this format means all of the volunteers and Marshals can get home before dark.
Racing – We are a racing club, so grading improves competition with riders of similar abilities competing and improving their times!

Reserve booking list – We have had a few weeks now where we have exceeded our permitted slots (what a great position to be in!) to manage this fairly we propose opening the booking system to beyond the permitted slots as a reserve list, how this will work is simple: if you attempt to book on and permitted slots are already booked, put your name on the reserve list. If for any reason a rider drops out and deletes a booking slot the next rider on the reserve list will be expected to access the system and book the now available slot. A curtesy WhatsApp message from the member withdrawing to next reserve would be a nice touch:

• Slots 51-55 Rider reserve list for this event.