WVCC statement regarding Round 1 of the NCRA Spring Series

British Cycling (Central Region) today informed Welland Valley Cycling Club that Round 1 of the NCRA Spring Handicapped Series this Saturday, 2 March 2022, has to be cancelled.

The reason given by British Cycling is that they have been unable to find sufficient Cycling Accredited Marshals and they are unwilling to sanction the event because of this.

The Club is frustrated and extremely disappointed to be in the position of cancelling this event at this late stage, not least because the request for Marshalls had been made many weeks ago and no communication had been received between then and now to signal that anything was a problem.  Lots of time and hard work has gone into to organising this event.  Many members and friends from other NCRA Clubs have trained hard and were looking forward to racing on Saturday.

Accredited Marshals are volunteers that are recruited and managed by British Cycling.  British Cycling’s Central Region (which includes Northamptonshire, where the course is located) now requires that road races use Accredited Marshals.

WVCC understands why British Cycling is moving towards adopting Accredited Marshals for road races.  However, we urge British Cycling to ensure that this policy is progressed in a way which reflects the supply of Accredited Marshals to support events, and to ensure that if resources are not available this is communicated in a more timely manner or that appropriate contingency plans are in place (e.g. such as bringing in traditional club marshals to support).  Receiving a cancellation out of the blue three days before the planned event is simply unacceptable.

We are very sorry to be the bringers of this news!

Jon Durnin, Chair; and Phil Rayner, Road Race Secretary, on behalf on WVCC’s Committee.