2013 AGM – Motions for your consideration

 

The following motions have been submitted for consideration by the members at the AGM:

I, Fergal Kilkenny, 13OV054, am submitting a motion for better DH event promotion.

(From an outsiders perspective in 2013 it seemed that there was no DH series whatsoever. Just look at the official Offroad site:http://www.offroadcyclingireland.ie/all you can see is BMX promo – and fair play to them for doing so.

XC got pretty good promo (http://www.offroadcyclingireland.ie/wordpress/?s=NPS) but any DH promo is next to impossible to find, which could be affecting attendances at races, especially for people out of the DH loop who may want to give it a shot eg; “Enduro riders” (sorry for using the “E” word!) or God forbid, some XC riders wanting to armour-up and have the craic!

It seems from feedback eg; from the Cullo race that there are organisers putting on excellent events which the riders really enjoy, and they really should be getting all the promo help they can get so that riders come to their races and help them cover the significant costs of uplifts, trophies etc..

Take for example – the biggest DH event of the year – the DH National Champs – I don’t see anything on the Offroad site for this. Not even a mention of it on IrishDH either. Looking at the event in the Offroad calendar – it advises it’s on 13th & 14th October, and in the event details itself it says it’s on “Mon, October 14, 12am – Tue, October 15, 12am” – it doesn’t even give a location or any details at all…etc…..)

I, Richard Byrne, 13OV082, propose that in addition to the Championships already in existence in the XCO and XCM disciplines that the Classic or Supervet category be added for riders of the 50+ age group.

(This is only in terms of the National Championships and not the NPS series).

I, John Crowley, 13A4841, (Chairman of Killarney C.C.) propose:

• That there be standardized trophies and cash prizes for the NPS, this to be funded by a set fee / payment from each club hosting races.

• That there should be a bigger time gap between rounds of NPS races ,(3-4 weeks)as the current system puts a lot of financial pressure on riders ,also a larger gap would allow riders to prepare better .

• NPS : 5 races? Best result of 4? one in each Province?

• NPS : Start series later in year, avoiding cold wet weather and very muddy tracks (I know its Ireland !!) no guarantee of dry weather later! But this would bring series into Summer, this year there were no races on after Nat Champs

• If interest is there, how about Spring / Autumn series’ (short )

• National Champs, should they be held in a central location to ensure a large turnout ?

• If not Killarney would apply to host them this (2014) year!

• Provincial teams have a race day? All Categories? Could be a bit of friendly rivalry? Separate to Nat Champs

I, Ger Jackson, 13OM047, propose that the XC National Points Series be changed to one race per month across the season similar to the British MountainBike Series.

I, Cieran Maunsell, 13OV080, propose that in all youth categories both girls and boys should start at the same time (no time delay between boys and girls). Then after race one, all riders should be seeded for race two regardless of gender, this way all riders are seeded on merit rather than gender.

(There would still be two races, boys v boys and girls v girls, just both on at the same time and after the race is over there would be two separate podiums. I think this system would be a much fairer system than the current one as all the fastest riders, both boys and girls, are placed at the front because of their speed, strength and skill, not their gender. I firmly believe that our current system of starting the girls behind the boys is damaging our sport and is seriously hampering the development of our young riders, I think if we are to try to nurture and encourage these young riders to become world class then we have to do what is best for them, they are the future of our sport.)

I, Maciej Staroniewicz, 13A3017, would like to submit the following motions:

• Race entry fee for youth riders to be introduced for 2014, in line with Ulster XC – €5.00 for U16/U14 and €2.00 for U8/U10

• Gridding for all categories available only to riders that pre-register online, those who register on the day only will be placed at the back of the grid.

• Race courses for youth riders to be approved by XC-Coordinator prior to the race day and tested by a ‘benchmark rider’ with sample lap times provided for U8/U10/U12/U14 categories.

• NPS organisers to ensure that all youth riders are given an opportunity to pre-ride the race course prior to their race.

• XC Nationals to be made a 2 day event with Support, Youth and Women’s categories taking part on Saturday and other categories on Sunday.

• In CX, riders age category to be defined by their age as of 1^st of September, not 1^st of January given year, in accordance with UCI and BC rules.

• Regarding promoting / degrading riders between categories for 2014 I propose that the top 5 riders (as per their overall league standings) are promoted. I suggest no mandatory degrading for 2014 but would like to consider it for 2015.

• No mandatory promotion for 2014 for women’s categories (no enough riders to justify this)

• Each of the clubs that host MTB events (most big clubs do), to put forward one of their members to be trained as a CI Commissar

I, Richard Thornhill, 13OM30, propose the following motions with respect to the IDMS for 2014

• Replace the Sport Category with a Hardtail class to even the playing field and stop the sandbagging that happens in that class. It would also give a cheaper way into the sport for riders.

• I would also make the sports / hardtail class a non-league race to make it a proper stepping stone class.

• I also propose to drop the Entry fee for the women’s class for the IDSM down to €30 from the standard adult rate of €50 to attract more Female racers

I, Conor Farrell, 13A3662, propose the following motions:

• To discuss the implementation a framework to allow the Offroad Commission pursue corporate sponsorship to support all of the Commission’s activities. Possibly using a marketing / PR agency to assist in this process.

• Make a specific plea to Clubs to endeavour to increase their membership numbers to give CI a greater mandate. Increased membership (even non-competition licences etc.) will allow for greater negotiating power with regard to funding from both public (governmental) and private (corporate) sources.

 

Get your thinking caps on. If you have objections or suggestions as to how to implement any of the above motions, get down to the AGM on Saturday and make sure your views are heard!

Offroad Commission