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Over the past few years the riding ability of our U12 riders has grown and grown. Unfortunately the challenge of their course hasn’t risen at the same rate and many find the step up from the U12 course to the full adult course a big shock; in terms of distance, technical difficulty and lack of marshal/adult support. In order to make this transition easier for our 11-12 year old riders and to make their race more exciting and interesting we plan to radically change their race course. Where possible it will start and finish in the same place as the adults course and involve sections of it but will miss out some of the more technical features and difficult climbs and be shorter in length.
The riders will also use the timing chips the same as the other senior riders. In order to accommodate this the 11-12 year race will set off at 10.30am and will be completely finish in time for the morning races at 11.30am. This change will mean that morning practice will run from 9.00-10.00am with the course closed for racing at 10.15am.
The U10 and U8 races will run as normal on a completely separate course from 1.00-1.45pm. These riders will be able to practice during the morning as normal. The afternoon races will start as normal at 2.00pm with practice being available as soon as the morning races are finished. As there will be less races at lunch it is hoped that parents riding in the afternoon will be able to watch their kids without having to dash off for their own race starts.
We hope that these changes will prove popular with all riders and improve the retention of riders moving up from the U12 to the Juvenile category. Here’s to an exciting year of racing!
The SXC Team