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Junior Race
Junior, By Class
Junior Laptimes
A cross-country rider is expected to follow the marked track.
Over the years riders have become creative at cutting corners and finding the unofficial 'fast' lines. While the urge to find these lines is understandable this doesn't make it right.
The people who take these shortcuts might make up a few places or cut slightly faster laptimes but they spoil the sport for everyone else.
A few people were pinged at Round 1 of the NI X-country champs for severe corner smoothing. They were 50 metres plus from the arrows and the track.
The club was trying to utilize bull-dozed tracks and keep people off as much grass as possible.
The pinged riders rode around the tape and arrows that were pointing them down the track and deliberately took the 'fast' line.
It may have seemed like a good idea at the time and, once one has done it, it becomes very tempting to follow. But this doesn't make it right.
Were there riders who short-cutted and weren't caught? Yes. Were people short-cutting in other places? Yes. But these were the riders who were caught.
There was a little confusion as to exactly what the penalties were (or should have been) and some questions were asked as to the application of the penalties.
While the riders have a possible point about the process used and the way things were done the short answer is: if they hadn't cheated there wouldn't have been any problem.
b>It is not up to the riders discretion, during the race, to alter the track to suit thmeselves.
The real shame is that the clubs try to put on awesome events where riders can test themselves and their bikes against their mates. The organising clubs don't want to be policemen
Everyone, club and riders, want a good day out but, when cheating is regarded as 'sportsmanship', it becomes hard to even run an event that has a semblance of fairness.
It also stops it being a race and, instead, the whole thing becomes a free-for-all.
Hopefully the other clubs follow Raglan's lead and try and get the sport back on track.
And, hopefully, the riders will see that is in their best interests to have strong clubs that try to enforce the rules.
- - Signed: The Raglan MCC Committee.
