Race Date Change for Birds Hill Park

As many of you are aware, a change in the Race Calendar was necessary to move the Birds Hill Park (BHP) stage race from May 5/6 to April 21/22.

Despite negotiating by Arlene Woodcock and Twila Pitcher with the BHP authorities, some changes and restrictions were imposed on us.  BHP camp grounds will open on May 5/6 this year. BHP has therefore denied our permit request to race on May 5/6 (and generally any weekend thereafter).

The organizers (WCW) were willing to move to the weekend or two before, but the immediately preceding weekend (April 28/29) was a MTB cup race which is a conflict we would all prefer to avoid.
BHP gave permission for April 21/22, and although there is no guarantee, there is a reasonable chance this year of decent weather at that time.

Advancing the start of the season by two weeks at this late a date is a concern, especially for those with specific training plans who built upon a May 5/6 season start and for those that must plan their weekends around family and work may weeks ahead; however, an April 21/22 race at BHP is better than none at all.

As per the terms of reference of the Technical Committee, changes to the Race Calendar involving a week or more must be sent to the Board for approval.  Yes, this is a pain; however, the purpose of the requirement is to ensure that representatives of stakeholders would have sufficient opportunity to consider the impact of a major calendar change.
A stable and predictable race calendar will help all members in planning their cycling and normal lives.

In this case, the change is not arbitrary, nor indicative of something that was within the organizers’ control, nor does it have problems of conflicting dates, racer dilution, or double up races.   So the Board decided to approve the change date.  The revised calendar is here [LINK]

Further rule changes for our use of BHP are contained in the
next website post.