New Kid’s Race Start & Staging Format
We take racing seriously, and so do our Kid Racers 6 to 99yrs old….so staging matters…and each year managing the throng of young racer’s anticipation as been part of our joy/challenge.
Starting this Tuesday: Kid’s staging will begin ONLY 10 minutes before race start.
When you arrive you’ll find the kid’s staging coral closed on all sides. No racers or bikes are allowed to stage during that time.
10 Minutes prior to race start the announcer will inform racers that the coral will open.
Kid’s 9-11 Call Ups: Series leaders (top 5) will be called up and allowed to slot into the front row of the coral. All other racers may uniformly fill behind the leaders.
Kids 6-8 Call Ups: We will call up the top 5 from the previous week (boys and girls), and allowed to slot into the front row of the coral. All other racers may uniformly fill behind the leaders. Boys and girls will continue to race together in this age group.
Why? 2 Reasons:
- Racing is a fun competitive expression of love of our sport. At OTH we inspire racing…and to keep it fun and fair we aim to avoid any semblance of a Target or Walmart Thanksgiving Night curb camping and make the lineup about racing, not about who can sit in longer.
- We have long struggled to keep the race teaching kids about the competitive part of our sport, without the political or poor sportsmanship that can accompany the cycling circles of the world. With that end in mind, the leader based call ups make the first line the faster racers but based on merit not on early arrivals.
Thank you parents and kids:
We want you to love racing. We don’t always get it right, but we do seek to improve your race experience every time any racer puts their tire on the line. Thanks for your help as we start something new.
Have a great week and we’ll see you Tuesday.
