Week 79 - Nostalgic Over Dual Routes

[Andy]

I see that the Bootle Club have been forced to cancel their Presidents Trial which was to have been a round of the Novogar Championship series. Speaking last week with one of the guys who plots the sections and marks the course, he told me that as he understood it, the club had received just 36 entries, and with the trial due to take place on August 17, there was no other option but to cancel.

It came as no surprise as I had already heard the rumours more than a week earlier, and of course this reopens the subject previously aired in this column about making Novogar rounds dual route events.

You

[john collins]

I think I can save a little time and debate on this one

[nigel dabster]

That is good news and surely this would be a great oppurtunity to open up the novogar to a proper over 40 and over 50's championship??

tack it on the easy route and lets see what happens???

[bikespace]

I really don't know what the view of our club will be. Obviously we'll have to fall in line if the decision is made.

One problem we will have is that our Novogar course uses a fair amount of deep gulleys with no way round. That's one of the reasons we wanted a Novogar a few years ago when we started it, that we have a few other trials up there, but can never use all of the course because ideally it needs Inter or Expert level to get up some of the gulleys. One part of the gulley being tough can write off 5 or 6 sections as there's no way out.

We normally manage around 60-70 entries, but we are very aware that we clash with the Hipwell, not far up the road. One bonus for us is that this number of entries almost guarantees that we will be able to move observers across the mountain to observe two sections, something we struggle with for our forest trophy trial. The forest trophy trial misses out some of the real decent stuff because of the level of rider, and admittedly gets over 200 entries. This has been going for much longer, and the Novogar was selected for a specific kind of rider if you like.

I know the intention may be to keep the Novogar route at the same level and put on a lower level, but I honestly can't see it happen. I must admit, I struggle round a few of the existing Novogars, but I do know that I can actually manage to struggle round them (and I'm normally mid table), but with two routes I just know that there'd be no attempt to keep the main route for riders at my level. "If you can't manage the top route, there's a lower route for you" is the common saying.

They've struggled to keep the level down as it is, so with a get out clause I think the level would push right up to cater for the top 20 riders.

The Manx went the same way for me, which isn't a complaint, as the Manx isn't sold as a Clubman event, so the top route is free to go to whatever level they want to aim it at, and I don't think it's a bad thing. The Clubman route does still cater for the Inter and aging Expert rider :-) and is actually the thriving route. 4 or 5 years ago things were different and the National route was very healthy. At that point I was half way down the field, 2 years later I was near the bottom and all the riders I'd previously been above were on the clubman route.

I'm not convinced yet, but open to pursuasion.

[scorpa3]

One of the subjects which I wished to raise at the cancelled ACU trials forum earlier inthe year, was the inclusion of a B route in the Novogar rounds. Our round being the Colmore Cup.

Our suggestion was to have been that the B route was purely a support route with no championship status (perhaps with a simple trophy for the top three.)

We do not wish to and will not increase the severity of the Championship route for the Colmore Cup round (assuming that it gets Novogar status for 2009 that is) we simply wish to provide the option for less able riders to enjoy the event.

The Novogar championship is for clubmen already, it doesn't need to be any harder than it already is, if anything the Colmore is a little too hard as it is now anyway. The B route would be specifically aimed at riders who are below Centre Expert level who wish to ride the trial but who are put off by the severity.

Perhaps the B route could be an O40 championship, but we have plenty of Over 40 riders who are more than capable of riding the Novogars as they are now.

Lets just keep it as a support class and leave the severity of the Championship route the same as it is now. Certainly for the Colmore, it can only be a good thing.

[mickwren]

Before you all get carried away inventing over 50,s classes etc it needs to be made clear that what the Trials and Enduro committee have decided is this "Organisers MAY, if they wish, include an easier route in 50% of the sections, for a separate, non championship class". This means that we have introduced this measure to help clubs who are struggling for entries, and we have given them the OPTION of having a second route if they wish. We have no plans to introduce any extra championships at the moment.

Mick Wren

Novogar series co ordinator

[dan williams]

It's interesting to see that this is a universal debate that we also have here in the US.

I would like to make a couple of points. As policy is made that the result of what you decide will not be fully felt for 3-5 years. It is easy to get into a see-saw relationship where a change isn't fully thought out, or just as bad, the change doesn't have the desired effect immediately then it is quickly set upon and changed again without being given time to work. Don't make a change until the implications 5 years down the road are considered.

A major problem with governance by committee is the lack of a clear direction. Clearly state the objective. Are you trying to attract more riders to make the events financially feasible? Are you trying to "grow" the sport? Are you trying to raise the level of competition as a form of national training? If you don't know what you are fixing how can you fix it?

Before fixes are suggested there needs to be agreement on what's broken, a clear definition on what you're trying to accomplish with changes, and an understanding of the potential but unintended effects that may arise.

Once that is done then it will be much easier to get everybody on board and pulling in the same direction.

[jordi]

Before you all get carried away inventing over 50,s classes etc it needs to be made clear that what the Trials and Enduro committee have decided is this "Organisers MAY, if they wish, include an easier route in 50% of the sections

Mick Wren

Novogar series co ordinator

There you go Bikespace, its as you were then. Your clubs round has the sections about right though.