British Cycling Press Release to Members

No confirmed dates from British Cycling about the resumption of cycle racing in email to membership but major events suspended until September 1st (to be reviewed fortnightly)

British Cycling Press Release to Members (edited)

Suspension of sanctioned cycling activity

British Cycling confirm what we already know and that is that all cycling activity (organised events including racing) is currently suspended until 30 June. They go on to say “because cycling encompasses a wide variety of activity, we are therefore proposing to move to a rolling suspension. This will apply to each of England, Scotland and Wales (see below for more on Wales & Scotland press releases).

They add – We have split activity into three broad categories: international and national level races; regional racing and non-competitive events; club and group activity.

1. International and national level races, including national series and championships: BC say “we are extending the suspension until 1 September 2020. We will review this on a fortnightly basis and we will give six weeks’ public notice of any extension or curtailment of the suspension. This means that the original dates for a number of national series and championship events across multiple disciplines are no longer feasible but we will endeavour to rearrange these events later in the calendar year if possible.”

It is possible that the racing format in some of the disciplines, for example outdoor individual events, may return sooner than others if appropriate measures can be put in place to manage the risk in line with Government guidance and any guidance that we put in place. In all cases we will carefully consider the options available including reasonable measures that can be introduced to manage the safety of the events to manage the safety of participants, volunteers and the general public.”

2. Regional racing and non-competitive events – sportives: BC say “Currently we believe that regional races are more likely to return sooner due to shorter travel distances, fewer event personnel involved and the expectation that they will attract lower spectator numbers. However, due to the current Government guidelines on social distancing we feel that now is the right time to extend the suspension to the 1 August 2020. We will review this on a fortnightly basis and we will give four weeks’ notice of any extension or curtailment of the suspension.

As with international and national racing, we will adopt a risk management approach which means that some disciplines or events can return ahead others if the format allows the safety of all to be managed appropriately.

We have also taken the decision to extend the suspension to the 1 August 2020 for Sportives and other non-competitive events. As with regional racing, we will review this on a fortnightly basis and we will give four weeks’ notice of any extension or curtailment of the extension.”

3. Club and group activity: BC … The third category of activity is other club and group activity, such as coaching, instructing and leading, club rides, HSBC UK Breeze rides and similar. It is likely that these activities can be reintroduced at shorter notice, with a greater degree of flexibility, with appropriate guidance and measures to manage risk ensuring compliance with Government guidelines and emerging industry best practice. As such we will be extending the current suspension until 4 July 2020 to be consistent with the stages announced by Government. We will review this on a fortnightly basis and we will give two weeks’ notice of any changes.

Finally, BC say “we plan to publish next month guidelines on what a staged return to all forms of activity might look like. This is a changing situation but we are committed to updating all those who care for our sport as often as we can and with as much information as we can.”

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WELSH PRESS RELEASE
Due to the extension of the suspension to regional racing until August 1, there won’t be any events before this date. But looking further ahead we have been in communication with our commission chairs about our Welsh Cycling events and series which were due to take place in the coming weeks and months.

MTB
We have regrettably decided that the 2020 XC Welsh Mountain Bike series will now be cancelled. We were looking forward to the 2020 series, a lot of hard work behind the scenes with event organisers had gone on to make what would have been a successful series. We are currently working with those organisers who had event dates for this year and we will be looking to come back when it is safe to do so with another Welsh XC Mountain Bike series in 2021.

Road
The 2020 Welsh Road & TT Championships were due to take place this weekend over the 6 &7th June. We hadn’t officially announced the location of this year’s event prior to COVID-19 – but we have now taken the decision to cancel this year’s event and will begin planning for next year’s event. We are working to support organisers to put on some regional road and circuit events after August 1st, including the possibility of holding Welsh Circuit Championships across all categories, once we can return to action safely. We are working to see how these will need to look to reflect government guidelines, and nearer the time we will update you with any developments.

Track
Regarding future track events we are continually monitoring the situation around guidance for indoor and outdoor facilities and how events within these spaces may look, but we are currently working with our commission chairs to look ahead to the end of 2020 and into 2021.

Cyclo-cross
Our proposed Welsh Cycling Cyclo-cross season is due to take place in September. We have decided to push the series back to mid-November with the aim of carrying on into 2021. We are working with event organisers and will issue an update as and when we have more information.

Next: With the upcoming Welsh Government review taking place at the end of this week we’ll have more information about what it means for returning to sport in Wales and we will update the membership as soon as possible.

SCOTTISH PRESS RELEASE
For Sportives in Scotland, these events must follow the Scottish Government advice, and this will be communicated accordingly if there is any change to this suspension date. No other news in their press release.