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Race Management The watchwords of track cycling are safety, speed, and show. While “show” comes after “safety” and “speed” its importance must not be underrated. Unlike road events, which are staged for racers who have paid an entry fee and are open to the public to watch for free, track racing is a show, put on for a paying audience. Racers commonly pay no fee and receive prize money drawn from ticket revenue. Both the race manager and the racers have to be cognizant of this difference. A race has to be a good show for the audience. Races must be fast, they must be short, they must be easy for the audience to understand, and they must be exciting to watch. Finishes must be close, and racers need to appreciate this. (It is, for example, a sign of incompetence in a match sprinter to win a race by more than a bike length, particularly when racing against a much weaker opponent.) Attacks must be frequent. Clowning around and a hamming it up with the audience enhance the spectacle, if done in moderation. Unsportsmanlike behaviour absolutely cannot be tolerated. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to keep the velodrome open for a year. Revenue from audiences is indispensable and should be the principal source of revenue for operations. All members of the velodrome need to understand this and do what they can by coming out to race or watch. Good participation in races by junior and elite men is particularly important since races in those categories will be the fastest and most aggressive. These racers need to be compensated accordingly. Elite women and masters who can handle the speed should be included in the junior or elite men categories. In general, all categories should be ability based rather than age or gender based. It is entirely appropriate, for example, to have 70+ men race with peewees, squirts, and minimes. (Not to mention that such races demonstrate that anybody can ride track and send an important message about accessibility and inclusiveness to the audience.) Provincial and national championships are
an exception to the rule. These events
are put on for the racers and serve as an important measure of their progress
and training for similar events at the national and international level. At championships, the time trials are not
audience friendly events and the categories are in many cases too small to
provide entertaining mass start racing, a problem that is further compounded
by the natural desire of racers to specialize in those events they do
best. These races are staged at a
loss, with racer entry fees only able to feasibly cover a portion of
operating expenses. Some audience
revenue can be generated by staging the sprint competitions and junior and
elite men’s Race Preparation and Officiating Race Night Calendar of Events Types of Races: Race Night Types of Races: Championship Results and Reporting |