Pairs Time Trial to be discontinued at future Australian Championships?

The future of the Pairs Time Trial at Australian championships is in doubt after a Cycling Australia Board of Management Meeting.

The championships which have been a part of the junior National championships for many years, may have had its last running this year in Canberra.

This entry was posted on September 19, 2007 at 4:09 pm and is filed under cycling news, cycling results, juniors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Pairs Time Trial to be discontinued at future Australian Championships?”

  1. Audrey Anderson Says:
    September 20, 2007 at 12:48 pm

    After hearing the news , Midland Cycle Club was devastated to know this event will not continue…OUR club loved the whole event as it embodied the whole idea of CLUB man/womenship…to see CLUB’s racing against other CLUB’s was wonderful….. it was not about pairing the best two riders in the state together for a MEDAL it was more about allowing 2 riders who came from the same club, who normally would race /compete against each other to COMPETE together as a TEAM…

    THESE TEAM type of events need to be reconsidered it should not be about shortening the time of the championships as IT happens on the ROAD only 1 a year for these riders and to allow them to have another RACE was WONDERFUL…

    Something young riders who wish to go on, need to realise that cycling is not solitary your part of usually a TEAM, and there are times things are done which benefits the team more than 1 rider in particular…and this is what the pairs TT taught alot of young riders…it is more than about 1 PERSON….

    SHAME, !!!and with a huge twinge of sadness

  2. Christos Winter Says:
    September 20, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    I agree totally Audrey,

    The event was one of the only races in which you could race for your club and it was always an excellent way to end of the national championships.

    Perhaps if enough people say something they may change there mind…

  3. Jessica Allen Says:
    September 21, 2007 at 7:38 pm

    I agree with Audrey and Christos too!

    I’ve done this event twice now and it is a great way of racing with your team mate from the same club and learning each others strengths, weaknesses and how to work together as a team! Personally i was really shocked to hear that this particular event would not be on next year because this is one of my favourite events and it ends the national championships on a high!

    I really hope they change their mind about this decision…

  4. Rick Lee Says:
    September 23, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    Well without making this a WA winge session, I make the following comments.

    WHY? What are the reasons for this decision? Were clubs who make up the Sport of Cycling given input?

    One of the best events I have witnessed was watching 3 teams of JM17s finish with 2 seconds of each other after 15kms of hard time trialing at the Australian Championships, it was exciting and gutsy racing.

    Junior Cycling needs more events, not less.

    Will CA include another event for riders who have traveled such a long way to compete against the best in Australia.

    In closing I feel the Pairs TT has grown in popularity and it shows the strength and depth of a Club and isnt that what it is all about? We must develop team competitions not kill them.

    CA please reconsider

    Rick Lee

  5. John Rayner Says:
    September 26, 2007 at 3:24 am

    This decision deeply disappoints me. In my opinion the whole point of junior racing is to develop the next generation of senior riders. It is their for enjoyment and to foster a passion that will hopefully carry on. The only way to achieve these things is to allow the juniors to race. By removing the pairs time trial the juniors lose a quarter of their racing at nationals and consequently lose a quarter of their opportunities to show what they can do and repay the faith that their parents, coaches and peers have placed in them.

    I was gutted to learn that there would be no u19 pairs tt in 2005 and this was compounded when CA brought it back for 2006. I can only imagine what the u15/17 riders would be thinking whilst reading this. The juniors should not be treated as guinea pigs, especially when there is no clear explanation to the experimentation.

    I believe that lack of numbers was cited as the reason to not hold the event for u19 in 2005. The only reason I can see for 2008 is to save money or time due to a massive 63 teams starting in 2007, an increase of over 65% on 2006! Saving money should not be an issue due to entry fees and sponsorships. An extra 20 dollars for another event would not be an issue to families who are forking out hundreds or thousands of dollars for accommodation and travel expenses. If time is the issue then CA should give the championships to an area that is willing to accommodate them.

    A lot of riders, even at such a young age, save themselves for the road race and roll through the motions in the timetrial. The pairs tt, if scheduled last, gives everyone a chance to show what they can do in a tt situation whilst not compromising results in any other races. Give the kids a chance CA, if you don’t you won’t have any decisions to make in a decade’s time.

Leave a Reply