Inter Provincial Youth MTB Competition

The first Inter-provincial Youth MTB Competition will take place on Sunday, 1^st of September at the McCrystal Cyclo-cross track in Jenkinstown, County Louth.

 

This event is targeted at U12, U14 and U16 riders. Teams will be made up of four riders – 3 boys and 1 girl. Teams can be a mixture of ages.

Teams will be associated with provinces. While there is no limit to the number of teams per province, there will be an overall limit of 14 teams for the event.

If possible, provincial teams should be wearing provincial kit (jerseys) but similar club kit would also work. Each team should have a Team Manager, and can also have a coach if they wish.

The event will be divided into four disciplines.

Skills competition:
Riders will be presented with a series of obstacles to negotiate. These will be tests of bike handling skills. The aim is to keep the number of faults to a minimum.

The  include bunny hopping obstacles, side hops, slalom, endo turns or 180 degree hops, plank rides, bottle pickups. The format of the obstacle section will not be provided until the event day. All riders will then have time to practice the obstacles.

If a rider does not attempt a particular object, they will receive a fault. If a rider knocks over the obstacle, cone etc. this will be deemed a fault. The aim is to clear the obstacles with as few faults as possible.

The number of faults will affect the handicaps for the next events, the time trial and the hill climb. There will be 3 levels of obstacle with points awarded for completion (1, 2 or 3).

Handicapped time trial
Riders will have one lap of the full course. In addition to their lap time, they will have seconds added per fault from Event 1. Riders will be started at one minute intervals.

Hill Climb
Riders will have a single timed run up a hill climb. In addition to their time, they will have  seconds added per fault from Event 1. Riders will be started at one minute intervals.

Team relay
The team relay will be held over 4 laps. All teams will all take part together and must complete 4 laps irrespective of how many riders are in the team (to account for injuries). No rider may complete two laps in a row. Riders must make the change by dismounting into the transition and progressing on foot to pass the marker to the next rider who can only set off once they have it.

Schedule:
10:00 registration opens
10:00 skills area open for practice
11:00 skills competition begins
12:00-12:30 lunch 13:30
12:30-13:00 time trial course recce
13:00 handicapped time trials (based on results from skills competition)
14:00 hill climb practice
14:30 hill climb competition
15:15 team relay practice
15:30 team relay

Number plates and chip timing:
To be supplied by Bryan McCrystal. A pack will be handed out to the Team Manager. If the team has a coach, then the coach must display a number plate.

Equipment: Riders must use the same bicycle for the whole event. This must be a mountain bike. Dropper posts, if fitted, are not to be used during the skills competition.
Seat height will be checked.

Riders and teams can register here.