Sunday, May 04, 2008

Decline and Fall of Nova Scotian Racing



Already dealing with a thin 2008 racing schedule it became worse this past week. The AMP road race scheduled for today was cancelled after the organizer and chief commissar were unable to reach a compromise regarding the number of officials and the demand for faster race results.

Not privy to the details I am loathe to assign blame but the resulting resignation of two senior chief officials from BNS means the remaining three scheduled races may indeed face a lack of officiating. There remains one active official(to my knowledge)qualified to lead a commissaring team.

Sure makes the $95 forked out for a race licence this past winter hard to swallow. Of the three remaining races one I cannot ride due to distance,one our club hosts may need volunteers to work so that leaves the Provincial race in Riverport. Factoring in my travel and registration expenses along with the license fee that makes for one expensive bike ride. It is early in the season so perhaps some races will get added as the season progresses.....hope runs eternal, especially for a Provincial ITT.

Sadly it seems bike racing in this province is in it`s death throes. Between the red tape, cost, lack of qualified officials and volunteers most clubs are hard pressed to host an event.

That said I got in a good,hard club ride on Saturday and managed to get in a metric century ride today. 101 km with a 30+ average from shop to bike shop. Factor in my solo ride out and back to Halifax I ended up with a 29.2 kph average. Not too bad for early May. Thanks to Kevin, Peter and Art for a great ride.

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