Youth Racing Questions

Fr D Maugire

My 2 sons are interested in getting involved in Youth racing but it is an area of the sport that there seems to be limited information so I have the following questions. They would be racing at U-14/16 level.

Where is it possible to find a Calendar of Youth Races? On the Cycling Ireland site there is a Youth Calendar but from 2014. Looking through the regular Calendar, it is hard to see which races include Youth Racing.

Are there any good online resources for training advice/coaching for Youth riders? Like what mileage should they be doing? intensity, type of training etc. Again Cycling Ireland doesn't seem to have much info on this kind of thing.

Not many young people around here racing so our local clubs don't pay any real attention to Youth racing so have limited kowledge. It just seems to be do your own thing.

Maybe it is just me but Cycling seems to be far behind other sports in Ireland when it comes to developing young cyclists.

Any advice would help as my own knowledge of training etc is very limited. More of a miles, miles, miles leisure cyclist.

granda

Wav1 would be your man to answer all your questions, he's based in louth and is very much involved in underage racing, plus there is a traing day coming up shortly for underage riders in leinster (there was a thread about it a couple of days ago)

Mehaffey1

Would've trained in 3-4 days per week. Plenty of shorter spins not real big spins if can manage 90km on weekend spin then that's more than enough. Plenty of interval sessions with focus on leg speed and high intensity bursts maybe 3 minutes or 30 second sprints. Quite a serious programme as a youngster but thats what top 5 riders each age group be achieving

Huge variance in ability those years just due to puberty and growing up. Most important thing is simply enjoying cycling and don't push hard. Gears are 49x16 U14 or 52x16 U16 although would double check them, might have changed since I was racing.

Mehaffey1

Cycling Ireland bring out Race Calendar booklet and races with youth events have details included under normal seniors.

Club races are big improving steps for youth riders, get the odd U16 winning them.

Hi Ho

Trying to find details of events has always been difficult.
Clubs vary a lot in their interest in younger riders, so the best thing is probably to find a club with an individual(s) who are interested.
It helps to think of learning about bike racing as more an apprenticeship than just training. So, 'hanging around with the right crowd' is important - good mentors, good example, etc. .

Beasty

Where are you based Fr Maugire?

As already mentioned wav1 is the best person to give you info on the youth scene, and I'm sure he'll be along in due course to provide a bit of advice

There is a CI Youth Commission, although I would need to dig out some contact details. There are also a number of individuals who could probably give you pointers within each Provinces. I would add that BMX and track do cater very well for youths, although there are clearly limited facilities available on both fronts outside Dublin (Belfast and Kanturk do have tracks though) - a lot of kids do use thie disciplines as a launching pad for bigger and better things. CX is another area where kids races are now often put on ahead of senior events, and I know it's something my own club would like to pursue. We are also considering whether we can put on some races for juniors within the club at Corkagh Park, but again that may not be much of an option depending on your location

wav1

Unfortunately there has been no active youth commission now for a few yrs.A new National Youth academy is now in the process of being set up and I hope it works out as planned.There are people in place in each province now and a day is planned for mid February..Dont know where you are but as earlier posts suggested theres a Leinster day in Bray on Sun Jan 25th,for U14s,U16s,and Juniors.A lot of clubs don't cater for youths as it is more difficult now than some time ago with childrens code of ethics and garda vetting etc.
Racing scene is not too bad,and actually probably improving all the time.Dont know if they are going to issue a separate youth calendar or not but the normal one should state whether youths are catered for..Generally its the same races each yr that has youths and you get to know them in time.Lots of activity for them too in Sundrive on the track in the summertime.TBH at the start it has to be all about enjoyment and instilling in them a love for the bike and then it can be taken from there.Retention of youths in the past going forward in to senior has been pretty bad.Its all about keeping them at it as they mature at different levels at the young age.We had a rider in Jun Tour 2012 who was no more than an average junior and now is one of the most prolific winners on the senior scene.On the road there are really no races till early April..First big get together of the youths is usually at our own Ras na N'og 3 stage race in late April and there would be something most weekends until late August..Club leagues are great for them also with less pressure.Depending on where you are I can probably list here later a list of events and the right person to get in touch with in your area.

Fr D Maugire

Thanks for all the answers. We would be gravitating toward Ulster as we are North West area. Could go to Sligo but there seems to no be real Youth Racing scene in the clubs and its over 20 miles away.

wav1

Fr D Maugire wrote: »

Thanks for all the answers. We would be gravitating toward Ulster as we are North West area. Could go to Sligo but there seems to no be real Youth Racing scene in the clubs and its over 20 miles away.

North West is a big area but Errigal CC in Donegal and Covey Wheelers in Westport are very youth orientated.

12 sprocket

Are there any good online resources for training advice/coaching for Youth riders? Like what mileage should they be doing? intensity, type of training etc. Again Cycling Ireland doesn't seem to have much info on this kind of thing.

Cycling Ireland have a Booklet written by which addresses the questions you ask above.. Title Youth Cycling Training guide written by Paddy Doran .. Maybe Wav1 would have some for distribution, If not they should be available from Cycling Ireland

Beasty

You might want to keep your eye on the Cycling Ulster website - they tend to be excellent at promoting events in all disciplines and at all levels across the province

Beasty

wav1 wrote: »

Unfortunately there has been no active youth commission now for a few yrs

12 sprocket wrote: »

Are there any good online resources for training advice/coaching for Youth riders? Like what mileage should they be doing? intensity, type of training etc. Again Cycling Ireland doesn't seem to have much info on this kind of thing.

Moving slightly off topic, but we seem to have a few commissions that are inactive/ineffective. Is there an argument that in those circumstances the provinces should think about pushing the relevant disciplines forward (and I know wav1 that you and Cycling Leinster are big supporters of youth racing, but that appears as much by virtue of the individuals who are active at provincial level than design)

12 sprocket

Beasty wrote: »

Moving slightly off topic, but we seem to have a few commissions that are inactive/ineffective. Is there an argument that in those circumstances the provinces should think about pushing the relevant disciplines forward (and I know wav1 that you and Cycling Leinster are big supporters of youth racing, but that appears as much by virtue of the individuals who are active at provincial level than design)

Not having a youth Commission doesn't seem to have hampered youth development at all, with a very good standard of youth cyclist progressing into the Junior levels the last few years and it seems a higher standard all round with the juniors as well progressing into the senior ranks at a very good level.

wav1

12 sprocket wrote: »

Not having a youth Commission doesn't seem to have hampered youth development at all, with a very good standard of youth cyclist progressing into the Junior levels the last few years and it seems a higher standard all round with the juniors as well progressing into the senior ranks at a very good level.

The present system[eg Talent 2020] is developing and producing good riders as you say,but the problem that exists at present is that the other 90% of the youth riders have no system in place for them at national level.The present system is exclusive and not inclusive.Thats the problem with it IMO,but the new adademy system could help as there could be a niche there for far more riders.

dermabrasion

Is there any interest of merit for clubs to meet and share coaching for the younger ones (U12-U14) in Corkagh park? The reason I mention this is because in our club, we might have a handful of youth (we have 1 right now). I think they could do better with peers to get some comparison and competition.

hammerheadjack

Hi, as per above both Errigal CC and Westport CC have a great youth section in the club. They organise one day camps etc.
Paddy Doran's booklet available from CI gives good information on gears and on training for youths.

A few of the bigger main races for youth from U10-U16 are
Ras Maigheo March Westport
Ras na Nog April Drogheda
Kanturk 2 day June bank holiday weekend
Errigal International Youth Tour August Bank holiday (best organised youth racing in Ireland)
National Champs in August.

There are many smaller youth races that run before senior races. One of the first of the year is the Seven Springs GP in Loughrea, Co. Galway on the 22nd of March.

There is a FB page run by Galway Bay CC members that will be updated as the season goes on.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishYouthCycling

There is also a Connacht MTB league during the winter which will really improve their bike handling skills. See https://www.facebook.com/ConnachtMtbLeague

Beasty

dermabrasion wrote: »

Is there any interest of merit for clubs to meet and share coaching for the younger ones (U12-U14) in Corkagh park? The reason I mention this is because in our club, we might have a handful of youth (we have 1 right now). I think they could do better with peers to get some comparison and competition.

I think Corkagh Park is a great place to introduce cyclists at all levels into racing. The Womens Commission is an example to the rest of us on how riders can be brought on in a very safe environment at CP.

My own club has been guilty of neglecting it's youth section in recent times. However we've changed that over the past year or so with dedicated youth spins and a few club members putting a lot of effort into supporting youths within the club. Of course there are one or two (certainly not insurmountable) barriers, including Garda vetting and perhaps a concern amongst some parents over perceived risks involved particularly when racing on Open roads

We are certainly not pushing any of the youths into racing, although we equally are not discouraging it and will try and help where we can. We're going to have some club league nights at Corkagh Park over the summer and may aim at running youth races ahead of the seniors. In addition I am hopeful we can put on a couple of training sessions at Corkagh Park ahead of the league commencing in April, when hopefully youths as well as others starting off racing can gain some tips/advice from more experienced club members

dermabrasion

Beasty, is that Orwell?
Would it be rude / lazy to tag on a youths league onto the Ladies commission? I think it is a Tuesday.

rizzodun

I was about to post the Connaught MTB league link that hammerheadjack posted, they run U-10/12/14/16 categories and would more than likely be able to help you find road based events too, as a lot of the younger groups would move to the winter mtb leagues in the bad weather.
Follow the fb link jack posted.

greenmat

Beasty wrote: »

I think Corkagh Park is a great place to introduce cyclists at all levels into racing. The Womens Commission is an example to the rest of us on how riders can be brought on in a very safe environment at CP.

My own club has been guilty of neglecting it's youth section in recent times. However we've changed that over the past year or so with dedicated youth spins and a few club members putting a lot of effort into supporting youths within the club. Of course there are one or two (certainly not insurmountable) barriers, including Garda vetting and perhaps a concern amongst some parents over perceived risks involved particularly when racing on Open roads

We are certainly not pushing any of the youths into racing, although we equally are not discouraging it and will try and help where we can. We're going to have some club league nights at Corkagh Park over the summer and may aim at running youth races ahead of the seniors. In addition I am hopeful we can put on a couple of training sessions at Corkagh Park ahead of the league commencing in April, when hopefully youths as well as others starting off racing can gain some tips/advice from more experienced club members

Beasty, that's maybe something we could consider in our league, races in Corkagh Park maybe starting before the main race for Youths who are total beginners to racing.

QueensGael

The Corkagh Park Ladies Racing series is planning to have races for girls before the Senior races this year. Format yet to be decided, but we'll post info here about it - it'll be Tuesday evenings as usual.

Beasty

dermabrasion wrote: »

Beasty, is that Orwell?

It's Swords - we will typically use CP perhaps once a month for the Club League (Wednesday evenings)

Beasty

... and just to add - Wednesday evenings also see track racing at Sundrive throughout the summer, with a very successful youth section. Typically 3 or 4 different races each league night (track accreditation required)

slideshow bob

hammerheadjack wrote: »

Hi, as per above both Errigal CC and Westport CC have a great youth section in the club. They organise one day camps etc.

Just to fill-out the club picture Galway Bay Cycling Club are doing good work with some juniors by all accounts.

There's a junior day for Connacht cyclists in Westport this Saturday (postponed from last week due to weather).

And GBCC are holding a youth cycling fundraiser on Sunday from Clarenbridge - as attached.

greenmat

Digging up this post, any info about any upcoming Youth races in Leinster. Pat & Monie and Stamullen GP are down in Calender. Have a couple brand new to racing who want to give it a go, U16 & U14. Ras na Nog might be too difficult, any others I should look at for newbies?

wav1

greenmat wrote: »

Digging up this post, any info about any upcoming Youth races in Leinster. Pat & Monie and Stamullen GP are down in Calender. Have a couple brand new to racing who want to give it a go, U16 & U14. Ras na Nog might be too difficult, any others I should look at for newbies?

Bohermeen Waller Cup races on Apr 26th mightn't be a bad place for newbies.

Esroh

Donamon in Roscommon also always have a good number of Youths.

greenmat

wav1 wrote: »

Bohermeen Waller Cup races on Apr 26th mightn't be a bad place for newbies.

That's right, did the A4 last year, loads of kids around from earlier races, they put on a great show. Hopefully the Youth races will get the green light at least. Really need to get the problems with Gardai sorted, especially for our Youths.