John Rawnsley’s announced on the forum that all riders will again start together in 2008. For the last few years, the veterans, ladies and juniors have started half an hour in front of the senior race on the assumption that there would be less road congestion by splitting the groups, and also a compensated effect on finish times, effectively getting more riders to finish earlier on the day.
The absence of police assistance at this year’s race means that we’re back to racing the three peaks cyclocross as a race again – miles more satisfying for spectators, miles easier and safer for race leaders who won’t have to negotiate passing slower riders, and all in all a good move.
John says that the racers will all line up according to their expected finish times; I guess this means what people put on their entry forms if they’re a first timer, and their previous best. Not that being down the bunch will cause a major issue, but 400 plus people on the road from Helwith Bridge to the start of Ingleborough’s going to be quite a sight.
One small annoying impact for me is that I was hoping that some of my support team were going to be able to help my brother out too – with him setting off 30 mins ahead of me and my not expecting to catch him until the Hill Inn area. Not sure how that fares now, but we’ve quite a bit of time to work out things like that.
On the whole, I welcome this.
