3 July 2020
Following British Cycling’s update today regarding the ongoing work to enable people to return to competition we can confirm that, at this point in time we are unfortunately not in a position to lift the suspension of competition in Scotland from August 1.
In line with British Cycling, we do believe that some competition formats and disciplines may be able to return sooner than others and we are working with British Cycling to produce a framework including guidelines and tools for the safe return of each discipline. However, with the current Scottish Government Guidelines in relation to the return to sport, as well as social distancing and guidelines around gatherings etc we are not in a position to announce a lifting of the suspension at this time.
We realise that this may be disappointing for our racing community, but we are confident that as we see restrictions lifting in Scotland, and cycle sport starting to return in England and further afield, we will soon be able to announce a return in some disciplines if not all.
In arriving at our decision, as well as following Government Guidance, we are also extremely mindful of the communities that support our racing activities as well as the vital support from the emergency services and of course our terrific group of volunteers and officials that we rely on so heavily. As and when we do return it will be with full consideration of risks to these communities and groups as well as competitors of course – and our absolute priority is to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
Our events team at Scottish Cycling are extremely keen to hear from organisers with their thoughts on promoting in the coming months as and when it’s possible to do so. We are aware that as organisers you will have ideas on potential changes in format that may allow a race to happen whilst restrictions such as social distancing and restricted group sizes remain, and will work with you to explore all possibilities.
In order to support the calendar planning process for the remainder of the year, Event Organisers should complete this form to submit dates and event details.
Of course, any return will be dependent upon the relevant restrictions put in place by the government authorities including localised restrictions, such as those recently introduced in Dumfries and surrounding areas.
We will need to be flexible and creative in our approach the getting racing back up and running but we have confidence that by working closely with organisers and British Cycling, when the time is right, we will once again witness some exiting racing taking place. We really do thank you for your patience and will provide further updates as soon as we possibly can. In addition, we will communicate further on points and categories for this year once this has been worked through with British Cycling.
British National Series and National Championships
We are aware that many Scottish riders travel across the UK to compete in British Series and Championships - and often with great success so please note the following information specific to these events that is contained within British Cycling’s wider update around a return to competition.
Racing at British national series and national championships level is currently suspended until September 1. Following consultation with teams and event organisers, we do not believe it is possible to this year hold national series and national championships in disciplines which take place in the spring and summer months. This means we will not see national series or championships in road, mountain biking, BMX and cycle speedway. The exceptions to this are national youth and junior events which, with school sport expected to return in September, could still take place. In addition, we remain hopeful that national series and championship racing could take place in cyclo-cross and track later this year and in early 2021.
British Cycling Integrity and Compliance Director, Rod Findlay, said:
“After several months of exploring alternatives and discussions with the relevant authorities, today we have made the difficult decision to formally cancel all British national series and national championship events in the disciplines of road, mountain biking, BMX and cycle speedway. This is not a decision we ever wanted to make however in the interests of providing clarity and certainty to our teams, riders and event organisers we believe it is the correct one.
Following advice from British Cycling, the UCI have confirmed that current national champions will be permitted to continue to wear their national champions jersey until the next edition of the relevant event
Scottish National Series and Championships
Following from the announcements and details above, a decision remains to be made on the viability of Scottish National Championship and Series events for 2020. This decision will be made with the Scottish Cycling Commissions, event organisers and utilising the feedback from the Return to Racing survey which was circulated last month.
That decision will be communicated in the coming weeks to allow riders and event organisers opportunity to plan accordingly.
Our full guidance document is now available below:
Scottish Cycling: The Way Forward
