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INDOOR
INDOOR CHAMPS RETURN TO COVENTRY posted 5 March 2014
The national indoor championships will return to Coventry Connexion on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th January 2015 when the organising committee host the 2014 championships.
Principal promoter Steve Mullinder was delighted with the news.
It will be all hands to the pumps again to try and make it even better Steve told Spokesman.
We've got myself, Roger Ellis and Joe McLaughlin trying to bring it together. We are looking for sponsors for each event so if anyone is interested or knows anyone, please get in touch with one of us asked Steve.
Inspired by what they have seen on television and the internet, members of the St Louis Bicycle Pole club tried the sport for the first time.
The highly successful indoor season of indoor training and racing, promoted by Coventry CSC, has come to a close after nearly three months of increasingly high attendances.
Club bosses are delighted with the latest series of sessions, following on from their successful launch at the end of the 2012 season. Held at the Sports Connexion, Ryton, the sessions have grown in popularity, peaking at a whopping 45 riders just before Christmas 2013.
The venue was also successfully used for the 2013 British indoor finals, promoted by the Midland League regional committee. Plans are afoot to make the Sports Connexion the regular home of the championships in future years.
Dave Foster, Coventry CSC chairman, said: "We are delighted with our indoor promotions. We thank all the clubs and riders who have supported the venture and officials like Bernie Kemp and Carl Wassall who have helped organise the activities."
The Sports Connexion venue will return at the end of the 2014 outdoor season.
HOYLAND FAVOURITE TO DEFEND TITLE posted 4 January 2014
With the tapes due to go up on the national indoor championships in just over an hours time, the mens title will be a two horse race according to Spokesman readers.
Reigning champion Ryan Hoyland is the peoples favourite to successfully defend his title. He polled a remarkable 25% of the votes cast, well clear of British outdoor champion Tom Reed who attracted 18% of the poll.
Surprisingly Pooles Wil Bristowe came third in our snap poll, winning 13% of the votes. Bristowe has yet to show any real form in the indoor scene but has clearly attracted a lot of support, finishing ahead of former winners Mark Boaler (10%) and Mike Morgans 8%.
Over 120 votes were cast.
The most prominent feature is the blue and yellow air fence which completely encloses the circuit. Hired at a cost of £1,500 and funded by British Cycling, the air fence has been introduced after a spectator was allegedly struck by one of the wooden perimeter boards at a previous event, leaving him with a sizeable splinter in his leg. It is rumoured the spectator subsequently successfully lodged an injury claim against British Cycling and received substantial damages, running into several thousand pounds, as a result of the accident.
While rider and spectator safety has rightly been given top priority, the immediate downside is that seated spectators will be unable to see the action as the air fence is four feet high.
TEAM WHITEHEAD PREPARE FOR INDOOR CHAMPS posted 2 January 2014
The record book will be re-written this weekend when Leicester duo Steph and Mark Whitehead both compete in the veterans individual championship, the first father and son to do so.
Team Whitehouse, cycle speedways biggest and best known family, will be out in force at Coventry Connexion. The remarkable cycle speedway dynasty has entered riders in all but the under-19 category. As well as dad Steph and son Mark racing in the vets, grandson Luke competes in the under-16s, grand-daughters line up in the under-13s, and sisters Jenna and Lucy race alongside grand-daughter Michelle in the womens event.
Not content with that, several of the family are also expected to represent Leicester in the team competitions.
Arrangements for next months national indoor championships are progressing well and organisers are hoping the 2013 event will be one of the best ever.
The Connexion, British Cycling, Steve Mullinder, Dave Jewkes, Joe Mc'laughin, myself and the Midland committee are all working to make these championships a great success principal organiser Roger Ellis told Spokesman.
The track and gates are there already and the air fence is booked. Everything is coming together nicely and hopefully we are now getting people on board to help run the event.
The hall itself is very big. The track will be down one side of the hall, pits the other side and spectators down the side of the home straight. We are working on seating at the moment. Also upstairs there is a viewing gallery, catering bar, television and pool table. Downstairs is the food and drinks hall.
It should be a great British indoor championships promised Roger.
TIMMS TO MISS VETS FINAL posted 11 December 2013
Paul Timms, one of the leading vets over the past decade, fell at the Coventry venue last Sunday evening and withdrew from the rest of the evening. Suffering pain, he visited Sutton Coldfield`s Good Hope Hospital on Monday afternoon, where a broken collarbone was diagnosed. Its a crushing blow to the popular 56-year-old, who recently won the over-50s Eurovets championship at the end of the outdoor season. Timms will now rest and concentrate his efforts in getting fit for the new season in March. Plans for the 2013 British indoor championships are racing ahead with organisers of the event pleased with progress thus far ahead of the January 2014 staging. Members of the Midland League committee met at the venue - the Sports Connexion near Coventry and made plans for the event after an extensive tour of the facility.
The corners and inside lines of the indoor track are all set to be transported from Manchester this Sunday to the Connexion venue, with Steve Mullinder and Roger Ellis supervising the operation.
Entries for the finals, to be staged on 4th and 5th of January, are reported to have speeded up in the past week before deadline date and officials have also been busy in rostering key officials from all the Midlands clubs to man the hectic racing calendar.
To reserve your hotel room for the British Indoor Finals, managed by Roger Ellis and Dave Jewkes, could not be simpler. Just call: 0871 Please note, no on-line bookings can be accepted in order to obtain the special £50 (or family room) rate, only telephone bookings. Just a heads up to riders competing in the indoor British championships. My boy's license expires on December 31st, however speaking to Paul West this afternoon, he said that riders will be cut a little slack when it comes to licence expiry at this event providing it's within a week or so, but did advise to renew for 2014 as soon as possible Rowley told Spokesman. LEGEND TO MISS INDOOR CHAMPS posted 22 October 2013
If the national indoor championships go ahead in Coventry over the weekend of 4th and 5th January as planned, one of the biggest names in the game will be missing. It will also mark the end to one of the most remarkable records in the history of the sport.
But that proud record is likely to come to an end as Harris will still be on holiday when the indoor championships take place.
Edinburgh have withdrawn from the chase to host the 2013 British indoor championships leaving the way clear for Coventry to stage the event at the citys Sports Connexion complex in the New Year.
Its great news that Wednesfield are prepared to stage it said an Edinburgh spokesman. Coventry would be a more favourable location. The Edinburgh club's attempt to save the championships was just that - not a competitive bid to stage the championships. We will now step aside and not make any formal approach to allow the Wednesfield club time to concentrate on planning the event.
Hot on the heels of Edinburghs announcement that they are considering stepping in to save the British indoor championship comes news of a second potential bid to host the event.
Me and Dave Jewkes are working towards making the indoor happen in Coventry. All I need from the Midlands clubs is their help over the weekend of the 4th and 5th January 2014. What we would want is help running the meetings over the weekend, sharing them out with our people helping one another. We would set up a group once we know the format Ellis told other Midland clubs.
It is expected Elliss proposals will be discussed at the Midlands regional annual meeting to take place at the Wednesfield clubroom on 3 November.
In the meantime the Edinburgh club intend having a meeting to see if it would be practical and logistically possible to stage the 2013 championships at the Jack Kane Centre. If the meeting gives the proposal the go-ahead, a formal approach will be made subject to British Cycling subject to approval from all parties.
The Jack Kane Centre is in the South-East of Edinburgh and is within a straight three to four mile distance from many hotels and B&Bs in the affluent Craigmillar Park and Dalkeith Road district.
Edinburgh cycle speedway club have made a dramatic bid to save the British indoor championships.
After reading about the plight of the long established championship, the Edinburgh club wants to explore the possibility of hosting the 2013 championships at the Jack Kane Centre.
Yes we would be interested said a club spokesman. This would be subject to British Cycling and Cycle Speedway Commission approval and availability of the sports hall. However we would only be able to do this in January at the earliest, at least giving time so that the returning party from the World championships are fully recovered back home.
The Jack Kane Centre was used for extensive training by the Edinburgh club in 2011 and has been used by the Scottish Schools Cycle Speedway for the past four years.
Both team and individual championships, scheduled to take place over consecutive weekends in late November and early December, have been dropped from British Cyclings official e-calendar, giving credence to the wide-spread rumours.
In recent years the indoor has been promoted, sometimes reluctantly, by the Northern region in sports halls in the Manchester area. The North have made no secret that they would like another region to take up the cudgel and host the event which takes considerable planning and is labour intensive.
The Northern League took the unanimous decision at our annual meeting twelve months ago not to host the 2013 indoor championships. We have staged the indoor fourteen times and felt it was time for one of the other regions to have a go regional chairman Tony Mann told Spokesman.
Rumours that the indoor championships could be held in the Midlands have not materialised and no other region or club has expressed an interest in staging the event.
Ironically, it appears that neither venue availability nor finance is the stumbling block. It is understood British Cycling would be prepared to underwrite the championships provided a suitable, cost effective venue could be found. Surprisingly its the lack of volunteer helpers that threatens the popular event.
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