Welcome to Imperial Racing Team.
A cycle racing club: to race, to promote racing across the sport and promote races for others.
Imperial / im’pIerIal / a. majestic : derived from imperiale (Fr.), a great cyclist: for example Laurent Jalabert ; not to be confused with imperial rule.
Imperial Winter Series 2011/2012
First race 3rd December - are you ready?
The cyclo cross season might be in full swing but let’s not forget that most of us are already thinking about the road season in 2012 – so welcome again then to the 2011/12 Imperial Winter series - we’ll have a packed programme to cater for everyone as usual. The introduction of the Women’s race last year (over the Christmas break) proved a great success and seemed to hit the spot with the riders so this is a definite again; we would love to see it attracting a bigger, stronger field.
Similarly we are delighted to continue our strong links with WyndyMilla and Maxifuel and this will again major on the up and coming categories but with some further recognition for the main E123 race.
One of the unique joys of running a series over a long period is to see the changing faces, many of those new ones, and last year’s series featured some strong rides by some new names and we remain convinced that Hillingdon provides a safe environment for riders to take up road racing. There has been much debate about the standard of racing at Hillingdon, some related to the standard of riding and some to the direction of racing. We consider that the chances of incidents are minimised by grouping riders of similar standard and by limiting the sizes of the field; by offering more category specific races we believe we are aligned to this. In respect of the question about clockwise vs. anti-clockwise again we see no evidence that this is affecting track safety and are maintaining the traditional direction for this year. However, plans are in place to replace the judge’s hut at the top of the hill with a new facility on the apron; this may mean a change in the longer term – most of you will be aware how cold it is standing on the top of the hill in winter, plus the difficulty of operating the photo finish equipment with frozen fingers!
The new club house has been a very welcome addition to the operational and comfort levels at Hillingdon; it was great to see riders, supporters and family staying on to talk about the racing and cycling in general – it’s not always about the racing! It is difficult to see how we survived for so long without it! However, you will appreciate that this is a costly facility to run and a result there has been a slight increase in fees this year which we will have to pass on – we recognise that these are difficult times so have tried to minimise this.
And so to the prizes! We will again be having overall prize money for the E123 and 3rd cat. races. These are effectively linked to the numbers of races we run and despite losing 2 last year because of snow we maintained the same level as previous years; we hope to do the same again this year.
E123 – Maxifuel packs to the top 3 overall
3rd Cat – Overall top 3 places win a free WyndyMilla custom cycling shoe insert fitting at their HQ near Guildford ; competitors will also be entered into a random selected finishing place each week to receive a Maxifuel pack of products.
4th Cat – Each week a random finish place will receive a Bike Fit courtesy of WyndyMilla
Women’s – a Maxifuel bag of products for the top 3 overall
Online (the web) entries proved successful for fast tracking at the sign-on table, so thanks to Rider HQ, they will be continuing this option for us again this season.
Ok, have you got all that? Series starts Saturday 3rd December, 12 rounds at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit, comfortable club house and the usual Imperial Racing Teas will be provided.
Coaching
Again this year, there’s the opportunity to get in some coaching on circuit racing before the racing gets underway. Mark February 18th 2012 (it’s a Saturday) in your diary, as Prime Coaching will come to the Hillingdon Circuit for a four-hour (1-5pm) training session on the do’s and don’ts and probably a few ‘cunning tricks to have up your sleeve’ that’ll be sure to have you ready in every way for when the action kicks off. No question, circuit racing can be intense and riding in a fast moving peloton around a technical undulating circuit calls for an understanding of racing etiquette. If circuit racing is new to you, this is a must-attend. Don't forget to register to avoid disappointment.
Sponsorship
WyndyMilla are now the established royal family of British cycling’s new wave of custom cool – young, pink and fresh - click on the link to their One Stop Go-Faster shop. WyndyMilla website
Developed by Maximuscle, Europe's leading sports nutrition company, Maxifuel is committed to providing proven, safe and effective products to help you beat your best during exercise - whether you're an elite athlete or a fitness junkie. Click on the links to view their full range of products and services. MaxiFuel website
Youth Racing
Clive Dawkins is running the BC Youth Winter Races at Hillingdon from the 7th January for 6 weeks on behalf of Hillingdon Slipstreamers. Please contact Clive for the race start times and full details.Contact
If you have any queries about the Imperial Winter Series, please contact Lucy Collins on 07740628810 or email Lucy@imperialracingteam.com
Imperial Winter Series 2010/2011
Phew-ey Lewis is the news!
In the E123 races we have again welcomed old friends and met new ones and are glad that this mix keeps the racing and the series fresh. It was particularly good to see Lewis Atkins back – he first raced in the Imperial series in 2006/07 – and is now a consistent winner and a great ambassador for the sport and his sponsors.
The presentation was held inside the clubroom for the first time with special guest Ron Webb presenting the prizes. Ron said a few words about his design of the track for the London Olympic and hoped that many of the riders present would make use of the very fast unique track both before and after the Olympic event. His message must have had a bewitching effect as his request for questions was met with deathly silence! The lucky draw included further prizes from series sponsor WyndyMilla and Maxifuel as well as £100 vouchers from Sigma Sport. The Doug Collins Combative Rider award went to Jake Martin who without doubt has been the most attacking rider; when interviewed he said that he was looking forward to ‘smashing it up’ on the road in the coming months! Overall Lewis Atkins thanked the Collins clan for organising the series, Henry Furniss of WindyMilla for his sponsorship and finally Alison the first aider who luckily, with the exception of the last day, had very little to do. Finally Mike Clark of Sport and Publicity presented Lucy with a bottle of wine and his sincere thanks on behalf of everyone for her dedicated efforts.
Each year we review the format of the series to consider what has worked and what needs improvement; we appreciate any feedback received and try to take this on board. Despite being knocked back badly by the weather (we lost more races in the first 4 weeks than the total over the last 11 years!) we responded by adding another race on a Sunday.
For the first time we have had a lead sponsor and are most grateful to Henry Furniss of WyndyMilla for his commitment and enthusiasm and also for bringing Maxifuel with him.
This year we stuck with the two race format with 3’s and 4’s on the circuit at the same time and feel this went well with everybody respecting the need to keep apart. We consider that smaller fields, whilst slightly disappointing from an organiser’s viewpoint, has helped minimise the number of crashes; we see no reason to switch the race direction to clockwise.
This year after consultation with Mark Doel we introduced a mini series for Women and are absolutely delighted with the response; beforehand we would have settled for a field of 10-15, so to have 15-20 in all 3 races was a tremendous boost for us. Thank you all for your support - the racing was brilliant as well!
Thank you again from all of us to all of you – we hope you have a safe and successful Summer of racing and look forward to seeing you at the circuit on the 3rd December 2011 for the next Imperial Winter Series.
Doug, Richard & Lucy
For all the race action, click on the Results tab
A very short video (just 3 minutes) rounding up the feel of the
2009/2010 Imperial Winter Series. Includes out takes.
© Copyright Imperial Racing Team 2006-2011