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Notes from National Council AGM 2023
Held at Helliden Lakes Hotel, Daventry 3rd December 2023
LSDC Delegates: Mark Jones, Ian Cheesman, Paul Tunnell and Robin Johnson
Overview of the AGM
Andrea Parish (National Chair) welcomed all of those that had attended and thanked districts for their hard work over the 2023 season. David Guy (National legal Advisor) advised that there had been a number of similar motions for Regulation changes a pre-meeting had been held on Saturday 2nd December with the relevant districts to amalgamate or amend the proposals. These were mainly around Regulations 14 and 15 which dealt with competitors clothing and competitors’ machines.
Some amendments had been tabled for the annual report which were mainly grammatical or spelling errors and were noted and adopted. A number of amendments to proposals were also tabled in relation to Articles and Regulations.
The minutes from the 2022 AGM were agreed and adopted with a few amendments. The Directors report and Statement of Accounts for 2023 were also agreed and adopted.
Election of Directors/Officers
Rob Bailey and Dawn Sherrin were re-elected to the Board for a three year term and Martin Balk and Tim Smith were also elected for a two and three year term respectively.
Election of Appeals Panel
A full panel was established with the election of Steve Walker, Chris Baretto, Ryan Morley, David Goodwin, Paul Wheeler and Noel Toone to replace those coming to the end of their term of office..
Articles and Regulations
6. Article 33 giving the National Board additional voting powers in the event of items on the AGM agenda couldn’t be discussed due to time available in the meeting – Not carried.
7. Regulation 29 being used to bring together the Regulations pertaining to road bikes - Carried
8. Regulation 14 dealing with Handcycles and recumbent cycles - Withdrawn
9. Regulation 27 to remove the need for “appointed handicappers” - Carried
10. Article M1 – To create a “Rules Council” to discuss potential changes to rules and regulation ahead of the national AGM and present them to the National AGM for voting and ratification by the Board – Carried albeit the terms of reference are yet to be agreed.
11. Regulation 27 detailing specifics about Handicappers – Withdrawn by virtue of item 9 being carried.
12. Regulation 14 – Dealing with Head down riding and position on the competitor’s machine. This had been subject to amendments due to the pre-meeting on 2nd December. The main premise being that it was expected that riding positions will be such that riders are looking forward in the main with the occasional glance downwards rather than the opposite which has started to become a trend – Carried.
13. Regulation 15 – Dealing with Competitors clothing and use of hydration bladders in events. This had been subject to amendments due to the pre-meeting on 2nd December. The main points were to prohibit the use of any fairings within clothing that change the shape of the rider and also to only allow hydration bladders to be worn for hydration purposes only. Bottles inside clothing would now be prohibited – Carried.
14. Change to BBAR prohibiting certain non-standard distances or Association events from counting towards BBAR competitions – Withdrawn.
15. Regulation 14 – Withdrawn as Item 12 had been carried.
16. Regulation 15 Helmets – Amended to state helmets MUST comply with safety standards – Carried.
17. Guidance for clubs to consider a female point of contact – Carried, but amended to the broader remit of all elements of ED&I.
18. Regulation 15 Helmets for road bike categories – Amended to prohibit any helmet with a tail, without vents or that covered the ears but visors could still be used – Carried.
19. Regulation 9 to replace the term “juvenile” with “youth” - Carried
20. Regulation 9 to remove the term veteran and simply deal with age categories – Not carried
21. Regulation 15 dealing with helmets in road bike categories – Withdrawn by virtue of item 18 being carried.
22. Regulation 16 dealing with clothing and padding used as fairing – Withdrawn by virtue of Item 13 being carried.
23. Regulation 14 dealing with fixed wheel bikes “lock ring” to be changed to “ “locking device” – Carried
24. Regulation 5 dealing with cancellation of events no earlier than the closing date – Withdrawn.
25. Regulation 27 dealing with rationalising start and result sheet requirements and replacing the term “women” with “female” from paragraph j (x) – Carried.
Following the end of the items on the agenda there were open discussions around two further matters – a) Racing through areas with 20 mph speed limits and b) Rationalising gender categories to fairly place transgender riders.
20 mph speed limits
David Guy (National legal advisor) opened the discussion by explaining that the matter had been raised by one district. He explained that whilst bicycles are not subject the speed limits under the Road Traffic Act 1988, there were other offences that competitors could fall foul of which clearly could have massive implications to the reputation of CTT and it would be implausible that the governing body of a sport could condone such courses being used in the future. Initially the CTT National position was that ALL courses with 20 mph sections cannot be used with immediate effect, with a few exemptions such as hill climbs where the speed was unlikely to exceed 20 mph, very short sections of 20 mph limit or where the 20 mph was only in operation at specific times of the day, e.g. outside of schools.
The debate was certainly lively, and at times confrontational towards the Board members, with many valid points and objections being raised. In summary most districts were in opposition to the matter, against the way the Board had dealt with the rollout of the new ruling, or against the timeframe for implementation given the number of potential courses affected. Some districts will be more affected than others, in particular South Wales, who could lose a significant number of their courses due to recent changes in speed limits being imposed. The Board agreed to take away all of the matters highlighted by the delegates from districts and discuss them at their next meeting on 20th January 2024. Whilst there may be a delay agreed to facilitate the implementation and assessment of courses throughout the 2024 season, the tone of the message from the board indicated that the position will not change which will result in some speedy and significant work being done by districts in the next few months to ensure compliance.
LSDC need to now move forward with reviewing our courses so that we have accurate and up to date data regarding those that are affected be this. This process will commence with immediate effect.
Gender Categories
The debate around this was less heated and seeks to rationalise the gender categories with other sporting bodies and cycling governing bodies such as British Cycling. The classes going forward would become “female” and “open”.
Open class would include male competitors, non-binary and transgender riders.
Female categories would only include riders who were designated female at birth, hadn’t gone through male puberty and had blood testosterone levels below a designated level.
Unlike complaints or challenges in most other areas of the rules and regulations being dealt with by Districts, any such complaints around gender classes would be dealt with at National level via a Gender secretariat.
Ian Cheesman
LSDC General Secretary