To promote the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) of our youth athletes, and the sustainability and growth of youth categories at sanctioned events, Velo NB is adopting the following policy:
Velo NB will be relying on Cycling Canada’s LTAD model and in respecting of the Cycling Canada’s Companion Guide that highlights age categories and recommended race times for athletes of a given age category – recognizing that event organizers are sometimes limited with course constraints that would make an event shorter or longer than recommended.
http://www.cyclingcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Companion-Guide-2016-F.pdf
The current focus of the content herein is on U17, U15 and U13 youth categories, with consideration given to further expand in the future. Event organizers may expand to include U19 and U11 categories at their events at their sole discretion.
All athletes shall start the season in their respective age categories unless a prior exemption has been granted to an athlete. During the current season, after a minimum of two races completed, an athlete may request an exemption to move up a category and submit it to Velo NB for review and approval. Examples would include, but not limited to, a U17 athlete wanting to move up to “B” or a U15 athlete to U17 category.
All exemption requests will be reviewed by the Velo NB discipline (Mountain Bike or Road/Cyclocross) Chair, Youth Development Chair, and Technical Director – Coaching. If one of the positions is vacant, the President will step in to temporarily fill the vacant position for the purpose of this request. Velo NB will advise the athlete and the event organizers of the decision made.
An exemption will be considered by Velo NB when all of the following conditions have been met:
– The legal guardian, and when applicable the coach, of the athlete submit and support the request.
– The athlete is considered truly exceptional for his/her age-group by continually dominating the current category by a significantly wide margin.
– The athlete would also be considered to be competitive in (finishing in the top half of) the requested category.
– The decision would not hinder the competitiveness of the current category and the development of the other athletes in the current category who would otherwise be striving to compete with the athlete in question.
An exemption would apply by cycling discipline. Given that the Cyclocross season is at the end of the Mountain Bike / Road seasons, an exemption may be given to an athlete prior to the Cyclocross season based on his/her results in the Mountain Bike / Road season or results in the previous Cyclocross season.
If an event doesn’t have all prescribed youth categories, for instance with Mountain Bike – XCM or Cyclocross events, then a temporary decision can be made on an event-by-event basis and perhaps even broadly (e.g. if an event only has a U17 category, then all U15 could move-up to U17 for this specific event), in consultation with the event organizer. In this case, the event organizer would have the final approval based on Velo NB’s recommendation.
All youth athletes who are moved up to a new category will see the series points adjusted with a formula prior to being moved to the new category.
An exemption to move down a youth category can also be requested if it is in the athlete’s best interest given the circumstances of the request.
To further promote the competitiveness of the U17 categories, consideration will be given to start the U17’s with/or at the back of the “B” category when U17’s race the same course (less laps) as “B” category. This will be reviewed on an event-by-event basis to ensure that the course layout and projected race time respect Cycling Canada’s LTAD model and Companion Guide.