Lomax Cup 2024

On Easter Monday Llangollen & District MCC held this years Lomax Cup  (results) around the Glyn Ceiriog valley and surrounding area, the day went without incident despite some rain in the morning and we are happy to report that the feedback from riders is positive, with many saying "it's the best!".  Of course its the Lomax and a National competition so many had to dig deep to get through and that will always be the case, thats why its a "TRIAL!

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Many many thanks to all those who put in the effort, using their own time, fuel and equipment to make the Lomax happen - without you it would not run let alone be such a success each year.

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But despite the success LLDMCC is a club who is always looking to improve and because of that the team recently gathered at our home which is The Sun in Trevor and debated what could be better and what we would do differently if we had our time again.  Here we share the key points of that to share with all of you who were involved or wish to be in future and were unable to attend the meeting.  These points are not a done deal but rather being shared for further consideration.

 

Firstly this year we allowed more competitors to enter knowing there are always less on the day and also aware of the demand (sold out in 4 minutes) despite that only just over 120 actually started - here we need to consider how we allocate places as there are some usual names who more often than not enter but don't ride - a waste of their money but also blocking a place for others.  Was it too many? or can we make it run faster next year??

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This year the decision was taken to start at the first section, this was to encourage riders to get on with the trial rather than go back to their van but despite multiple communications some competitors still didn't recognise this change and they waited and waited.  So despite best intentions it didn't have the desired result.

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During the first half of the trial there were many queues, clearly a lot of responsibility for that is with competitors holding back despite there being a time limit.  But what the clubs team recognised is that the first groups were some of the hardest - so we need to ease in the competitors next year and encourage them to ride in line within their start times.

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There was a debate regarding punch cards or time sheets given the time it takes to get the results worked out - thanks Ladies :-)  Consensus was not to move away from punch cards but consider having three rather than the two and have a system to get the punched cards back to base quickly.  Also avoid giving all cards to competitors to avoid mis-punching and instead exchange new for old.

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Every person who set out the sections are very experienced and stars - but there was some inconsistency caused by individual interpretation.  We intend to bring together the section builders in advance next time and discuss the basics and agree how the sections should be developed.  Target will be to make sections a little shorter and not have quite so many challenges and consider more white deviations to allow a better flow.  Try also to have more sections where a single observer can see the whole section.  A few sections were also not "really" geared towards non-stop rules.

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New Petrol signs were used - these were really good but some competitors followed them rather than the course (there will always be someone !)  Try to hide them away from the start venue next year.

 

The 1st 30 or so riders really battle with the slippy conditions - there was talk of allowing some free entries to Llan members who can go out earlier than the trial and have "fun" scrubbing on the day. 

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Brad thanked everyone for the strong support and had to con-seed that his legs & ankles can't do the same again next year - time to hand over the reins a little.

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Brad also stated he was against the decision to move the time out to the start of the last group and that should not happen again.  Apologies to those who lost some advantage, but it saved the many from being excluded on time and maybe scrapping time penalties altogether.  It was only deemed necessary because of the huge delays in the first half which is the main point that must be addressed via the ideas already mentioned.

 

Another point was that the Kobuta did multiple laps of the circuit doing different tasks and that combined with its slooooow speed led to long days for many - how to improve that (supercharger!)??

 

While the hill climb has long been synonymous with the Lomax it was a royal pain in the a@@ with it causing major hold ups and most dragging their bikes up - time to retire it.

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This year was a different course from the usual, it was well liked but also got some blame for the early delays.  Some say back to the old course some say keep it, as is usual the answer is probably some where in the middle.

 

Was that everything discussed?

Is that accurate?

Do you have new ideas / points?

Disagree with anything mentioned?

Well every 1st Monday of the month we meet at the Sun so you have a year to get your point over.

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Thanks everyone - your brill !