Recreational & Family - Kids Race opinions

Hey guys,

Our team is hosting a kids race this spring. The goal is to help promote safety and the cycling environment and lifestyle around the area. (We're a collegiate team)

It should be a pretty big turnout.

Thing is, I was looking for input on race distances/age groups. We have no idea how old should do what and so forth.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

THANKS!

~DC

Not enough information to really provide any help. Biggest parameter is how much space do you have? I've organized kids races on a city street. The youngest group was 4&5 year olds, and they raced about 150 feet. The 6&7 YO about 250 feet, the 8&9 YO 300 feet, and the 9&10 YO 500 feet. These were all straight line races with no turns involved. Make sure the kids have properly fitting helmets and the bikes go through a tech inspection to insure their bikes go and brake well.

Ahhh sorry.

As of right now our venue is our wellness center. BTW... this is a collegiate team (UND) hosting the event.

We have access to HUUUUUUUUGE parking lots at our Hockey Arena (You may have heard of our D1 POWERHOUSE hockey team) so no worries on space.

My main questions were what sort of age categorization/distance should we consider, and
Straightline or turns? (Im thinking straight)

Just looking for neat ideas that other people may have that our team and sponsors may have missed or not thought up. This is a first for us... so we figure why not tap all of our resources.

Thanks

I don't have any ideas as to road racing for kids. I have taken mine to kids mtb races but they are very different events.

One thing I have organized in the past is a bike rodeo. They are designed to teach safe everyday riding skills. There are any number of resources online with hints and tips on how to set up a bike rodeo. Boy Scouts, bike clubs and even community orgs put them on occasionally.

There was someone on here whose boy raced in a kids club. They had access to some kind of track, it may even have been a velodrome. There looked to be only a max of five kids at the events, so you may have different issues if you will have a larger turnout. Maybe you could mark out an oval and have the younger kids only do one straight away race in heats. The older kids could maybe due a lap or two in groups of say 5-10.

Good luck with the event. Post back with how it goes and links to pics.

Frazier Cycling (http://www.fraziercycling.com/FCI_kids.htm) near Atlanta does kid's and junior cycling. Look through theri website fro info.

You can also look at the USA Cycling (http://www.usacycling.org/) website. They have lots of info on youth and junior cycling.

Just been checking the British Schools Cycling Association regulations. Distances as follows:

U8 - 2m, U10 - 3m, U10 - 5m, U12 - 6.5m, U14 - 12.5m, U16 - 22m. If you decide on different distances, they are a useful guide to proportionate distances for each age group.

Wouldn't recommend straight course races - even given the size of some US carparks, they'll be pretty short. If you have the manpower and resources, set out a roughly oval/rectangular course, but with one zigzagish section. This will help sort out the kids who are good bike handlers and help to balance the race between those who may have a lot of strength but less finesse.

Good luck

Just curious - has it happened? And if so, how did it go?