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Congratulations!
Our brilliant Veteran's Ambassador, Leicester's Craig Marchant, carried off his third British Indoor Vets Over 40s title on the trot on Saturday 4th January 2020 at Coventry. Also in the frame was ex-40 plus Champion Steve Harris who became British Over 50s Champ and runner-up in the Over 40s. My good friend Paul Timms, a real gent on and off the track, won the British Vets Over 60s title. More details as they become available.
Roll On 2020
I have a couple of "Thank Yous" to issue before we leave a highly successful 2019 with over £1250 donated to Orchid and stagger into the politically unknown of 2020. Derek Herzog, an old teammate of Carrswood's infamous mentor Brian Moston, and Ray Hingley, gaffer at Phil Hemming's workplace. Both of these fine gents have given us healthy financial support this year as they did last year too, and their backing is greatly appreciated. Derek owns Skip Hire Altrincham and Ray runs Hingley HGV Training Services.
It's All Over Now
Huge thanks once again to Leicester CSC for their first class presentation of the season finale on Saturday 19th October 2019 with this year's winners and closest chasers finally computed. Congratulations to double Over 35/Over40 victor Kev Burns who has been ahead of the pack in all domestic individual Vets competition this year. Joining him as Over 50 Champion is teammate Norman Venson after a similarly outsdtanding year for one of the Euro-Vets true ambassadors. And coming up trumps in his inaugrual season at Over 60 level is the much-travelled Euro-Vets pioneer and Founder, Exeter's Dave Murphy, belying his age with some stunning performances in the 50s and 60s classes.
Over 35 podium: Kev Burns, Mark Winwood, Jason Keith
Over 40 podium: Kev Burns, Mark Winwood, Jason Keith (NOT a misprint!)
Over 50 podium: Norman Venson, Paddy Wenn, Dave Frith
Over 60 podium: Dave Murphy, Frank Auffret, Terry Kirkup
I should mention also the fantastic efforts and sheer persistence of outgoing Champ Craig Marchant who was the prime mover behind the Monarch's fabulous raffle fundraiser on the day to give a massive final boost to the pot we can hand over to the Orchid Fighting Male Cancer charity.
To anyone over 34 - why not dip your toe in the water if you haven't tried out the GP series yet?
Euro-Vets Age Ranges:
This season sees the introduction of our revised age groupings, although it only applies to younger riders.
Starting with Round One at Birmingham we now have an extra 35 to 40 age category with its own semis and final. And as is the case currently in the other classes, any 40-plus rider can also qualify for the 35-40 finals. So if you are 35 THIS YEAR you can now take part in the Euro-Vets Grand Prix Series. We hope that will tempt a few more of you to join the fun and help support the Orchid Fighting Male Cancer charity.
IMPORTANT! To 2020 hosting clubs
Please don't feel the need to provide massive trophies, or indeed trophies at all. In the past there have been some stunning examples provided but as nice as they can be there really is no need to go overboard. Medals or any other suitable award will do quite nicely, and considering we now require FOUR sets of four after including the 35 to 40s this should be good news for clubs hard pressed for funds or unable to find sponsors.
Leicester girls raise fabulous contribution to Orchid.
See Facebook for the story. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1306729969480236&set=gm.2683074415066702&type=3&theater&ifg=1
Calling all Over 34s - let's see you all here!
Welcome to the Euro-Vets web site, we hope it has become the definitive guide to charitable Short Track Racing for the Over 40's. For new, "mature" riders just coming into the Sport, this is the best introduction you could get. See our minimal rules and requirements further down this page.
On behalf of all of us I must offer a huge vote of thanks to the indomitable Fred Rothwell who continues to deliver the goods and enable the whole thing for all of us to enjoy, including from 2017 a much better insurance deal. Fred doesn’t work in solitary though, he has the ever-willing Norman Venson and Geoff Gamage to back him up when required and they do a great job in support.
More thanks are due to the clubs who put us on their fixture list, their hard working secretaries and ground crews and anyone who chipped in along the way. While 2018 was great, roll on 2019 for even more, BE THERE!
I'd also like to give a shout out for 2015/2017 World Veterans Champion Craig Marchant who's never off Facebook trying to lever some other ex-rider out of retirement or promoting the next event for us, a real credit to the cause.
yes - YOU!
If you are reading this then you must still have some sort of attachment to Short Tracking (OK then if you must, Cycle Speedway!) whether you'd like to admit it or not. Therefore, if you've never turned a wheel in our fantastic Grand Prix series or you have but not too many times, then why not take the plunge this year by entering at least one round, maybe your local one to start with? You'll be doing the Sport a great favour, having a really enjoyable few laps amongst our much travelled troupe of regulars, get a laugh or two, maybe do some catching up with old friends and/or adversaries and just have a great day out. It doesn't matter what your current ability is, middle-age is the only qualification required and you'll be welcomed wholeheartedly.
If you are over 34 before New Year's Eve 2019 then we'd love to see you on track this year at one of our Grand Prix events.
New, current or ex-rider - you are all most welcome to join our friendly Racing for Grown-Ups circuit. Over 35s race 35 to 40 year olds and ditto the other age groups although you are allowed to compete against younger opposition unless there are no spaces in the day's programme. We'd love to see some new or old faces taking part this year, and in doing so you are not only helping prolong the life of the Sport but also helping boost its media coverage which is no bad thing these days. There's absolutely no pressure and a genuine air of calm in the pits (most times!). And of course there's the feelgood factor of supporting our chosen charities which we've been quite successful at. We'd really appreciate your presence at at least one round, but if you could manage a couple or more that would be fantastic, so take a look at our fixtures and start planning a ride or nine! We are not governed by British Cycling so you don't need one of their expensive race licences but there is the inevitable insurance cover which costs just a few quid - much more palatable.
If you're old enough you're good enough!
We run a series of events annually taking in all regions of the UK and generally, but not strictly, rotating the venues year-on-year. The series provides an opportunity for all Over-40 racers to continue enjoying the Sport under friendly, hospitable and generally more level conditions when they otherwise may be starved out of regular competition by the Little Ones (under 40s!!!). The overriding theme is one of enjoyment and Gentlemanly conduct but rest assured there are no easy races with the spirit of rivalry fully maintained and openly displayed. We do, however, take pride in the somewhat lower rate of attrition suffered through on-track incidents than in most or all other levels of the Sport.
Who does What?
As from the end of 2018 there are now FOUR age categories to keep the racing as fair as possible while providing superb entertainment within a spirit of friendly competitiveness not generally associated with regular Short Track events:
- Over 35
- Over 40
- Over 50
- Over 60
All categories are for riders either AT the magic age or reaching it in the year of competition.
Meeting Format
Because of the nation-wide nature of our Sport and it's widely distributed venues, it can never be known exactly how many competitors may turn up at any single event. It is therefore not uncommon to find that we have to integrate one or more age groups in order to produce a workable race meeting. Given such adverse conditions it is a regular feature for the Over 50 and Over 60 riders to be grouped together in a single match, and it has even been known for the whole of those present to compete against each other whichever group they belong in, but hopefully this will remain a rarity. Conversely, we've had to suffer the odd series of repêchage races where there have been too many contestants for the normal formulae to work properly and some dilution was required!
When the event is run along these now familiar lines, the two matches are run independently but intertwined, so Over 40s Heat One is followed by Over 50s (/60s) Heat One, etc, etc.
Even so, the format retains a full set of Semi-Finals and Finals ("A" and "B") for each of the four age groups no matter how many riders turn up on the day with awardss normally presented to the four "A" Finalists and the Referee, usually provided by the staging Club as their contribution to ease the burden on the Orchid Fund.
Series points are collected and the Champion of each class is the highest scorer overall after the final round. Points are awarded as below:
"A" Final 1st: 25, 2nd: 23, 3rd: 22, 4th: 21
"B" Final 1st: 20, 2nd: 18, 3rd: 17, 4th: 16
*note you may drop your lowest score, or in other words only your top n-1 scores count towards the Championship!
You can contact our Main Man Fred Rothwell here: or the Editor here:
Comments are switched off to stop loonytunes.
Well, the weather was pretty kind to us with a splash of unexpected sunshine to take the chill off proceedings, something the Gaffer, Fred Rothwell, failed to do at the pre-meeting discussion of how equal scorers are quantified following that mysterious coin toss at Wednesfield! Looks like we'll never get full consensus on this although there are plenty precedents and mass support for the currrent countback system.
The track had suffered a proper old wetting earlier and after great work by the Leicester boys, in particular Craig Whitehead who never rested without a brush in his hand all day, proved very raceable. The damp inner metre of each bend was to create plenty of interest and not a few calamities but overall it was fine and rode very well considering the conditions.
As in a couple of previous years it was tight at the top of all categories, particlularly for second and third spots overall.
We are the Champions!
Norman Venson (50s), Dave Murphy (60s) and Kev Burns (35s AND 40s)
Memorable mentions must go to Birmingham's young superstar Paul Timms in the Over 60s. If only he could fit in a whole series, who could him keep him off the top step? Next up, same class, and Improver of the Year has to be Chris Ward who has gradually got quicker and quicker and become a permanent threat to his peers after a tentative restart some years after his racing retirement. And finally the man who set out to make a statement and instead wrote a whole new chapter - the one and (thankfully!) only - Frank Auffret. I've said it before and I say it again now - this is the most incredible return to racing you could imagine at almost 70 and a good 50 years since he quit. I can vouch for the fact that he'd have been world class in his teens and twenties if he'd stuck at it.
In the younger classes it's not easy to single anyone out - yet - but it's a pure and simple fact that the Leicester club riders are the backbone of the Euro-Vets for which we must all praise them, and long may they continue to be so.
Today saw the second appearance of Polish riders amongst us UK vets following Lukasz Nowacki's stunning appearance in the Will Burns Pairs meeting earlier this year and today he was joined by fellow countrymen Lukasz Kaczmarek and Maciej Pudliszewski (please feel free to correct my spellings) who all livened up the racing, and we hope to see them again in 2020 and beyond, when no doubt a few more of their fellow Polish rivals will have aged enough to join them!
On a slightly more personal note I was so pleased to see Mark Grantham out again for his third Euro-Vets round this year. He also rode with us in the Will Burns Pairs and Geoff Gamage's 50th Anniversary meetings so has been pretty regular in 2019. Mark is one of our Sport's nice guys ( I detest the word "guy" but it fits better here!) and hope he can also make a few more events next season.
Thanks as always to the Leicester club ladies for the super post-match feed station and Mrs Rothwell and others who helped with the immense task of sorting the raffle and counting our Orchid collections.
Over 50s Paddy Wenn, Norman Venson and Dave Frith. Just like last year these three gave us the closest chase and most excitement, not to mention a spoonful or two of controversy! Photo Frank/Julie Auffret.
And no, Norman doesn't race in those pantaloons :)
Unsurprisingly the most impressive performances on the day came from Lukasz, Kev, Norman and Paul, this quartet just having a bit more overall speed and control than their rivals.
And the Final Results for 2019 - spot a mistake, gimme a bell
The gang, courtesy Dave Wilson.
AND FINALLY
I should mention a very nice touch by my soul mate Frank Auffret. As most of you will know Frank got great encouragement from his old 1960s Saltersgill Saints (Middlesbrough) clubmate Robert Atkinson (below, right) who was super keen to start riding again after more than 50 years away from the sport. Rob even went as far as suggesting the pair of them should try the Euro-Vets and thus the seed was planted. They both trained at my own Northumbria and at Heckmondwike but Rob sadly passed away before he could realise his ambition to join us.
However, the bike that Rob ended up with, christened "The Green Stallion" (left, under Frank) from way back when, became a much cherished item and after Frank had passed it on to Rob he vowed to ride it in the final Euro-Vets round today in honour of his great friend. He kept his word, and I'm thrilled to say that he shared the honour with me in the Over 50s B Final. Frank rode the first two laps on it then handed it over to me, mid-race, to do the same, for which I heartily thank him and hope Rob was watching both of us in this final tribute. RIP Rob.
High praise is due to the Wednesfield club for this one. A lot of prep work went into the track after very heavy rain in the week leading up to the event and the Ashmore Park boys managed to lick it into decent shape for the meeting.
Thanks also to the refreshment and food ladies who provided the goodies, much appreciated by all who called in at the clubhouse after the track action. And the proceeds of their raffle went straight into the Orchid pot too, nice one Aces.
Great to see Roger Ellis still heavily involved and I must also thank Wayne Aris for calmly and firmly refereeing a match with its fair share of "incident".
I've never seen a race re-run three times due to the same rider's helmet catching the tapes!
Well, I'm afraid without my trusty video camera that's all I can do to recall this one. So - the results:
Soft, Strong and Very Long…
No, not the old Andrex® toilet paper advert but the inaugural Will Burns Testimonial Pairs event at Leicester on Saturday 31st August!
Soft because it was all so very warm and cuddly amongst the gathered Cycle Speedway fraternity, but only until the whistle blew for heat one.
Strong because that was the nature of the competition throughout the day (and night!) whenever the fast lads met each other.
And Very Long because – it was!
Two semi-finals, the first kicking off around 1:30pm and the second around 5:00pm or later with 8 pairs having 7 rides each followed by the Final with the same requirements. So 14 rides each for the lucky ones, certainly better value than normal for the travelling time. That's 81 heats plus a few re-runs!
The competition was fierce with plenty strong moves and a substantial number of falls throughout due partly to the dry and clean but still slippery surface and the sheer determination and speed of the riders, some of them straight out of retirement to honour Kev’s dad Will Burns, instrumental in Leicester’s enviable success story. It was manifestly staggering to see the ensemble of past and present Leicester riders gather for a group photo before the Final started, all of them or the vast majority being Champions of our Sport at some level. Photo Les Brewin
Ultimately though, while a Leicester victory may have looked odds-on pre-meeting, it was the Horspath pairing of Daniel Harper and Lukasz Nowacki who claimed top spot ahead of favourites Kev Burns and Craig Marchant with Norman Venson and Dave Frith completing the podium.
Some excellent racing amongst the Elder Statesmen of short track racing and I’m sure they’d all like to do it again if it becomes a fixture at Slater Street but maybe over a much shorter timetable?