Thought that would get your attention! Any women who enter the MIVA criterium this Sunday ride for free! Hopefully this will encourage some of our female members to come out and ride.

Most amateur organisations like MIVA have an ongoing problem getting enough volunteers to set up their events and provide safe passage for the participants. What often happens is that the lion's share of the ongoing help is provided by a very small group who turn out week after week to ensure the success of club activities. After a while, these few stalwarts tend to burn out and the club is left with a situation where its programme is in jeopardy because of the lack of help. In MIVA's case, the bulk of the work to put on our series events is shouldered by less than half a dozen, although the club membership is now in excess of sixty-five.

If the club doesn't get more assistance with its events, we will have to consider significantly cutting our programme of activities so as not to burn out the few volunteers who regularly turn out week after week or, alternatively, to hire marshals and cut the prizes.

The club's board of directors will be discussing this situation at next Wednesday's monthly meeting. If you have any suggestions, please put them as comments after this post.

The winter vests have now arrived from Kallisto Sport. As with all Kallisto's other clothing, they are top quality. We have 2 x XL, 2 x L and 2 x M, all race cut with three rear pockets. Get one before they are all gone. Price is $75 for club members, $85  for non club members.

Kyle Waring has done some beautiful posters advertising MIVA's series of races and also the Saturday club rides. They have been distributed to all the bike stores in Nanaimo and also to the three community sports centres at Beban Park the Aquatic Centre and Oliver Woods Centre. They are also in various locations in Victoria and the Comox Valley. However, the best advertising is word of mouth so please mention the club's activities to anyone who is in the least sports-minded. If a club member brings a new person out to a club ride or one of the races, free entries to the next two events.

Your editor was officiating the Mount Washington Hill Climb this past weekend. Unlike most hill climbs, this was a massed start event, with all categories except the juniors and cadets starting from the bottom and riding to the ski lodge 16.7kilometres up the hill. The start time was revised as there was a long board competition on the lower part of the hill and the cyclists were only able to use the course when the boarders broke for lunch. As soon as the word came that the course was clear, all participants set off together in a neutralised ride to the official start and then continued as soon as the flag dropped. By the time the first 5 kilometres were reached, there was a pack of four extending their lead over the other riders, who by now were spaced out all over the hill. meanwhile, the youth riders had started from a point just 9.5 kilometres from the top and they stayed pretty much together for the first half of their race.

In the senior race, the first three finished very close together, with Matt O'Hagan just pipping 3rd. category winner, Bruce Schlatter by half a wheel, with cat. 3 runner-up John Rogers just six seconds back. Tenille Hoogland won the women's category placing sixth. overall.

The fastest youth was James Grant and best female youth performance was by Jessica Reynolds.

Full results are here.

By the way, long boarding is a REALLY dangerous sport, with only a few hundred hay bales between the speeding boarders (up to100kph with no brakes) and serious injury. As we were coming back down after the hill climb, there was an ambulance with flashing lights and the crew loading a prone, still boarder on a body board into the back. Sure hope he was OK.