League Rules

The LCCA is responsible for all cyclo cross events held under the auspices of British Cycling and these events include the London Summer Cyclo-Cross League, East Kent CX League, the Sussex League and of course the Challenge Tires London and South East Cyclo Cross League.

Additionally, there are stand-alone events like the Regional Champs, Muddy Hell and Herne Hill New Years day madison. Each event has to be held in accordance with British Cycling Cyclo Cross rules and regulations and the LCCA is responsible to provide officials to oversee each event.

The LCCA has a committee to manage different tasks.

The committee…..

• Chair: Stuart McGhee
• Secretary: Andrew Powers
• Treasurer: Jonathan Goodge
• Calendar coordinator: Stuart McGhee
• Gridding & Ranking coordinator: Chris Clague
• Sussex League coordinator: Glen Whittington
• East Kent League coordinator: Robert Kingsland
• Results & Timing System Officer: Chris Clague
• Technical officers: Stuart McGhee, Chris Clague and Jon Goodge
• Publicity Officers: Glen Whittington and Stuart McGhee
• Women’s representative: Emma Jane Hornsby and Clare Johnson

We host an AGM once a year usually in February or March in a central location once the season has ended and all are welcome to attend. This is your opportunity to shape how the league is run. We advertise the AGM about a month before meeting

You will see many of the committee either organising, commissairing, Judging and even sometimes racing, so please say hello as we are all only too happy to talk.

Challenge Tires London and South East Cyclo Cross League 2024/2025

The season long London and South East Cyclo Cross League is based on the following categories for both Male and Female riders:

Category	From	To
Under 8	2017	2024
Under 10	2015	2016
Under 12	2013	2014
Under 14	2011	2012
Under 16	2009	2010
Junior	2007	2008
U23	2003	2006
Senior	1985	2002
V40	1975	1984
V50	1965	1974
V60+	1922	1964

Please note that Cyclo Cross has a different date that you change categories to ensure you do not change category mid season. This is from September 1st. To view full rules please visit

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/media/press/BC_HANDBOOK_2024_March24.pdf

Counting rounds will be based on the following:

 9 events - 6 to count

10 events - 7 to count (2024/25 season)

11 events - 8 to count

Seniors and Veteran Open 40/50

1. 100 points

2. 94
3. 90
4. 86
5. 83
6. 80
7. 78
8. 76
9. 74
10. 72
11. 70
12. 69

…..and further reducing by 1 point per place down through the race field.

All other categories (Vet 60+, Female, Juniors, Under 14/16 and Under 10/12)

1. 50
2. 44
3. 40
4. 36
5. 33
6. 30
7. 28
8. 26
9. 24
10. 22
11. 20
12. 19

..…and reducing by 1 point per place down through the race field.

1. Number of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes. This is taken from all races in the league. If still a tie:
2. Most recent result.

After each race the series standing will be updated so you can follow how you are doing.

Our Sponsors Challenge Tires have supplied some fantastic prizes to go with the custom built trophies for the overall winners, the presentation will be hosted at the Team Championship in February 2025.

All races are advertised on the calendar section with links to enter the event on the British Cycling website.

For this season there will be only entry online, there will be NO opportunity to enter on the day. There are no exceptions to this.

Entries will open at 6pm on the Sunday 2 weeks before each event. The entry system will close at 11pm the Thursday evening before the event.

There are limits on the size of each race of 120 riders per event to ensure we are able to space the grid and allow riders to freely race.

There will be the option to purchase a 2nd race number pack for those riders that have 2 bikes. Please note that British Cycling rules state that for Under 8/10/12 categories, no equipment pits will be provided, so these riders will not have the option to purchase a 2nd bike race number.

Once you enter one race you will be provided at your first race and sign on with your race number pack. This will be the number pack that you would use at all events thereafter.

The pack consists of a Jersey mounted Number, Bike seat post mounted bike number that also has the timing chip attached.

You will receive an email confirming that you have been accepted into the race, if you do not receive this email we suggest you contact the organiser details on the events page.

You will also receive a few days before each race an event Technical document detailing any event/venue specific details. We suggest you read that in advance. 

We have changed the race schedule from last year.

This is in response to the difficulties organisers were facing setting up the practice at 9am for both the under 8/10/12 (Short course) and the Full course with all marshall points covered. Then at 9.30am, change to the short course and move all marshals and then once the Under 12 race is completed then having to change back to the full course for the youth race. Phew!

This new schedule allows a much simpler set up so only 1 change from the short course to the full course with all marshal points covered.  This has the added benefit of giving an organiser a little more time to get the full course ready if required.

Please note that the under 8s will line up behind the under 10 riders and all start at the same time.

Podium presentation times are available here.

Please keep to the allocated times that sign on is open for your categories. 

Riders are only allowed to ride on the course if they have entered a race at the event and are displaying their race number on the bike.

Even though we have allocated sign on times for each category,  we will allow a family to collect all family rider numbers in the sign on allocation timing of the first race entered (Example under 8 and Vet 40 Women and Vet 40 Man, we would allow all riders number packs to be collected in the allocated time for the the under 8 rider which is 8.45am to 9.30am)

The process for Sign on – Rider turns up and states their name, Sign on team will provide a race number pack in an envelope. Rider leaves the area. We suggest you allocate 5 minutes to set up the number pack and timing chip. Riders are not required to sign anything, and are to use their race number for all events in the League. Riders will be confirmed at the event by the timing system picking up their timing chip at the start of the race. This means that you will not have to revisit sign-on at any other event you enter in advance once you have your race number pack.

If you lose or forget your number or timing chip please go to the Timing team gazebo that is situated on the finish line, they will sort you out with either a new pack or the “name of shame” I forgot my number today pack, this will be expected to be given back to this team at the end of the race nicely cleaned please.

If there are any queries at Sign on you will be directed to the Timing team gazebo.

If there are any issues with your timing chip the timing team will contact you to sort out.

Gridding will be created for each event race and advertised on the league results website and facebook page before the event, any queries in gridding may be raised on Friday via email as posted on the results site. Final decision will always rest with the Chief Commissaire.

We grid riders at the start of each race, the commissaire will blow their whistle to indicate that gridding is about to start. A solid line denotes the start line  behind which the riders place their front wheel on. The remaining riders should follow that pattern. As the races go on these marks may be obscured however the Commissaire team will control riders in the grid as normal. 

Chris Clague our gridding expert explains Gridding – the ‘how it works’ thread

Prologue (you can skip this bit):

The aim of the gridding system is to place the rider where we think they will finish for reasons of safety. Theoretically this makes for a dull race, but you guys constantly prove otherwise.

The system is blind and dumb, it does not know that 5 years ago you were a national champion, you’ve still gotta prove it to earn it.

It is without bias and does not understand ‘sporting reasons’.

Commissaires sometimes understand sporting reasons and may move riders accordingly – this is why we close entries on Thursday night, so we can produce the grids and if the Chief Comm decides that someone needs to be moved they can be.

How it works (read this):

Please note that all rankings are within your starting grid, not your race category – so all senior women and above are ranked together regardless of age for example.

We take your rolling results from the last season 2 years ago. That is, at each round we drop the one prior to it from last year. If you won round 2, it is now gone.

We take your best 3 results and average them out. This means that those riders who only race a few times each season are not penalised. It also means if you have the odd howler, we’re polite enough to ignore it. Likewise, mechanicals etc. Please run with your bike to the finish to receive the warm applause of your comrades safe in the knowledge that it won’t affect your grid for next week.

In the event of 2 riders having the same average score we will place them in the order they finished in the league 2 years ago. This is the only point at which your season ranking plays any part.

The complicated bit:

We’re all getting old. For some (the youth and under, predominantly) this is a good thing. For the rest of us, it sucks a little bit.

The blind and dumb gridding system has no sympathy for old father time, so we apply what is technically known as a fudge factor for those riders moving categories. The numbers were plucked from thin air and debated by committee. It goes like this:

U8 ->U10 -> U12 -20%

U12 -> Youth -20%

Youth -> Senior -20%

Senior M -> Vet 40M +20%

Vet 40M -> Vet 50M +20%

All senior women retain their unweighted ranking when moving through the vet ranks as they all start together. Junior riders are treated as seniors for gridding purposes.

This means that a youth rider who wins everything will not necessarily start their first senior race from the front as their last season’s results are weighted by -20%. In theory a senior male rider progressing to V40 would get a 20% boost. However, this does not mean they will get a head start if their weighted figure comes out at 120%. Sometimes life just doesn’t work like that.

We rank all known riders, then when you pre-enter we compare that list with the 1168 riders we currently have results for and put you in order based on the above. This is why it’s *really* it is important that you give us correct information. Using a nickname given by your mates when you were at school is hilarious but it’s unlikely to get you gridded correctly however great the backstory. Likewise, we always try and match on licence number if possible, but if you enter the same number for all your family and friends it may (illegally) earn you a race day discount, but we can’t use it to match any of you and I don’t really want to think about the insurance angle if you have a crash. Those BC levies are for a reason.

If you got this far, well done!

Podium presentations will follow the timings below and will be consistent at all events. The podium will usually be close to the sign on the finish line area so please support your riders.

Because of the race order change for this season the podium presentations timings have changed also. 

Race day schedule is here

Results Hub is here.

Race Results and overall league tables will be published online as soon as feasible after each race. Race queries can be made up to 6pm on the Tuesday after each race by emailing admin@londonxleagueresults.co.uk.  Once finalised the results will be sent to BC update events page and allocate national rankings points.