Tweed cyclists are piloting a course for safer bike racing throughout Australia, as they trial new risk management procedures for operating and reporting on events.
Murwillumbah Cycle Club’s races in October are being used as a pilot for a National Event Management scheme which has been endorsed by Cycling Australia to ultimately be adopted by all its affiliated clubs and event organisers throughout the country.
The program has been created by risk management consultant and new Murwillumbah Cycle Club member Chris Thompson, on behalf of Cycling Australia.
“I created this program after researching the event management practices of cycling clubs and organisations throughout Australia and finding there was no consistency in the safety procedures from one group to another,” Chris Thompson, a former national level competitor, said.
“In many cases, event organisers had no formal documentation to assist with important safety aspects and the quality improvement of events including risk management plans, competitor briefings, roles for officials, post-race assessments and competitor feedback.
“The sport of competitive cycling has reached an extremely high level of professionalism in many regards and there are many excellent measures in place to ensure events are run safely.”
However, Chris said further progress could be achieved by documenting and standardising these safety measures. It helped guarantee they were applied consistently throughout the sport and assisted in protecting riders, officials and volunteers.
The pilot project began with the Murwillumbah Club’s criterium at Industry Central on October 16 and continues with Saturday road races based at Dulguigan Road on October 22 and 29.
