[CUCBC Contacts] Lent Bumps - Thursday and the rest of the week

[Mark Jacobs]

Dear All,

River and racing conditions update: Having run two divisions today, we 
regretfully concluded that, while the river itself was rowable, 
worsening conditions on the towpath meant that we had to cancel the 
remaining divisions for safety reasons (even having already reduced the 
bank party size to a maximum of 2 cyclists). Current temperatures are 
well below zero, with -5 or lower forecast overnight, with tomorrow not 
likely to get above freezing. There is also the possibility of further 
snow. Realistically this means that conditions on the towpath are 
unlikely to improve between now and scheduled racing tomorrow, and there 
is also a reasonable chance of ice forming on the river itself. None of 
CUCBC, the Cam Conservators or the County Council are able to grit the 
towpath and further snow would leave gritting at this stage unlikely to 
make a difference anyway. We will inspect the river and towpath 
tomorrow, initially at 11.00 and also prior to the scheduled start of 
racing. We will keep captains and clubs updated as to the possibility of 
racing tomorrow, and will circulate a final decision on Thursday's 
racing by 1.00 at the latest (i.e. before M4/W4 crews boat). We will 
similarly make daily decisions for the remainder of the week.

The Chief Umpires have considered whether there are any alternative 
arrangements that would allow us to proceed with racing some, if not 
all, divisions. In particular we have considered lining the bank with 
static umpires with a very limited number of CUs/DCUs accommpanying each 
decision on bikes. We have come to the conclusion that within the 
current constraints of weather, established racing practice and manpower 
this would not provide an environment where we could effectively deal 
with the full range of plausible racing incidents. While our discussions 
are ongoing, the current thinking is that we will either run a 
conventional Bumps race, or not run any race at all.

Further updates will follow tomorrow morning and later in the week.

Regards,


Mark Jacobs

CUCBC Safety Advisor and Deputy Chief Umpire