condor women's league

Dates for 2024: April 27th / May 25th / June 29th / July 27th / Aug 24th / Sept 28th

HHV Women’s League, supported by Condor, is an accessible, enjoyable and competitive series of six race events that take place between April and September every year.

It caters for riders of all levels of fitness and experience, with three ability-based categories and a race programme that includes a varied array of track races; from short, sharp sprint events through to longer bunch races. There’s something for everyone, whether you’ve been competing for years or are new to track racing and working your way through our track pathway.

Our Sunday evening Women’s Session (weekly - 5pm-7pm) compliments the Women’s League race programme by hosting Race Workshops on the two Sunday evenings preceding each round of Women’s League, giving riders new and old the chance to learn more about upcoming races. See below for further details.

Jan’s Cafe is open with teas, coffee, beer, cider, wines, spirits, soft drinks, as well as warm food, so come and join us for some food, drink and great women’s racing throughout the summer.

Our Sponsors / More Info / Race Workshops

OUR SPONSORS - CONDOR CYCLES

Condor have been huge supporters of HHV down the years and it’s fantastic to have them on board as headline sponsors of our women’s cycling activity, including our popular Women’s League summer race series. For over 70 years they’ve been making great bikes (including the lovely Lavoro, that graces our Season Hire fleet), putting on great cycling events and collaborating with makers and designers on a myriad of creative projects. For more information, click here to visit their website.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

WHAT YOU NEED TO RACE

Accreditation
All racers in the A and B categories must have either a UK Track Accreditation (e.g. Lee Valley Stage 4) or an HHV Race Accreditation. Racers in the C Category must have an HHV Training Accreditation as a minimum.

British Cycling Membership + Race License
All racers will need to have either a full, provisional or day licence issued by British Cycling in order to race.

British Cycling Race Membership includes a provisional race licence. You can purchase a full racing licence in addition to a Silver or Gold Membership.

If you are racing in the A category, or hold a Bronze membership, or are not a member of British Cycling you will need to purchase a licence on the day at sign-on (the cost will be between £5-£10, as detailed here)

A category riders racing on a provisional or day licence will not be awarded British Cycling ranking points in any qualifying races.

Session experience
We ask that all riders either have previous experience of track racing or have been attending our Women’s Session Race Workshops, Intermediate Training or Race Training sessions. Not sure if you’re ready to race? Just ask the coaches.

Your own bike
All racers in the A and B categories need to have their own bike or a season-hire bike. Racers in the C category can borrow one of our bikes.

racing categories

Our racing at Women’s League is split into three ability categories.

C category – Is our entry level racing for newer racers, including first timers! No racing license is required to race in the C Category. Just the appropriate accreditation and session experience (detailed above).
B category – Is our middle category with medium speed racing for local-level racers and those who have progressed from the C Category. The category is classified as ‘Regional C’ meaning that a full race license is required.
A category – Is our fastest category for regional and national level racers and those who have progressed from the B Category. The category is classified as ‘Regional C+’ meaning that a full race license is required and British Cycling points are awarded for high placings.

We ask that racers select the category which is most appropriate for them, however we reserve the right to change a rider’s category if we deem it appropriate to do so. If the entries for your chosen category are full on any given night, please do not enter another category.

We do allow riders to move up (or down) to another category during the season.

To know if it’s appropriate to move up to the category above, we recommend using the following criteria: In order to move up a category, riders will need to have won and frequently scored top 3 positions in a variety of races, over a number of weeks, using a range of tactics (eg. Scoring from bunch sprint / Scoring from a breakaway / Scoring from a solo attack) before they are ready to move up. Particularly from the Cs to the Bs.

TIMINGS, ENTRY & COSTS

In 2024 the league runs on the evening of the last Saturday of every month from April - September:

Saturday 27th April
Saturday 25th May
Saturday 29th June

Saturday 27th July
Saturday 24th Aug
Saturday 28th Sept

All racing is from 5.30pm - 7.30/8pm, with track warm up starting at 5pm. Sign on from 4.30pm.

Each night’s racing costs £12.50 for over 18s and £5 for 14-17 year olds

Enter Now!

RACE WORKSHOPS

Throughout the summer, on the two Sunday evening Women’s Session’s that precede each round of Women’s League (see dates below), we’ll be running Race Workshops that further explore the rules, techniques and tactics of the races that are coming up at Women’s League.

Through a range of skills and drills, we’ll unpick the specific tactics that will best prepare your for each race. So whether you’re a new rider, keen to understand the fundamentals or an experienced rider looking to experiment with new techniques or tactics, come along and get involved.