There’s lots of action on the site this week, with the Jack Granger the big report from the weekend. There are also lots of preview articles ahead of the Track Worlds next weekend, including interviews with Kilo heavyweights Chris Hoy and Jason Queally.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out the Classified Ads section, where there are plenty of bargains as usual – this is a free service. Simply visit the Classified Ads page of the website and follow the simple instructions for this service, which is exclusive to members. GOTHERE>>>

British Cycling is offering its thousand plus clubs a spectacular opportunity to increase their membership, with a really special offer. All British Cycling’s affiliated clubs will be receiving a pack of special offer leaflets. The offer is a very simple one and one which every club could use at the heart of its own membership drive.

All clubs will receive a minimum of TEN free Bronze memberships to give away to club members who are not current British Cycling members and have not been members in the last 2 years.

All your club’s new British Cycling members can opt to upgrade to the superb Silver and Gold membership packages which will be discounted the full £11.50 value of a Bronze membership. This discount can also be applied to a Family membership.

And for your most valued new members, the Under-Sixteens, British Cycling is offering to exchange the free bronzes for free Silver memberships, which include insurance and legal advice benefits.

*All clubs that will promote at least one event in 2005 (and have paid the appropriate registration fee to BC) are entitled to 20 free memberships

That’s entirely up to your club. Why not make them part of a member recruitment drive for your club? Using the Silver package for Under-Sixteens, you could target the sport’s next generation! It’s your call!

Club secretaries should be receiving their promotional leaflets within the next few days – call membership services on 0161 274 2010 for more details.

The UCI recently made a late decision to require riders to have UCI ranking points if they want to ride World Cup Downhills. This was in direct contradiction to what they had been communicating to British Cycling in the preceding months. The organisers of the National Series had taken the logical decision not to register their events with the UCI and put the money saved into the prize fund. With the first race only a couple of weeks away, British Cycling protested against the decision and attempted to have it overturned, but in vain. British Cycling has therefore stepped in with extra funding for the series, which will enable at least 3 events to be registered as UCI events, with UCI points and World Cup qualification therefore available. We’ll bring you updates on which events will be affected when we get it. We’ll be at the first round of the series at Ae Forest, bringing you images and reports from the race, which will be on the website the following day.

Archer International GP organiser Stuart Benstead, is stepping down from the role for the 2006 edition of the race. "This is a good time to go." says Benstead, who has been one of the organisers since the event’s first running some 50 years ago. "It is time for a younger organiser with fresh ideas and I am delighted that I have been able to persuade Stuart Cook to take over and he will have my support in the background if he needs it.”

Stuart Cook, originally from Yorkshire but now a regular rider and official at Hillingdon circuit, is now a member of the new Agriskoviner.com and is likely to have the full support of the Central Division and its clubs which already form part of the promotional team, particularly the Twickenham CC and the High Wycombe CC. The Archer International GP this year starts at 11am April 3rd from the HQ, the Sir William Ramsay School, Rose Avenue, Hazlemere, Bucks.

Congratulations to the following who successfully passed the National Commissaires Course over the weekend of the 12th/13th March - Preston Anderson, Peter Deary, Trevor Jones, Vern McClelland, Anthony McCloskey and Patrick Nestor.

Powerplay.com have special offer for BC members on the long awaited Disney blockbuster The Incredibles, which can be yours for the exclusive offer price of just £14.29 delivered* or, action fans can pre-order the latest instalment of the 'Blade' story, with Blade Trinity available to order now for just £12.29*.In order to claim your exclusive extra discount, simply input the voucher code DISCOUNT at the coupon stage of the checkout, but do hurry - these fantastic offers must end Friday 1st April! For details on further offers please see www.powerplaydirect.com/bcf

Just ten days to go till the start of cycle sport's national series races for Masters, Women and all the Youth categories. Race website GO THERE>>>

Prizes total over £900 in cash plus at least another £750 worth of goodies. Over 200 entries make this one of the largest promotions of the year, with yet more Youth riders able to enter on the day. The Master's race has 64 starters including last year's series winner going against some interesting 'new kids'. Thirty-eight riders go in the Women's race which promises good things with the 1-2-3 in last year's National Circuit Championship lining up at Eastway again.

Youth racing is always exciting to watch. Young talent moves at speed through the five age categories from under 8s to the under 16s. Over 100 riders in all. Team Darenth is run by volunteers exclusively for the benefit of young cyclists, so this is their passion. Significant individual youth race prizes and a family prize for the best combined performance bears this out.

The Hetton Hawks Classic is now a well established race on the youth racing calendar. On Sunday 10th April the race will be the only opportunity for the riders from the North East to compete locally against the best talent country wide in the Michelin sponsored BC circuit race series. The event, which has been well supported over its 5 years from City of Sunderland Council, has seen all the favourites enter for the under 16 and under 14 categories, but the other categories have been slow. Stephen McIntosh, race organiser says “There is plenty of time to enter. The club is keen to ‘Find Future Champions’ and the race represents the only opportunity for the local riders to test themselves against the best. The club has been working hard throughout the year to develop the site and with a successful £120,000 grant from Sport England received last year the facilities have improved to include a new tarmac loop which is being used for the first time in the under 8’s and under 10’s category.” Stephen suggests entering as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. If you are interested in Hetton Hawks or would like to know more details about the races please contact Stephen McIntosh on 0191 2891881 or lmstephen@aol.com

Prime Coaching is running a special Track training session at Reading Track on Saturday 19th March 1.00- 16.00pm. The aim still is to provide training for riders entered for the Good Friday meeting at Herne Hill , however, due to a low response the event is now open to all . There will be Derny's as well. If it’s dry it’s Track bikes, if wet it’s Road bikes. Adults £6 , Youths £2.50. Advice of attendance to keith.d.elliot@bt.com 07802 868158.

Prime Coaching’s Thursday training sessions at Hillingdon begin again for the summer on 7th April at 6.30pm, continuing until the 29th September. This is your chance to train to a varied programme in a traffic free environment with Coach led groups according to ability, from novice to expert. Individual Coaching is available by appointment for a fee. Contact Keith Elliott 07802 868158 keith.d.elliot@bt.com

The Thetford Enduro series has been a great success over the first 2 rounds, with well in excess of 200 riders taking part. Riders have the choice of a 2 or 4 hour Enduro with a class for fun riders also. Sign is from 8.30 until 10.00 and the first race is 10.45. There's also a Saturday evening race with prizes and the final round is on Sunday. The events take place this weekend within Thetford Forest. Call series organiser Paul Sumption 01842 751981 or Email: info@thetford-mtb-racing.co.uk

The series will kick off this Saturday on DH3 with the action switching to the Red Run for Sunday. We've been working hard to ensure the trails are in fantastic condition and we have everything crossed that they will stay that way for the weekend. If you've not got round to getting your entry in don't worry as we will be taking entries on both Saturday and Sunday morning and there are plenty of spaces at present. Spectators are more than welcome and with practice from 8.30am and racing starting at 10.45am with the riders making two race runs there's plenty of action to catch on both days. For all the info you need scroll down to the news section or click on over to www.astonhill.com for the full low-down and to check out the pre-entries. Click on over to www.mikrotime.com over the weekend to check out the results and look out for the full low-down on www.astonhill.com early next week. Contact Ian Warby on 01296 489729 or Email: ian@firecrestmtb.com

This year's Dragon Cross Country series takes place over 6 rounds, not including the Welsh Championships, which are yet to be announced. This weekend's race is at the classic Beaulah course near Builth Wells. Riders can enter on the day and the first race for the under 12's, which is free starts at 11.00am. All other categories start at Midday. Contact event organiser John Lloyd on 01982 552923 or Email: builthwellscycle@aol.com

This year's series is shaping up to be the best ever. It's all about the venues and courses this year with the best on offer throughout the series. The first round is at Ae Forest on Easter weekend, with qualifying on Saturday and the race run on Sunday. Entry is available on the weekend, but pre entry is advised to avoid disappointment. Cost to race is not changed from 2004. Contact Dave Morgan on 0870 8000 235 or Email: dh05@npsdownhill.co.uk

There's 4 events over the next 2 weekends. It's the last round of the East Anglia Winter Series this Sunday at Ipswich. It costs £5.00 to

enter and formula racing rules apply. It's also the last round of the South Winter series at Hayes. Race fees are £7.00 for Expert &

£5.00 for Novice classes. Registration 11.00am until Midday and racing starts at 12.30. Respective contact details are below: Val Last on

01473 424377. Email ipswichbmxclub@hotmail.co.uk and Scott Dick on 07944 557689 Email info@hawksbmx.co.uk or website

The following weekend sees the start of a series of Summer races, kicking off on Sunday with the Easter Classic at Bournemouth, which is closely followed by an open race at East Kent BMX Club. Bournemouth track is situated on Iford Playing Fields, Iford Lane, Bournemouth and Geoff Routledge is the club contact on 01202 475810. Check out www.bournemouthbmx.co.uk for further information. I'm hearing a lot of good things about BMX in southern England with new tracks in Kent and a new high standard track in Dagenham, not to mention upgrades to existing facilities. East Kent club based at Hersden Youth Club, The Avenue, Hersden, Kent is a new set up, so I'm sure they would welcome as much support as possible to ensure BMX continues to grow in Kent. Contact Russ Parsons on 01227 741103 or Email eastkentbmx@hotmail.com There's even a website for more information: www.eastkentbmx.co.uk

Entry forms are available on the website for the Premier MTB Series (Cross-Country), Trek 6-4-2 Series (Enduro) and NPS Downhill Series. They are all available through the Mountain Bike Calendars – click on the Race Calendar button on the www.britishcycling.org.uk website and follow the links from the Calendar menu.

Welsh Cycling is the National Governing Body for Cycling in Wales is looking for a Chief Executive Officer. For more information about the post (including an application form) go to:

British cycling’s calendars are now all on-line – we’ve got over 20 different calendars on the website, all receiving almost daily updates and additions. So, if you’re wanting to keep in touch with where and when to race, make sure you pay regular visits to this section of the website. Simply click on the Race Calendar button on the britishcycling.org.uk website homepage to get a full menu of options.

Race organizers, please can you let us know about any event updates as soon as possible, so that we can spread the news. Send you road and Track Calendar updates to paulwest@britishcycling.org.uk or call Paul on 0161 274 2021. Mountain Bike or BMX updates go to Roger Wilbraham at mtb@britishcycling.org.uk whilst Cyclo-Cross and Cycle Speedway updates go to brian.furness@britishcycling.org.uk

Every season we publish a detailed list of Road and Track Calendar updates – these are changes to the calendar as published in the Racing Calendar magazine. They are all published in this newsletter and added to special “Calendar Updates” sections of the online Calendar. Simply go to the www.britishcycling.org.uk website and hit the “Race Calendar” button for the full calendar index page, which includes links to the Calendar Updates pages.

The above event, scheduled for Tuesday 16th to Saturday 20th August, has been moved to run from the Monday 15th to Friday 19th August in order to enable participants to watch and/or take part in a number of other major events to take place around Newport, South Wales over the weekend of 20th/21st August.

If there are any BC members who attended the Mid Devon Springtime Pursuits (Feb 12/19/26 Feb 2005) and who have video footage that they are prepared to make available to the club, Ken Robertson would love to hear from you.

Also, there is a change of course for the Mid-Devon C.C. Stage Race on 16/17 April. Due to technical problems with the proposed courses the routes have been changed. The Saturday stages on 16th April will now be centred on Brentor using the well known, tried and tested 5 mile circuit. The opening TT stage from 13.00 hours will be one lap of the circuit.

The afternoon stage starting at 15.40 will be 2 hours plus 3 laps of the same circuit. This should give a distance of greater than 100km (given that the racing is fast enough) to award points down to 15th place. On Sunday the race moves to the Exeter Airport/Aylesbeare Circuit with the HQ at Whimple Cricket Club.

This format will give all an opportunity to shine given that the Brentor Circuit does not have a steep hill - more a long drag. The Aylesbeare circuit does have a fair hill and this stage will also be 100km+ Entries officially close on 26th March so don't delay - cheques for £25.00 made out in favour of the "Mid-Devon Cycling Club" and sent to Ken Robertson, 9, Barnfield Road, PAIGNTON, TQ3 2JT"

The Start time for this event is now 9.00am and not 10.30 as shown in the Racing Calendar Magazine - full correct listing below:

Please email all news and press releases to the newsletter editor Phil Ingham pressoffice@britishcycling.org.uk.

For all membership, result, ranking, insurance and event enquires please email the membership services team membership@britishcycling.org.uk.

To submit a classified advert please email Claire Rollinson classifieds@britishcycling.org.uk.

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Membership Services Phone 0161 274 2010 Fax 0161 274 2019

· FREE BRITISH CYCLING MEMBERSHIPS FOR YOUR NEW CLUB MEMBERS!

· DOWNHILL QUALIFICATION DRAMA

· NEW ORGANISER FOR ARCHER GRAND PRIX IN 2006

· NEW NATIONAL ROAD COMMISSAIRES

· POWERPLAY OFFER FOR MEMBERS

· LONDON 2012 BC NATIONAL SERIES RACES AT EASTWAY - EASTER SUNDAY

· HETTON HAWKS FINDING FUTURE CHAMPIONS

· PRIME COACHING READING TRACK TRAINING OPEN TO ALL

· MTB EVENTS

· BMX EVENTS

· CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER – WELSH CYCLING

· CALENDAR ADDITIONS, AMENDMENTS & CANCELLATIONS

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