Membership, Club Records and Performance Awards

Members of Hitchin Nomads are members of a cycling club which caters for both competitive and non-competitive activities. Where Members compete in any cycling discipline, they do so for a team recognised by the relevant national governing body.  For the majority this will be a Hitchin Nomads team, although the Hitchin Nomads do not exclude from membership those who wish to compete for another team in a specific discipline, because of their natural progression through the sport, preferences or individual circumstances.

All club members shall be entitled to claim records and performance related awards in events where they are representing the Hitchin Nomads CC. Where club members participate in events as a member of another club or team, they shall not be eligible for such awards or recognition.  Further clarification and guidance notes are set out below for reference.

Guidance on 1st and 2nd Claim Membership

Members of Hitchin Nomads CC often compete in events such as road races, cyclo-cross races and time trials.  The Club Committee would like to give its guidance on First and Second Claim memberships and how these work for competitions and records.  It is difficult to cover every possible situation so any Member seeking further clarification should in the first instance make contact with the Committee.  The key principle is that all Members (whether First or Second Claim) are eligible, and indeed very welcome, to compete in Club and InterClub competitions as Nomads, and to set new Club Records.

There are some necessary exceptions in the case where governing bodies’ regulations mean Second Claim members must compete for their First Claim club or team “on the day”. In England the vast majority of cycle racing is governed by two distinct bodies, British Cycling (BC) and Cycling Time Trials (CTT).  The Club is affiliated to both bodies.  BC is the national (internationally recognised) body for all cycling disciplines: road races, cyclo-cross, mountain biking, track, cycle speedway BMX and time trialling.  It holds national championships for each discipline under its licence from the World governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).   Cycling Time Trials (CTT) covers time trials in England and Wales.  It has its own rules and national championships over set distances and times.  Both CTT and BC will state whether events are governed by UCI regulations.  The governing bodies have their own rules and regulations as to which Club a rider can represent.  Membership of the Club* will generally allow riders to represent the Nomads at such events, and the Committee fully encourages participation.  Members should be aware that in the case of British Cycling, an appropriate racing licence or day licence for the rider is also required.

The Club does NOT officially support competition or teams in cycling elements of multi-sport events such as triathlon or duathlon, which have their own national governing body, (the British Triathlon Association, BTA) to which Hitchin Nomads is not affiliated.

Within each branch of the sport, Members may be “First Claim” or “Second Claim” Hitchin Nomads, whilst being equally full members of the Club.  “First Claim” means the team for whom you MUST compete in an open event. With the development and growth of the Club’s membership some riders have specialised in a particular discipline and hold First Claim membership of other clubs or teams for a particular discipline, and Second Claim for HNCC.  For instance, members of the Armed Forces can be First Claim members of Army CU, RAF CA or RN&RM CA and Second Claim HNCC; students may be a First Claim member of a University team; some HNCC members ride Open Time Trials for specialist TT teams (such as Team SalesEngine); and others may progress to a higher ranked sponsored or representative team (the normal route for aspirant younger riders as they progress).  An HNCC Member competes representing their First Claim club or team where this is possible.  For an event where their First Claim is not eligible to compete then Second Claim comes into play. For example, according to CTT, a rider must represent their First Claim in an Open Time Trial.  However, for Club events (Brierclifffe 10, etc.) competition is restricted to HNCC and Second Claim is allowed.  For InterClub events Second Claim riders can compete for HNCC so long as they are not First Claim for another eligible local club (Ashwell CC, Beds Road CC, etc.).  For Club Time Trials, at the discretion of the Timekeeper, those with no First or Second Claim Nomads membership (or indeed no membership at all), may ride as a Private Time Triallist (PTT).  A PTT will be given a time but is not eligible to be given a placing in the Club competition result.  It is also possible that a rider may compete (“first claim”) in open time trials (under CTT regulations) as a first claim for another club, but for the Nomads in every other discipline if the other club is NOT recognised by British Cycling.

The Committee recognises that the breadth and depth of the Club’s membership is one of its strengths and as such, all members shall be entitled to claim HNCC Club records when representing the Club as either First or Second Claim.  Should members participate in an event for another club or team on the day, those rides shall not be eligible for HNCC record claims.  In addition, Club competitions are open to First or Second Claim members.  The exception to this is where the Club is using an Open Event for one its competitions (e.g. the HNCC 50 miles Time Trial competition typically uses an Open Event) in which case Second Claim members must represent their First Claim and so are not Nomads on the day. The possible permutations are many and the Club Committee does not wish to set rules to try and legislate for every last instance.  The key principle again is that the Club welcomes all Members to its competitions as far as is possible and hopes to see many new Club Records being set!

Transgender Persons

Most of the Hitchin Nomads’ performance awards and Club records are based on events governed by a national or international body such as British Cycling, Cycling Time Trials, UCI and the International Olympic Committee.  In such cases that body’s current regulations on Transgender persons are to be used as required.  For competitions not directly related to a governed discipline, the Club Policy is set out below.  At the time of writing this is essentially same as the CTT regulations, which are based on the recommendations of the UK’s Sports Council Equality Group (SCEG) for non-contact sports.

Affirmed Gender Club Competition
Any transsexual male(female‐to-male transsexual person) He may compete in his affirmed gender in any male or mixed sex Club competition.
Transsexual woman – over 16 and post puberty (male‐to-female transsexual person) EITHERShe may compete in her affirmed gender in female or mixed‐sex Club competition by providing evidence that her hormone therapy has brought her blood measured testosterone levels within the range of her affirmed gender or that she has had a gonadectomy 

OR

She may compete in any male or mixed-sex Club competition if she has not started hormone treatment.

Transsexual girl – under 16 and post‐ puberty. EITHER:She may compete in her affirmed gender in any female or mixed-sex Club competition subject to an individual case-by-case review.

OR

She may compete in any male or mixed-sex competition if she has not started hormone treatment nor had a gonadectomy.

Transsexual girl – pre-puberty She may compete in her affirmed gender in any female or mixed-sex domestic competition subject to confirmation of her stage of pubertal development.