The Saviour of South East racing?

Alan Denman is a name now associated with the South East Road Race League, or SERRL for those that are familiar. The League was looking for a new organiser after the legendary Kim Anderson decided to move on after running SERRL for many years. Alan stepped in at a time when the League was desperate to find someone suitable and after some hiccups and issues out of his control the South East race calendar fought through 2017.

After some new terms and conditions and taking onboard feedback from the local clubs and race teams Alan has replied with a great season of racing for 2018 that will no doubt be highly successful.

We caught up with Alan to chat about SERRL, coaching and his race team Project 51.

SERRL

How do you feel the first season running SERRL went?

"Not too bad overall. A few issues that we didn’t account for that caught us out on a few occasions. But we provided the calendar and riders seemed happy."

What were the biggest obstacles you encountered?

"I’ve not organised a regional road race for a few years and it took me a while to get my head around the extra hassles involved through increased traffic and increased British Cycling paperwork.

There were also issues with quite a few races going to the wire as to whether we would get commissaires allocated to the event. This unfortunately is pretty much the one volunteer that the race organisor has no control over appointing.

I also failed to realise just how much the fabric of the average club had changed. A few clubs really struggled to take on the responsibility of providing event volunteers for their allocated races. Most were brilliant, but a few struggled. This resulted in one near cancellation and one actual cancellation. This is why the decision was taken to just have individual affiliation for 2018, this way if we get let down, it will hopefully just be a few individuals to cover at the last minute rather than an entire club."

You have added some more Nat B races to the calender this season, why?

"The plan was always to try and gradually increase the ability of the riders within the region. This year we’ve seen the 2nd category riders get stronger. By putting on Nat B’s that we can run on courses to suit and keep the distance to 120km, it should provide a nice stepping stone from Regional A races."

Did you personally have any stand out races/riders from the calender last season and why?

"I have to say, the race / experience that gave me the most pleasure was the Brixton Cycles Club race at Laughton. Just the enthusiasm for doing it properly and the fun they all seemed to have on the day was brilliant."

Coaching

How do you think riders benefit from having a coach?

"Mainly by getting some organisation and structure to their training plan. Training is not that complicated really (unless you work for a company that sells a training product, they need to make it sound complicated), most riders just need a second pair of eyes to keep everything in check and ensure they’re doing the correct training at the correct time and most importantly taking enough rest. Most riders over train if left to their own devices."

Can riders of all levels benefit?

"All riders benefit from a coach/mentor in my opinion. Every rider needs a slightly different approach and a greater or lesser amount of input, the secret of a good coach is being able to work that out. That’s why people like Chris MacNamara at Trainsharp are so well respected."

What advice can you give to someone when looking for a coach?

"Find someone local. It’s so important that your coach actually gets to see you ride a bike.

Find someone that understands what it feels like to race and train hard. Not necessarily someone that has had loads of success as a racer, but someone who can understand exactly what you’re going through from personal experience rather than what they’ve learnt from a book.

And lastly find one that actually cares about you and not their ego!"

Project 51

Why did you start the race teams?

"Simple. To keep the riders I coached away from all the nonsense pretend pro teams. I’ve always predominantly coached juniors and U23’s. This stage of their development as bike is always the most difficult. They’re always tempted by all the so called trappings of riding for a sponsored team, problem is majority of them are usually detrimental to their development, as they over inflate their already huge teenage ego and then very rarely live up to the promise, leaving the riders feeling deflated.

Recently I’ve taken on some senior riders and realised that the same applies them."

What plans do you have for them this season?

"The seniors want to push themselves as far as they can within the parameters of their home lives, so the plan is to get them to obviously learn how to train properly, but more importantly to get them to learn how to race properly and make the most of all the hard training they’ve put."

Your Womens team raced in Europe alot last year, what are the reasons for this?

"For the girls it’s about providing them with a decent race calendar, both in the UK and in Europe. The UK Women’s racing scene is improving so much lately, but it’s still got a long way to go and for young riders who need to learn how to race while their bodies are still growing, racing local races against 10 riders won’t achieve this. We also take them away as a team, so they can learn how to be a bit more independent away from their parents.

The races in Belgium always have bigger fields and are a lot more full on. I’m not advocating dangerous riding, but over there it’s quite basic, it’s really first across the line that matters, that’s all. You don’t get the same etiquette that goes on in British racing and you don’t seem to get praise for looking cool and having a big social media following without actually ever winning."

Alan is the SERRL organiser and runs Project 51 Race Teams as well as Project 51 event support and management:

alan.denman@southeastroadraceleague.com

www.project51racing.com