Competitive Cycling for Life
For many years the VTTA has had a system of annual Personal Performance Awards which are popular with many of our members. A Personal Performance Award can be claimed for improving on one’s previous best age adjusted time or distance at 10, 15, 25, 30, 50, 100 miles and 12 and 24 hours. All the relevant information for a member is available in their membership account on the website (www.vtta.org.uk) under ‘My profile’ and ‘Performance Awards’.
How to Enter for and Achieve a Personal Performance Award
First, you have to make a payment for Personal Performance Awards to your Group before the start of your season to get your performance improvements measured and to be eligible to make claims, and to win medals or plaques. Most members make this payment at the same time as their annual membership subscription. You can make this payment on the website – see under Membership Extras on your ‘My profile’ page.
Second, you must have linked your CTT and VTTA accounts – if you have not done this already go to your CTT rider profile at cyclingtimetrials.org.uk and get your verification code. Then go to your VTTA member profile at vtta.org.uk, click on the button to link your accounts and enter the code. Full instructions are in the ‘Guidance Note for Linking VTTA and CTT Accounts’ which you can find on the website in the Document section at https://www.vtta.org.uk/library
To gain your Personal Performance Award, you have to achieve the ‘Target Time/Distance’ shown in the ‘Performance Awards’ section of your membership profile. These targets are set on the basis of the previous best performance for which you claimed an award, adjusted for your age. If you have not previously claimed an award at a particular distance then your target is the ‘standard’ time for your age and classification.
For each target you achieve you will receive an engraved medal. If you achieve multiple targets (typically 3 but depending on your Group) you will receive a plaque showing all your achievements.
Your Target Times and Improvements
Log in to the website and click on your name (top right) and then ‘My Profile’. You can see your target times under the Performance Awards tab. The system knows if you have already made a Personal Performance Awards payment.
The Performance Awards page has two sections:
Upper section: This shows your target for all distances to win an award in the current season.
Lower section: This section will be populated with your results for the current season taken from the CTT website, which achieve or exceed your targets. If you have none this section does not appear; it disappears after all your claims have been processed at the end of the season
Resetting your Personal Performance Awards
Members whose Personal Performance Award results are more than 3 calendar years old, or who are changing their racing machine from TT bike to road bike, or bike to trike, may request their group recorder to reset their Personal Performance Awards. A Reset will change the baseline result to the standard for their age and classification, and the target will be to beat the baseline. This reset may be appropriate, for example, if you are returning to the sport after taking a break from racing. If a member wishes to change from any kind of bike to trike or vice-versa then the machine specified in their profile should be updated.
How to Claim your Personal Performance Awards
The Claim button: You will see a ‘Claim' button after each improvement if you have purchased Personal Performance Awards. If you have improved in more than one event at a distance (or 12/24 hours) then all improvements will be shown and you can select which one to claim for. You can claim at any point in the season but members usually wait to the end of the season when they can see all their improvements. Most members claim their best improvements; others may claim a lesser improvement as this will make their target easier the following year! If you are aiming for Personal Performance Awards on a particular kind of bike, then you need to identify which machine you used for the claim. The system will not tell you the machine you used (yet).
Once you have clicked on a claimed improvement, you will see that your target is updated with the new performance. Your Group recorder will be informed of your claim and arrange for you to be presented with your medal or a plaque.
If you do not claim then your group recorder will claim your best performances on your behalf at the end of the season.
As you age, your targets change with the adjustment for being a year older. This makes them challenging but achievable.
If you need further guidance, you can read the full regulations as set out in Section 3.2 of the Constitution included in this handbook or the ‘About’ section of the website or you can contact your Group Recorder. If you have any problems viewing baselines, claiming improvements and/or ordering medals, please contact the itmanager@vtta.org.uk.