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@roboto
Just tried to catch up on this thread after ignoring it for a while.
Whilst, on the day, I was a bit annoyed (as were the majority of women racers I spoke to as they got pulled off course halfway through a race) about how Dani King had lapped the entire field taking most of the enjoyment out of a hard fought race of even abilities and the dominance of Strickland in the men's race. On reflection, it just shows how far this particular event has progressed in a short space of time.
In fact, the UK is massively behind countries like the US and most of Europe in regards to fixed crit racing. There are some very strong UK based riders, but races are few and far between without spending tons of money on travelling all over Europe or over to America to compete. The top placed Vritish rider in the main race, Alec Briggs, rides for an Italian team with a huge budget and the 5th floor guys are always competitive without being full time pros.
Instead of bashing so called "fixie crews", why don't you respect what they're trying to achieve or let them enjoy what they're doing. You can choose to ignore them and do other things.
The UK scene really needs more support so it can grow to the same size or larger than it's more established neighbours. We've proved with Thundercrit that we can do these things on a shoestring budget, we can encourage riders of all abilities to come together and race and everyone can enjoy themselves in a more relaxed race environment. Red Hook Crit only rolls into town once a year and I'm happy that riders of all abilities embrace it. It's a massive media circus that helps these "fixie crews" gain support or sponsorship that in turn enables them to enter/create more races.
I've probably missed a lot of points that might need addressing, but my lunch break is nearly over and I need to get some training in between work and family commitments too.