The full e-mail can be viewed here.
We now want to help more cycle groups develop knowledgeable on-road Ride Leaders, so we can support even more cyclists and offer a wider range of rides, bringing people together through the healthy and enjoyable activity we all know and love.
CTC would now like to offer you the chance to bring people together through the healthy and enjoyable activity of cycling with a fun-filled, FREE one-day Ride Leader workshop, aimed at both experienced Ride Leaders and those who would like to give it a try.
The linked web page address ends "free-1-day-ride-leader-course-ctc-members".
It had my interest, in the past I have been a CTC Ride Leader and I may* still be on my local group's Volunteer Leader List. The local Council Health Promotion rides and Sustrans are always looking for Ride Leaders but insist on CTC Road Ride Manager level or equivalent formal qualification.
So I asked if the Ride Leader Workshop was a CTC Road Ride Manager course. CTC Training responded:
No this is not the equivalent of the Road Ride Manager training course. It is a Ride leader workshop specifically designed for CTC members to offer guidance on how to lead a safe enjoyable ride.
CTC Member Groups can train Ride Leaders in house to lead CTC Member Group rides but have to provide a list of such members to National Office annually. To my knowledge CTC Affiliated Clubs can broadly do the same but it's only "best practice" to provide a list of names. IME outside organisations typically require CTC Ride Manager, MIAS Level 1 or British Cycling Sky Ride Leader qualifications as a minimum.
So I'm mystified on the purpose of these courses. In the broadest sense I can see that some training is better than no training but since I dont need a "CTC Ride Leader workshop certificate" to lead a CTC ride and I can't use it as qualification to lead a non-CTC ride, where does it fit in?
*I'm on the 2009 list which is the latest edition I can find on-line. I haven't led a ride since then and there's a good chance that I asked to be taken off.