Alec Bentley

Perhaps some of you who have been following or contributing to the debate on
if Master categories should commence at 35 or 40 may be interested to know
how it works in the UK and most of Europe.

The British League of Veteran Racing Cyclists (www.lvrc.org if you are
interested) has a category every 5-years commencing at 40. Therefore if you
are 40 to 44 you are a Category A, 45 to 49 you are a Category B all the way
up to 70 to 74 you are a Category G then over 75 is designated as Category
H.

Each race promoter decides how many different races to promote depending on
budgets and the number of riders in each category who register. Typically
it is A&B?s (40 to 49) / C&D?s (50 to 59) / EFG&H?s. (60+)

Regardless of how many separate races are promoted results are posted for
each 5-year category.

This has been a very successful formula in the UK and Europe where there are
numerous races for Master age riders.

A couple of other points about the UK system. Woman Masters, (Ladies in the
UK) can compete with Men Masters and are given a 10-year benefit. As an
example 40 to 44 year old woman would compete with the 50 to 54 old men.

? The LVRC allows (encouraged, in fact) riders to compete in an older age
group than their calendar age indicates. This is deliberately designed to
help people get back into racing, and move up the groups as fitness starts
to return.?

Alec Bentley

>From: "Mike Murray"
>Reply-To: mike.murray@obra.org
>To:
>Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Masters 35 Plus?
>Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 19:08:01 -0800
>
>There are often references to the mythic 18 yo bike racer. Frankly there
>are not many of them. Most are slower category. From the end of this year
>the age distribution of road members was:
>
><20 169
>20to24 133
>25to29 264
>30to34 398
>35to39 466
>40to44 371
>45to49 266
>50to54 148
>55to59 74
>60to64 34
>65+ 24
>
>Here are the mean ages by road category:
>
>1 33
>2 36
>3 38
>4 36
>5 36
>
>Overall the mean OBRA membership age is 37. 35+ is most of us.
>
>Mike Murray
>-----Original Message-----
>From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
>Behalf Of Edward Kendrick Sr
>Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 06:48 AM
>To: obra@list.obra.org
>Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Masters 35 Plus?
>
>
>Yes. It would be nice to have the 35+ category.
>
>Most of the riders, who act their age, choose to ride cat 4 or 5. This is
>awkward, when there are 18 yr olds competing with you.
>
>Did you know that a big chunk of the Arctic shelf broke off today?
>
>Anyway, Feliz Ano Nuevo.
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Dave Campbell
>To: obra
>Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 1:08:39 AM
>Subject: [OBRA Chat] Masters 35 Plus?
>
>
>Just going to throw this totally self-interested bit out there...
>
>VERY few races last yr had a Masters 35 plus, with most going 40 plus
>Was this trend well-recieved by riders? I see that Cherry Pie (and my
>guess
>is most of the others that follow) is going Masters 40 plus and the
>promoter
>(who is well experienced!) assures me this is the way to go.
>
>For ME at this point, the 35 plus races are FUN (although due to triathlon,
>I personally only do a few and mainly for training) and I can actually race
>as opposed to the Cat1/2 race which I just try to survive and I would
>assume
>there are others that feel the same way...the question is ARE THERE ENOUGH
>like minded 35-39s like me?
>
>Anyone?
>
>Thanks,
>DC
>Dave Campbell
>adcampbell46@earthlink.net
>EarthLink Revolves Around You.
>
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