gschreckchat@comcast.net
If the championship fields were large you might have a point, but some of the events that I have done already have small field sizes when you include the out of state riders. Taking out the out of state riders would only make the situation worse. I have little interest in racing against ten people even if it would mean I get a gold medal. In fact it would mean less than getting a high placing in a large competitive field.
If anyone gets hurt by letting out of state riders in it is me, as I get killed by David Zimbleman every year (I have a good selection of silver medals, except last year when he took pity on me) but I would not have it any other way. Let them all come and just train harder. It is how you race that counts, not necessarily the result.
Now lets talk about someting important like carbon fiber dimpled racing tires with ceramic beads. I hear they save .5 watts and can mean the differnce between 20th and first place, and you can lose 2 pounds per week by riding them only 20 minutes a day three times per week. Fact or fantasy? You decide.
--
George Schreck
gschreckchat@comcast.net
(503) 502-0425
-------------- Original message --------------
From: hutchsraceteam
I think that was well put. And remember there are other Championships for riders in other States and Levels. I would like OBRA to up the anti though and offer free registration to all OBRA events to the Senior Champions of the Crit and RR provided that they wear their Championship jersey in an event that they won. This would bring a lot more meaning and value to the winner. Some promoters in the USCF do this for the National Champions.
I still am for a race based on participation due to politics and any chance of any change. As far as administration goes, this is the year 2007. OBRA has come up with a program online that can tell me all the races I placed in for the last two years. Are you telling me someone could not add a function to this database to print out a report by category of the number of events all riders road between two dates? The registration desk would have a print out off all the riders in a category and would check and high light all riders who qualified. Riders that did not qualify will still be allowed to ride but with different numbers. Once the race has finished the officials would check the top ten based on the numbers or the high lighted list and a new Championship would be announced. The hard part in all of this would be the politics in selecting the number of races that qualify for the Championship.
The No OBRA Membership Registration on the day of the race is probably the simplest solution but is not strong enough.
AP
Erik Long wrote:
The idea behind a State Championship, Brian, is to get as many of a given state's riders (regardless of city residence and hair color) gathered on the same course, on the same day, for the same race. You want to win that race because of the recognition that comes with beating the rest of the riders in your state, in your category in the most fiercely contested one-day race held within your state.
This is why it doesn't make sense to have out-of-state riders competing in such an event. The Idea behind such a race is to determine who can win amongst Oregon's racers. If Oregon's ridrers are competing against (or being helped by) Washington and California riders, it ceases to be an Oregon Championship and becomes just another road race, with a different medal.
-Erik
From: Brian Mack
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: [OBRA Chat] State Championships???
Date: Tue, 08 May 2007 13:29:25 -0700
I'm a little confused - What makes one race on the calendar special
enough to be called a championship race? Why should I care more about
winning it vs. any of the other road races out there, and why would
anyone care if an out-of-stater beat them at that race more than any
other?
Is the idea that OBRA is so infested with racers from Ca and Wa that we
have to have a special race just to determine who the best person is in
this state? Why would anyone care who that was? How about a blonde
hair championships, or Portland championship, or one for people owning
an SUV?
Or is it more arbitrary, just saying that everyone in the state should
show up at some random event so that we can determine who the best rider
is out of everybody. The winner on that particular day, in the weather
that it had, on that kind of course, out of the people who didn't crash
or have flats, whose tactics happened to work... who cares?
Whatever it is that makes the race meaningful is how it should be
restricted. For my part, if I show up, it'll only be for a chance to
win a free shirt with a nice picture on the front and pockets in the
back, and I probably won't care too much if I get beat by a guy from
Washington, or if he has three legs or drives a Buick or has four
testicles.
Brian
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