Mike Murray
There is plenty of racing for 30-39 year old riders. It is in the regular
Senior category races. The mean age of an OBRA member is 36. On the
extended list of 8158 people that have been members in the past few year
there are 2289 people between 30 and 39. Between 18 and 29 there are only
1790. When you are riding in a Senior race generally less than half of the
field will be under 30. Adding an 30-39 field with no category designation
will only make category separated fields smaller, critically so in Cat 1-2,
and not really add any total numbers to participation.
Adding Masters Cat 4-5 fields, at any age separation, would increase
participation as well as provide needed decompression for the over populated
Cat 3,4,5 fields.
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of Karsten Hagen
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 18:29 PM
To: Greg Bruce; obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Observation on field sizes at Masters Races so far
this year
OK
There's a lot of racing out there for masters 40+, but very little for
30-39. When I raced in Wisconsin, the masters 30-39 fields were
consistently full, fast and fun. The races were shorter to accommodate the
fact that many in the field worked long hours, tried to be good parents and
thus found extended training sessions impossible. Plus, most importantly,
we were getting older and slower. I don't think I'm the only guy in his
30's in Oregon trying to balance work, family and his addic....um....racing.
I understand adding yet another category to local crits, road races, etc. is
a major headache, but consider this example: Banana Belt's final cat 3
sprint craziness would have been a lot less crowded, slow and dangerous if
the field was much smaller. I'd guess half that field could have raced a
masters 30-39 category. The danger is, of course, that we could soon have
separate masters 32-34 right handed vs. left handed fields further divided
into astrological signs and eye color, etc....but I don't think that's
ultimately necessary.
I'm just saying that, in general, a large group of masters men could have
their own viable racing field pretty consistently all season long.
Karsten Hagen
On 4/1/08 5:09 PM, "Greg Bruce" wrote:
Since OBRA land is such a grace filled, open, accepting and tolerant society
of cycling enthusiasts, I thought I would offer up an observation. NOTE, I
am making an observation only and will leave it to others to offer up their
take on why it might be so.
Here it is: Taking a look at the bigger early season road races so far this
year (Cherry Pie, Banana Belt Series, Piece of Cake), I have noticed that
the inclusion of a Masters 40+ cat 4,5 field has resulted in huge fields for
that category. In contrast, the Masters 1,2,3 fields have been pretty sparse
by comparison.
I then look at a race like Willamette Valley SR, where the Masters category
is open to all 40+ racers regardless of category. In other words, there is
no break out of category. If you are a Cat 5 Masters racer, you will be
fighting it out with Cat 1 Masters racers and vice versa. Now, I am unable
to look up the most recent count, but at last count a couple days ago, there
were like 13 people pre-registered to race Masters 40+ at Willamette.
Clearly, more people will show up and race, but there probably won't be the
60-80 participants that there could be.
So, what to make of all of this. Maybe nothing at all. A few things are
clear though. There are a lot of Masters 4,5 racers out there and they
clearly enjoy racing their bikes. OK, I am going beyond observation here and
inferring some things-actually, I may be opining a bit---
These Masters 4,5 racers might even enjoy racing their bikes with other
people of their category and fitness level and when that opportunity
presents itself, they show up. When lumped together with people who are so
much faster, they might tend to decide to take that week off from racing.
Maybe? Or Maybe it is just a coincidence?
Two years ago at the Willamette Valley SR, they broke the Masters up into 2
different races: a 1,2,3 and a 3,4,5-There were 49 people who registered for
the 3,4,5 Masters race that year. Interesting, I think.
Frankly, I am not sure what to make of it all. Some of the folks on my team
who are Cat 3 Masters are kind of stuck in the middle. We have been opting
to race with the open Cat 3's of late, in order to be a part of a bigger
field of racers, as opposed to feeling like we are traveling great distances
to participate in a race field that is more like a glorified group ride (in
terms of size).
I am not suggesting any change to anything, because I am not sure there is
anything that needs fixing. I am just sharing an observation. But, if I were
a race promoter/organizer, I might find this data interesting and worth
considering.
With the April Fools and Sprint dialogue dissipating, I thought we might all
enjoy another potential topic of discussion.
Lastly, at Cherry Pie and the Banana Belts, there have been an additional
20-23 racers in the Masters 50+ category. So, we seem to be getting 80-100
participants showing up for all of the different Masters Categories at the
early season races.
Has there been any consideration to standardizing the Masters Categories for
all the races? Some races have Masters 40+ open; some have 3 different
categories (1,2,3-4,5 and 50+), some like King's Valley only have Masters
3,4,5; 2 years ago, Willamette had a 1,2,3 and a 3,4,5. Silverton has done a
Masters 35+ cat 3,4 (2005) and a Masters 40+ Cat 3,4 (2006) of late. Others
opt to lump everyone together, but score them separately. It is all over the
place: JUST AN OBSERVATION.
Anyway...
Event: 2008 Masters 4,5 # of Participant finishers Masters 1,2,3 # of
Participant finishers
Cherry Pie 61 23
Banana Belt 48 28
Banana Belt 2 42 20
Banana Belt 3 41 25
Piece of Cake 55 25
Greg Bruce
Hutch's- Bend, OR
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