Mike Murray
Rick is correct. There are a lot more 40+ slower riders who will be
discouraged by inclusion of the 35-40 riders than there are 35-40 riders who
will be encouraged by a lowered age limit. The second point is that these
same slower older riders are also discouraged by the faster riders that are
in their age group. This is the reason why a Masters 3/4/5 field will
generally be bigger than a Maters (no category) race.
If you look at the age and category distribution of the OBRA membership you
can see that in general OBRA races are doing a poor job of servicing the
large number of older riders in the slower categories.
Looking at the ages and categories of OBRA members and how many individuals
are in each group it is easy to figure out which field separations will
appeal to the larger market. This data is available to anyone. The
unfortunate thing is that race organizers never look at this data before
deciding which fields they want to run. They just decide by the seat of
their pants. Unfortunately the decisions they then make are colored by
personal perceptions, much like the comments made on this subject on this
list.
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of Rick C Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 09:28 AM
To: Jeff Fuchs
Cc: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Master's categories
Personally I like the 40+ age separation. I'll concede that it's likely
that 35+ yields bigger Masters fields but I don't see that as being the
best way to get them. It just cannibalizes other fields. And sometimes
those crossing over are still very capable racers in their category -
look at the Cascade Classic of a few years back for example. There were
a few guys - whose names I think need no mention - that could still be
competitive in the pro field but instead brutalized the Masters race.
Might lapping the field in the first 10 minutes of the crit be a clear
enough indicator of an imbalance? I know first hand of two to three
times as many riders who as a result avoided that particular race in the
following years because of the problem.
That all just adds up to a disincentive for less capable 40+ riders (of
which I include myself) to participate. It's a heck of a lot more fun to
race with a chance of actually being in the race than to be going all
out simply to hang on and finish. An amateur racing organization such as
OBRA must offer challenging events to a wide variety of age and ability
levels. I think the current formula balances that as well as can be.
Rick
Jeff Fuchs wrote:
>Gary,
>
>It's not the speed of the field. Cat. 3's races and Master's 1/2/3
>races are basically the same speed. Its the size of the Master's
>fields. I'd rather finish in 10th out of 80 people than 5th of 20.
>Larger fields are more fun. That being said, Master's races tend to be
>more tactical when there are enough riders to make it a road race.
>
>There are plenty of fast master's racer in OBRA, but the Master's
>fields this year have been really small. I was really disappointed this
>year when I showed up to Cherry pie and there were 28 racers in the
>master's 1/2/3 category. As a result I raced cat. 3's at the BB's and I
>will race cat. 3's at Willamette.
>
>If the races were 35+ I bet there would be larger fields.
>
>-Jeff
>
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