Craig Austin
Sorry for the lengthy post, but this is something I've been frustrated with
for several years now. I think there are too many categories as well, but I
don't think that limits participation. To me, the biggest problem is poor
coordination of schedule. I know it's tough to get open weekends on the
schedule, and the schedule is fairly full, but here are a few glaring
examples of I-just-can't-be-in-two-places-at-once:
Saturday, April 10 has the BFS time trial, the Big K mountain bike race, and
the Kings Valley road race. The latter are two of the bigger races of the
year for some people. Both the Big K and Kings Valley get many, many
participants who would love to do both races. Sunday, April 11 has NOTHING
on the schedule (probably because it's Easter, maybe a good reason, but let
me finish).
April 24 and 25 are COMPLETELY OPEN. Why not have one of those races that
weekend? Or why not have the Cascade Chainbreaker April 24 or 25, instead of
on May 8, during the Columbia Plateau?
Sunday, May 23 has the Swan Island crit, big attendance most years, and the
Bear Spring MTB race. Why not move one of those to Saturday the 22nd? I'm
betting most mountain bikers were NOT in the team time trial on that
Saturday, though a few may have been. Not as many as were in the crit.
Saturday May 29 is open. But Sunday the 30th has both Pickett's Charge AND
the Rehearsal Road Race. Why not one on each day?
June 13 is both the Oakridge MTB races and the Road Race championships. June
is pretty full and I'm sure it's hard to add a race then, but July 3 and 4
has only the State Games track, which I think has very little overlap with
mountain biking. The following weekend, July 10 and 11, has the State Games
MTB race on top of the Cascade Classic.
July 25 has the Silverton crit (part of the omnium if you're racing it) and
the Firecracker (Oregon MTB championships). The following Saturday, July 31,
only has a TANDEM STAGE RACE. Why not have the Firecracker then? Or August
7, which only has Junior Track? Silverton RR and crit have lots of mountain
bikers attending.
I know not all these schedule conflicts can be resolved. And I'm sure it's
hard to get the venue when you want it. But I'm sure a few of these schedule
overlaps could be fixed easily, especially when there are open dates or
weekends. As someone who races both road and mountain bikes, I know there
are many mountain bikers who don't race as much as they'd like simply
because there's a road race on the same day. But in my opinion schedule, way
more than number of categories, is the limiting factor in racer attendance.
A little accommodation goes a long way. I for one would Saturday and Sunday
races, and I've talked with many others who would, too. When you have to
choose between road and mountain bike races on the same day, we all lose.
Craig Austin
-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Fletcher [mailto:shane_f-@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 10:23 PM
To: obra
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Mtn bike # of riders do they warrant 35
different categories?
The fact that cyclocross can draw nearly 550 participants attests to the
fact that the categories that are used work. So to me a slight adjustment to
those categories for the mountain bike races would still give everyone a
chance to be competitive and significantly reduce the number of categories.
Doing that it might look something like this.
Cat A = Pro/Elite
Cat B = Expert
Cat C = Sport
Masters A 30+ = 35-44
Masters B 30+ = 45-54
Masters 50+ = 55+
Single speed = Single speed
Juniors = 15 -18 male
under 18 female
Kiddies = 14 and under
Women A = Pro/Expert
Women B = Sport
Beginner = Beginners categories for both male and female.
----- Original Message -----
From: <cmur-@obra.org>
To: "obra" <ob-@topica.com>; "'Petr Kakes'" <Skibowlb-@aol.com>;
"Sally R. Russenberger (home)" <srussen-@bendbroadband.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 5:06 PM
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Mtn bike # of riders do they warrant 35 different
categories?
I just spend the day adding the BAR for the Mtn bike side. I added up the
attendance at all 17 cross country events in the state. One thing that
caught my eye was the limited number of riders and the volume of riders
that
do only 1 event per year. I think that we need to rework the category
system and make it simpler for the race organizers by consolidating some
of
the categories. We also need to find out how to increase our number. What
would make you do more than 1 mtn bike race.
Thoughts?
Candi Murray
Category Sex Age Grp Total 1 day only
Beg Men 50+ 11 10
Beg Men 40-49 39 26
Beg Women 40+ 13 8
Beg Men 19-29 38 28
Beg Women 30-39 13 10
Beg Women 19-29 14 10
Beg Men 30-39 44 35
Beg Jr Women15-18 8 3
Beg Jr WomenUnder 14 3 3
Beg Jr MenUnder 14 42 8
Beg Jr Men15-18 30 4
Elite Men 43 18
Exp Jr MenUnder 18 7 3
Exp Men 50+ 10 7
Exp Women 19-29 16 12
Exp Women 40+ 3 2
Exp Men 30-39 63 36
Exp Women 30-39 15 7
Exp Jr Women Under 18 1 1
Exp Men 40-49 49 29
Exp Men 19-29 31 22
Pro Men 22 12
Pro Women 10 4
Single Speed 44 29
Sp Men 40-49 56 34
Sport Women 30-39 13 8
Sport Men 50+ 22 14
Sport Jr MenUnder 14 8 5
Sport Jr MenUnder 18 21 8
Sport Jr Women 7 1
Sport women 40+ 9 5
Sport Men 19-29 70 55
Sport Women 19-29 18 14
Sport Men 30-30 89 52
total # 882 523
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