Joe King
Nobody has mentioned BMX racing for kids.
While, i know OBRA doesn't organize it, and it's not as convenient for those
who race cross, I imagine promoters of BMX events have plenty of age group
races for the younger set.
Joe
On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM, Tim Schauer wrote:
> These are good comments. My son Trevor, (now 13) has been racing cross for
> 3 years. There certainly is a group of kids between "kiddie cross" and full
> on Junior's racing. His experiences have been mostly good, but some not so
> good racing with older kids and older Men. But he like cyclocross the most
> out of all the racing he's done (he's everything but track to date).
>
> I would suggest that kids 10-14 are encouraged to continue participating
> when they achieve a feeling of accomplishment. As parents we do our best to
> give them some of that. The spectators and officials cheering them on and
> congratulating them helps A LOT too. But, to younger kids it can feel
> pointless to compete against kids in the 15-18 age group if you are 11 years
> old, get lapped 3 times and struggle to compete 45 minutes. Also, I have
> gathered that several of our top juniors in the 15-18 don't like the idea of
> beating out a bunch of pre-teens for the win and choose not to race in the
> junior categories, or just race juniors for a warm up to their later
> category race.
>
> All that being said, I think it should be okay for officials to pull the
> younger juniors after 20 or so, or when they have been lapped twice maybe?
> Long before the 45min master B race is officially finished. This will also
> clear the course sooner once that race is over. We can still place these
> young kids even if they race only 20 minutes. Just like in a criterium.
> Riders lapped multiple times are pulled but placed, right? I would also
> propose splitting the juniors scoring for each race (and the series) at the
> 13 or 14 year old line. Race them all together. Pull the slowest early.
> Score the 15, 16, 17, & 18 year olds separately than the 14 and under.
>
> For the record, I race Master B, and my son races at the same time in the
> junior men and he is 13. I really like the proposed timing of the junior's
> race because we can race at the same time. It works for me!
>
> Thanks for listening to my perspective.
>
> -Tim Schauer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
> Behalf Of shane.young@comcast.net
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 1:15 PM
> To: obra@list.obra.org
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Oregon Cyclocross Survey
>
> The age old question of how to run a a kids race safely for all involved.
> It is almost like we need another category. We will call them the tweens.
> :) We have juniors and we have kiddies, but like Kirsti states, we have
> the ones that fall inbetween. Those that step up to the juniors but aren't
> really read are in for an epic journey, it is no longer a race. We had a
> couple girls are Pain on the Peak that were awesome. They never gave up,
> but it was so epic that I fear that they may decide that racing is too much
> for them.
>
> The other question is when to run them. I think running them with the
> unicycles would be great. If we run them with cyclesdale it could be bad as
> the small ones can be mistaken as cones. Scroll down three photos to see
> what I mean.
>
> http://www.oregonvelo.com/2006/blog/?p=246
>
> We are just running out of time to run them. A couple of years ago there
> was a big debate about when to run the juniors because people would race
> with their kids but they didn't like that there was a three hour gap in
> their race and their kids race. I think a race could safely be done at
> lunch time with the normal kiddie race. Send off the unicycles, send off
> the one lap juniors and then send off the little ones on their short lap.
> But this probably would double the time of the lunch break/kiddie race and
> I don't know if there is the time. I hope there is because we are getting a
> lot more of the tweens.
>
> Shane
>
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "Kirsti Hegg"
> > I wish there was a comments section too.,.. The biggest thing I'd like to
> > see added is high quality youth events. Not just kiddie cross. I have a 9
> > year old son who is really into biking, but the kiddie cross is not doing
> a
> > thing to build his skills and endurance. I've thought about letting him
> ride
> > with me in the women's event and do one lap, but those run-ups are brutal
> > with a dirt bike (and even with a cross bike if you only weigh 72
> pounds).
> >
> >
> >
> > In Seattle, they run a youth race that's only 1 lap (sometimes with the
> > roughest portion removed) and the runups are attended by adults lying in
> > wait to help anyone up that needs it. Kids 8-13 really get to stretch
> their
> > wings with this.
> >
> >
> >
> > My son is the biggest reason I attend the Cross Crusade. I personally
> suck
> > and generally pull up the rear of the women's beginner group. But I'd
> LOVE
> > to see him pursue this! How do we encourage our kids in this sport when
> > there's not much for the younger-than-junior group?
> >
> >
> >
> > How 'bout we run a lap for these kids with the unicycles?? (staggered
> start
> > before or after the unicyclists-whichever would avoid tripping up the
> > unicyclists)
> >
> >
> >
> > Kirsti Hegg
> >
> >
>
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