Masters cannot ride with what ever field they want, were did you get that
idea?
The rules read:
6.6 Mixing of Classes and Categories
6.6.1 Eligibility. No rider may race in a category other than that which is
stated on his or her membership.
6.6.2. Women may enter any race for which they are eligible by age,
category, and any performance requirements and may enter categorized races
for men that are up to one category lower than their women's category, or in
the case of category 1 women, up to two categories lower.
6.6.3. Mixing of Classes. An organizer may offer races for combined
classifications and categories but the categories in a given race must be
the same for all age groups. All riders shall race the same distance unless
there is a distance handicapped start for separate groupings of riders.
Candi
-----Original Message-----
From: obra_women-bounces@list.obra.org
[mailto:obra_women-bounces@list.obra.org] On Behalf Of T. Kenji Sugahara
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 5:57 PM
To: Kim Rueter
Cc: OBRA Women
Subject: Re: [OBRA Women] Another proposal
This is it exactly.
This really has to do with racer retention. Women who are upgraded to Cat
3s are immediately forced to race with the 1/2's. There is too much of a
jump between the 4's and 1/2/3's. For many, this is discouraging as they are
spit out the back and it's no fun just riding by yourself. Frankly, you
could do it on your own time- and for many that ends their racing career.
There are many 4 women out there who don't want to upgrade just for this
reason- and that's maybe why there are so many Cat 4's but so fewer Cat 3's.
There are some who will argue, there are not that many 3 women "because it's
different for women as family, pregnancy or life gets in the way." I beg to
differ. There are many professional women out there that I know who don't
have time to train to keep up with the 1/2's but still want to race- and
have the skills to race competently.
What it comes down to is a numbers game. From what I've seen this year, the
Cat 4 women fields are continuing strong. Some of the ladies I've upgraded
to 3, I've asked them to invite 2 new racers into the Cat 4's. The more 4's
there are, the more 3's there will be, and eventually more 1/2's there will
be. The "you should be a promoter"
answer is a non-starter. If the numbers are there, the economics play out.
You can't get the numbers unless you give the fields a chance.
That's why you try something out first- and we're not even talking about
road races here- it's to start with a crit. There's no issues with extra
support vehicles or extra officials.
Master's can race with whichever field they would like to race with.
It'll come down to figuring out how to do BAR points- but I haven't thought
that far ahead.
I want to have a promoter try this out- and if it's successful I'd like to
see it extended to other crits/races. It's been successful in Washington,
and I see absolutely no reason why it couldn't be successful here- and
Martha can attest to this. I don't want to see women getting the short of
the stick- I want equity. And I want to see the women's fields to be just
as big as the guys.
Why? Because I want to see women's cycling in Oregon become a huge success.
Have it be known that you ladies have my unconditional backing and support.
k-
On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Kim Rueter wrote:
> Candi,
>
> It's the 'ol cause and effect thing. Maybe turnouts are low *because*
> the CAT 3s don't want to race with the 1-2s. Just because my son won't
> eat a plate full of of veggies doesn't mean he's not hungry. He just
> doesn't like vegetables. Offer him a burger and he woofs it down.
>
> My point is it can't hurt to try it out, right? And just because it
> didn't work in the past, doesn't mean it can't work now. We need to
> develop women's racing based on what is appropriate, safe, and fair.
Hopefully the "numbers"
> will fix themselves under a better system.
>
> Kim
>
>
> On 4/7/09 10:11 AM, "Candi Murray" wrote:
>
>> It really comes down to a numbers question.
>> There are 43 cat 1/2 women, 69 Cat 3 women, and 231 cat 4 women in
>> the state. At any one event about 10 percent of the available field
>> comes out to race. I have been to very many races when the total
>> number of women were less then 10.
>> This would mean that you are asking the race promoter to put a race
>> on for 4 cat 1.2 women, 6 Cat 3 women and 23 Cat 4 women. The only
>> field it makes sense to run is the Cat 4 field.
>> Before you suggest that promoters do this, become a race promoter
>> yourself and see what the turn out is.
>> Candi
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: obra_women-bounces@list.obra.org
>> [mailto:obra_women-bounces@list.obra.org] On Behalf Of T. Kenji
>> Sugahara
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 8:47 AM
>> To: obra_women@list.obra.org
>> Subject: [OBRA Women] Another proposal
>>
>> Well idea...
>>
>> I'm thinking about asking all the promoters to run separate Cat
>> 3/Master's W fields for the crits this year. So races would be:
>>
>> P/1/2
>> Cat 3/Mst W
>> Cat 4
>>
>> Thoughts? Suggestions? Input?
>>
>> k-
>> _______________________________________________
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>> OBRA_Women@list.obra.org
>> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra_women
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> OBRA_Women@list.obra.org
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>
>
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>
>
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