heather-faye@comcast.net
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: "Paris, Heather"
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 20:49:53
To: heather-faye@comcast.net
Subject: Women's 3/4 Racing Catagories
Regarding the changing of women's categories. I have attached the original email at the end of my response:
It appears that the root of the issue is that the upgrade and downgrade system doesn't currently work for the women. Kenji said that he would not allow early upgrades, to get the really fast fours out of the fours field, because it would be subjective. But, what's suggested below is subjective; saying that OBRA will keep an eye on the 3's that race with the 4's to make sure they are not stomping on the 4's. Seriously? A majority of the fours are already getting stomped on by fours that should be threes. If the upgrade system was amended to accommodate the women, then OBRA would instantly have several more 3's who have the fitness to keep up with the 1/2's.
What is suggested by Kenji will just shift the burden from the slower 3's to the slower 4's. This doesn't not fix the problem. It just makes it easier for some women and harder for others. Some of these "others" happen to be beginners, new to racing, who don't have a voice to add to this discussion.
I know for a fact that I am not the only female cat four that has complained about the women's fours field being too fast for the beginners. What is the point of retaining women if you are not drawing any new women racers because the women's four field is too fast for the beginners? I know several women who will not race AGAIN because the 4's are just too fast to truly be a beginner category.
The women that have been recently upgraded from the 4's to the 3's are not outliers, they are truly in shape and belong in the higher category. If there are threes that have not maintained their fitness then they should down grade to a more appropriate category.
I raced with the 1/2/3 and 4's at Kings Valley. I am a four and had no trouble keeping up. This tells me that the threes that are complaining aren't in good enough shape to be threes and there are fours that should be threes. This is a failing in the upgrade system, not a missing in intermediate categories!
If I were a three and had an opportunity to race with the 4's for hills races and the 1/2's for the flat races, sure I would jump at the opportunity. Why not? I could always do well and not have to try so hard to loose weight and stay in shape. Why not just take it a step further and let all the women, not just the 3's, choose what category they want to race in all the time. I'm being sarcastic, of course.
If there is an issue that the 1/2/3's are too fast for the threes that have not maintained their fitness, then why not have them down grade and add a women's 5's category for the new women? That way we match the men's system. The 4/5's can race together and the 1/2/3's can race together without decreasing the already small numbers of the 1/2/3's. I am a promoter, and if you suggest making the 1/2/3 field should be even smaller, then there would be no monetary incentive to offer a women's 1/2/3 category. We only had about 10 1/2/3's in this field over the past two years (and most of them were 3s).
My point is that you need to fix the upgrade system, suggest down grades and make the 4's (or 4/5) field slow enough for the beginners so that this issue will be remedied for everyone. Changing the category system to accommodate a small population will not take care of the root problem.
Heather Paris
From: obra_women-bounces@list.obra.org on behalf of Kenji Sugahara
Sent: Fri 5/8/2009 4:10 PM
To: obra women
Subject: [OBRA Women] Women's Racing
I would like to get some input to the following idea:
Instead of having 1/2/3 and 4 races for the road/crits, splitting up
the women as follows- 1/2/3 and 3/4.
(Note this change would not have any impact on MTB, CCX, Track nor
TT's- this is for road and crit events only)
The eventual goal is to increase the number of Cat 3 women (and 1/2
women) to be able to run them as separate fields while making it
economically desirable for promoters.
Rationale:
In our current system, there are women who are forced to upgrade to
Cat 3, who aren't really ready for the jump to the 1/2/3 field. There
is no intermediate step as there is with the men. With men, racers
start in Cat 4/5, then grow into Cat 3 before they can leap to the P/
1/2 field.
This lack of an intermediate step leads to scenarios where newly
upgraded women racers are immediately shelled and are left to race by
themselves. There is too big of a disparity between the 4's and the
1/2/3's. (distance and intensity) There are also numerous Cat 3's
who do not have time to train at the level to stay with the 1/2 racers
(jobs/family etc). Many times, these 3 racers are left riding solo-
race in, race out. The end result is that we have a high rate of
attrition of Cat 3 females as there is no incentive to continue road
racing- why pay money when they can just ride out somewhere by
themselves.
Until we can race the Cat 3 women as a separate field, a 1/2/3, 3/4
field split would provide an opportunity for the 3's to race with
either the 1/2's or with the 4's. This would give women some more
time to grow as a rider before making the jump to race with the 1/2's.
The problems are as follows:
Women would receive Cat 3 BAR points for the 3/4 races. However, we'd
ask that promoters run Cat 4 women separately for the Cat 4 women's
series races. In those instances, races would be run as 1/2/3, 4
races. Thus, for those races, Cat 4 women would receive Cat 4 women
BAR points.
The other issue is of Cat 3 women who decide they want to dominate the
3/4 field. In those instances, we would carefully monitor the field
to make sure that any dominant individual would be made to race the
1/2/3 field.
Additional solutions:
We are also working on a mentoring program that would pair Cat 3/4
women looking to upgrade with an experienced Cat 1/2 racer. Many
teams already do this on an ad-hoc basis, but this program would help
those who do not have the structure to deal with women specific racing.
For 2010, we are looking to have a Cat 3 Women's Series as they do up
in Washington. This would hopefully serve as an incentive to have
more Cat 3 women out to race.
Finally- we are looking at allowing instructional courses to count
toward upgrades from 4->3 (Women) and 5->4 (Men).
Any feedback is welcome!
Kenji Sugahara
Executive Director
Oregon Bicycle Racing Association
503-302-4935