Don Hanson

>From a Digester:

Someone posted a tongue and cheek comment about 'go race in Canada, where
everything is Government sponsored' --Socialist Racing where everyone gets a
prize.. or some such

Well let me tell you, it ain't that easy to race up there, for a US
racer, especially. I have a Canadian buddy who is a sometime-race organizer
with the BC Masters Cycling club, so I planned to race his race (near New
Denver, BC ..above Spokane) last season until it got cancelled due to a
forest fire in progress. In order to race in Canada I was required to
comply with USA Cycling's rules for racing out of the country. (Had to have
USA Cyclings insurance..BC Masters race insurance only covers Canadians)
Meaning an International license and a "Letter of Permission" for each race
I wanted to do. So $100 bucks for the license and a "note from Mommy" (the
Letter of Permission from USA Cycling) just to be able to pay the Canadian
race entry.
They also require 'certification' for their course marshals...their
volunteers who work on the courses must take classes and pass a test...

One interesting aspect of the BC Masters races: They are often run on
the Australian Pursuit format. Using some table from the British Cycling
Association, racers are handicapped according to age. So you look up your
age in the tables and that is your interval against everyone else's
'rating'...So a TT is scored that way and a 35yr old may have to beat a 60yr
old by a few minutes to win. In road races, the competators are started
according to their ages...A 60 year old may get a 15 minute head start in a
longer race...Makes for some interesting strategic decisions along the
way...Not much for team riding..but fun for a master's race to be able to
race against everyone, somewhat fairly, for the win at the line rather than
having the "younger" racers pulling everyone who can hang.... until they
decide to go..
A very popular format up there in Canada, eh? They get 50-racer (+/-)
fields often .

The Masters races we see most often here in the Northwest US, where
*maybe* we get a 'scored seperatly' age group sometime, but we're usually
all started all in a single bunch. Other areas in the US have a lot more
real 'age' racing, where the fields are divided by 5 or 10yr age categories
and started with a small time seperation between ages..This would be a
welcome improvment here in OBRA-land...hint hint..
Don Hanson