Mike Murray
You are correct, most competitors are in the masters age groups. Of current
OBRA members 61% are 30+. This mostly reflects population demographics.
11% of OBRA members are women. Of women OBRA members 63% are 30+. If you
look at the age spread in women's races you will see that this pretty much
matches the membership spread. There is not much evidence that offering
masters women's fields has increased participation at events to date.
There are nearly 100 women that are OBRA members that are 30+. This means
that the total number of masters age women OBRA members is nearly as great
as the number of Category 1 and 2 men (114 or 8% of membership). How often
is the masters women field is the size of the Cat 1/2 field?
Masters women racing is NOT like masters men's racing from a race
organizer's point of view. There are almost 800 masters men on the OBRA
list. Obviously a race for masters men appeals to a much greater audience.
It is economically possible to have a race limited to masters men and no
other category and still cover expenses. It is not possible to do this with
an event limited to masters women.
The point, of course, remains that if there are to be more events for
masters women then someone needs to put these on. It is not reasonable to
expect that someone else is going to do this job. If people want to see
these type of events they need to either organize them or work with the
organizers to get them put on. Then they need to turn out when such events
are available.
I am interested in why you say "In the spirit of voting with MY fees, I've
opted to not attend any Oregon Cup events, by the way." What is it about
the Oregon Cup events that you find objectionable?
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: sandy kenny [mailto:sasha-@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 6:24 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Petition - Candi - Moderate flames....
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Candi -
In a message dated 00-05-26 06:31:46 EDT, you write:
<< I see this also from a more practical stand point.
This year I promoted the Estacada Time trial. 2 separate days. On day 2
we had 84 riders and 11 were women
3 Senior, 5 Masters, 1 Jr and 2 Cat 4 women
On day 1 we had 50 riders
2 Sr, 2 Masters 1 Jr and 2 Cat 4 women
The women who are requesting more defined categories must first vote with
their entry fees. >>
Candi
what you are saying - note carefully - is that there are as many masters
women than senior women, right? Of the women attending your event, I count
7
masters, and 9 senior women. (And of the Cat 4 women, at least one (Nancy
Hewett) was a master - so it's really more like a 50/50 split. And <beaming
proudly> the ONLY junior woman in attendance wouldn't have been there at all
without her MASTER WOMAN mother. So the masters field was responsible for
more than half of your entries.)
This is a PHENOMENAL statement considering the overall low attendance at
your event (which was wonderful; I wish there had been more competition!).
Part of the attendance "problem" may have been overlap with road races those
weekends. Many masters athletes (male and female alike) need more recovery
than those spring.
chick(en)s!
The competition wasn't all that great in the mens' categories, either,
IMHO -
with the exception of Glen and Ed - who traveled sigificant distances to be
there - few serious timetrialists showed up. (This should get a few of you
guys motivated for districts - BIG GRIN....)
The masters' womens field HAS voted with its fees - they consistently show
up
at events where a masters field is being run, and seldom otherwise. If you
want women to race beyond their 20's, you can make it so. If you don't, you
can make that happen, too - and womens racing will suffer for it, as more
than half of the racers are masters - women with jobs, kids, soccer, ballet,
minivans...very competitive, but (in general) not with 20-something women
who
lack these impediments. Sort of like masters men. Dontcha see?
In the spirit of voting with MY fees, I've opted to not attend any Oregon
Cup
events, by the way.
Cheers to you all - go out, ride, and have FUN!
Sandy
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