mike.m-@obra.org
Before this all degenerates into a Portland vs. the rest of the state
argument as Scott Goldstein insinuated I have to point out that in 2000 the
State Championships were in Medford with start times which began at 8:30,
requiring all the Portland riders to leave prior to 3:30 AM. In 2001 they
were south of Eugene with start times of 9:00. Perhaps it is time that the
event to be closer to where the majority of the racers live.
Since OBRA does designate an organizer for the State Championship we could
conceivably require that they put the race on a certain date with a specific
schedule. This would be workable IF there were a large number of potential
organizers knocking on our door begging to put on the State Road.
Unfortunately this is not the case.
With regards to scheduling, the only thing that OBRA can really do is let
race organizers know about other conflicting events. This way the
organizers get to decide for themselves. The race organizers are really the
ones that bear the burden of conflicts that decrease attendance at their
races, not the riders. If the organizer picks a schedule or a date that
conflicts with another event then their event we have fewer riders. It is
in their best interest to try to avoid conflicts, unless there are other
overriding concerns, which there often are. Many events are tied to a
specific date (Crawfish Crit due to the festival) or a specific time
schedule (State Roads due to train schedules). The organizer gets to make
these decisions, as well as the other decisions about what categories to
run, in what order to run them, etc. As is often the case, the riders need
to realize it is not really just all about them.
Mike Murray