Yes 55 cat for women would be great.
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 18, 2010, at 12:07 PM, Melissa Boyd wrote:
Maybe it's time for a women's 55+ category too? Looks like the Cross Crusade men's 60+ category is off to a good start and has some great support.
Melissa
On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:00 PM, T. Kenji Sugahara wrote:
Categories are something that we'll be considering during the rewrite
of the cyclocross rules.
Originally, there was no Cat C for women's racing since there weren't
enough women out there. But, given the massive growth on the women's
side, it is definitely something to look at changing.
On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Hazel wrote:
> I have to agree on this one. I raced all the Crusade races last year as a
> beginner woman. I usually placed somewhere in the middle of the field. I
> felt that I should cat up to a B but would feel better if there was a C
> Category too.
> Hazel
>
> On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 11:14 AM, Christian Reed
> wrote:
>>
>> Apologies if this thread has been floated before, but I have several
>> friends who are on that cusp between Beginner Womens and Cat B Womens CX,
>> and the line between these categories seems rather unkind.
>> If I'm to understand the spirit of the categories on the mens side,
>> Beginners is for people with no experience wanting to test the waters with
>> the sport. Once you get a feel for it, either through a season or a few
>> races, you move up into the C's, a fun, participatory category that gives
>> plenty of room for improvement. Maybe from there you'll move up, or you'll
>> just race there until you turn 35. B's are for when you start getting a
>> little serious and start training, and if you decide to dedicate and all
>> your free time and disposable income you go A's.
>> For women, though, the Beginners covers both people new to the sport as
>> well as those who don't want to take it seriously but have plenty of
>> experience. This seems to go against the purpose of a "beginner" category,
>> as someone new to the sport is essentially getting tossed in the deep end
>> against experienced racers.
>> This problem is well illustrated by three of my friends. Two are virtually
>> identical racers. Both raced for the first time last season and did the
>> whole Crusade. Their results are comparable. This year, though, one stayed
>> in Beginners and and other felt obliged to go B's. As a result, the B racer
>> is getting demoralized in a category that's over her head, while the friend
>> in Beginners is kicking ass, but at the expense of the third friend, a
>> non-competitive newbie who's in a race that's far more serious than she
>> bargained for.
>> Anyway, I'm sure that folks with experience putting on races can weigh in
>> about actually doing something like this, but from the casual observer's
>> perspective, it seems that organizers are looking at the data and concluding
>> that the numbers don't justify four categories. I have to wonder, though, if
>> this is a self-fulfilling prophecy, that by not providing appropriate
>> categories and friendly guidelines, that we're intimidating women out of
>> participation.
>>
>> Christian
>> --
>> Christian Reed
>> @christianreed
>>
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--
Kenji Sugahara
Executive Director
Oregon Bicycle Racing Association
Phone: 503-278-5550
http://www.obra.org
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