Bill Warburton
Thanks for all the great input and responses. I think I had about 35 people
respond with a YES vote and no one said it was a bad idea.
I'd like to ask that we drop this topic on the main forum for now and if you
have questions just contact me or Mike directly:
bill@bendenduranceacademy.org or mike@mudslingerevents.com
Thanks!
We're working on it and we'll send an update next week, with a final
decision coming no later than May 3rd. So don't change your plans while
betting on us, yet!
To answer the last couple of points:
The proposed "race" on Saturday would be very easy and would be a TOTAL
FORMALITY, not a race. It will not exclude anyone from Pickett's, in fact,
we're hoping that this qualifier will be VERY easy, meeting the minimum
course length and since your time is totally irrelevant (as long as there
are 15 or less in your 5-year gender/age group) then it's basically a
prologue preview for Pickett's.
We cannot encourage anyone to go slow nor do we have to say you have to ride
fast, that's the genius of this proposal that some might be overlooking:
Pickett's is the real mountain bike race on the following day, this is just
a formality to show that you FINISHED top-15 in your category at a
qualifying "EVENT".
This proposal is totally within the rules and regulations of USAC and
designed to give OBRA riders the easiest, cheapest way to qualify in OR.
This is not to disrespect USAC at all, rather it's just providing one
possible solution to our unique situation in OR. USAC might not like that
I'm thinking of their qualifier in this light, someone might assume we're
making fun of USAC, or we're saying that this isn't a race, but I see this
as only one possible solution that respects long-standing OBRA and local
race traditions while providing a nice service to our riders while meeting
all of the USAC rules and regulations perfectly. If someone wants to
criticize my tone, take a look at the rules: you must finish top-15 in your
age group by gender in a qualifying race, and there are many races that are
qualifiers that are generally small, obscure races with far fewer than
15-people per category, so if those races can be qualifiers, so can this
one.
In a big qualifier, someone might finish 15% back from the leader and not
qualify. In a small race, someone could finish hours behind, 500% back from
the leader and qualify. Is that a fair system? Does that select the best
riders to compete at Nationals? Those are not questions I'm asking, so don't
even get started there. We're looking at the needs in OBRA for 2011 XC Nats
and searching for a solution.
We would provide a USAC official, a start time, and results, and the event
will be well run, but it's basically a mass-start pre-ride with your friends
for Pickett's. We do not want regular OBRA riders doing the race, that might
force someone to sprint for 15th place in your 5-year-gender-age group...
Everyone who finishes this race will qualify. Period. So take it easy. If
there are 16 people in your category, we'll find another one for you or
figure something out, but that shouldn't be an issue. We would need several
hundreds of people to make that a possibility, and I would expect 80 people
max based on what I heard from people today.
The promoters for Picketts are on board for the qualifier to be paired with
the event, so we'll all be discussing the fine details.
I recognize that it seems logical that a regular OBRA race could be made
into a qualifier, but from USAC's perspective, Mike's past experiences and
all of the given variables, that is not the best solution. It would take a
lot of explaining to make everyone see that, so just trust us on that one.
Ron says "do it for the juniors if nothing else" and that's exactly why I'm
involved. I have several of my riders and there are other juniors in Bend
who want to go to Nats and taking a 16 hour van ride will be fun, but we
want to save it for Nats in July, and not have to do that once or even twice
more just to qualify....
So thank you all for all the input, we're talking and working on the
proposal, we'll have some answers for everyone about this idea by May 3rd at
the latest.
*My disclaimer:* this is not a subversive attack on USAC, we're actually
working really well with USAC for lots of events and I've personally been in
touch with them about this qualifier, I'm not trying to send a political
statement or message. The excitement and enthusiasm for XC Nats in Sun
Valley is huge and we want to make sure all our OBRA folks get to go. That
will be a real race and you'll have to race really hard in order to do well.
We're not trying to qualify "un-qualified" people, rather, we want only the
best from OR sent to Sun Valley to dominate their categories, and this idea
is one possible way to fit a qualifier into our existing schedule with very
short notice. So if anyone from USAC doesn't like this idea, we can talk
about ways to make it better, easier, more accessible for our riders and
promoters for next year, but we can't miss out on the opportunity for 2011
if it can pan out.
Again, please reply to us directly about this.
Cheers,
Bill
On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 8:36 PM, Ron and Dorothy Strasser <
rondot@spiritone.com> wrote:
> So the ideal scenario with this proposed schedule would be for Pickett's
> (in this case) to be the "Qualifier". Go figure....Duh! Bill is just
> trying to give people an outlet to qualify. Pickett's is a fantastic race.
> Both have merit.
>
> This is why OBRA needs to step in to work with "a" or "the" promoters to
> assure that at least "one" of the XC races on the calendar meets the
> criteria for qualifying racers for Nationals.
>
> We seem to get lots of road and track racers into the Nationals which means
> they are racing in races that qualify them.....I assume (I know the danger
> here) these races that qualify them are here in Oregon. If this is not the
> case, in my opinion they should have a venue in state to qualify for
> Nationals in their chosen discipline. These "National Qualifier" races
> could be designated in the OBRA schedule. People would know which race was
> the qualifier.
>
> The cost for promoters to provide a venue that meets all the USAC criteria
> is larger than just putting on an OBRA XC race. This is not an argument
> about USAC vs OBRA. USAC has criteria that is the same across the country.
> In general that is fair. We need to work in that system so our local riders
> who want to go.....can qualify right here in good 'ol Oregon. If the same
> promoter is the only one who wants to step up each year, then that is the
> qualifier until others compete with him/her for the race.
> The racers who want to race at Nationals need to do their part by getting
> their USAC license, then OBRA helps local promoters give racers the venue to
> qualify. If this takes another $5 dollars on the annual OBRA license so be
> it.
> Do it for the juniors if nothing else. Let them qualify and stay on a
> positive track by chasing their dreams. If we oldsters want to chase the
> dream as well, that is fine. Work to give people a chance here at
> home..........then they can go out of state to tackle Nationals if they keep
> chasing the dream. The promoter should not have to foot the whole
> bill........OBRA needs to help make it happen. This general concept is fair
> to Oregon racers...young and more mature.
> Qualifying for Nationals should require individual commitment (get the
> license and enter the appropriate race) and OBRA commitment (assure the
> qualifying races take place here in Oregon).
> Thanks for considering.
> ron
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Dreiling"
> To: ; "Bill Warburton" <
> bill@bendenduranceacademy.org>; ; <
> obra@list.obra.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 7:47 PM
>
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Poll: Should we run a Qualifier in Bend for XC
> MTBNationals in Sun Valley?
>
>
> 2nd that question
>> Has an ex promoter I would worry about my numbers
>> Has an ex racer I would wonder if the race would be the same with the
>> strong
>> riders not racing or racing two days in a row.
>>
>>
>> Randy Dreiling
>> Owner - Oregon Adventures www.oregon-adventures.com
>> Promoter - Mt Bike Oregon www.mtbikeoregon.com
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: "halfwheelhill@yahoo.com"
>> To: Bill Warburton ;
>> obra-bounces@list.obra.org;
>> obra@list.obra.org
>> Sent: Thu, April 21, 2011 7:29:40 PM
>> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Poll: Should we run a Qualifier in Bend for XC
>> MTBNationals in Sun Valley?
>>
>> Would that hurt the attendance for pickets?
>> Scott
>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bill Warburton
>> Sender: obra-bounces@list.obra.orgDate: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:15:17
>> To:
>> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Poll: Should we run a Qualifier in Bend for XC
>> MTB
>> Nationals in Sun Valley?
>>
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>
--
William Warburton
Cycling Director
541.335.1346
Bend Endurance Academy
500 SW Bond St, Suite 142
Bend, OR 97702
www.BendEnduranceAcademy.org