Jon Myers

The number of people called up is based entirely on a formula
that takes into account the size of the field and the competition level of the field. I have a spreadsheet where I enter the number of racers and the category and it spits out a number. For example, since there are many people racing in the 35+ C category, more people get called up in that field. The other factor the spreadsheet takes in to account is the category of field. If there were an equal number of riders in the B's and C's, there would be more B callups. This helps reward people who upgrade to a stronger field.
For a small field of less than 30 riders it is very easy to move up so calling up a lot of riders does not help the racers. For large fields a callup is very important so more people are called up. For the last couple of years we have not been calling up equal number of racers in each field.
For the A fields we also will callup visiting professional racers. So, if Katie Compton or Marianne Vos show up at the 4th Crusade we will call them up.
I get very many email questions regarding callups and know this topic is extremely important to many racers. To make sure that the callups are not based on who I like or know I do not look at the names in the results until after the formula has spit out the number of callups in each field. This is an attempt to make sure the callups are based on objective data instead of subjective judgement.
Separately we also callup people that have been been given a manditory upgrade by OBRA for their first race in their new category. Of course these upgraded racers must notify us of when their first race in their new category will be and what category they are planning to race.
-Jon