Women racing - DINO Series

[wabasso]

Versailles had 27 women riders across 3 Cat's  - Just wondering why the Women Cat's are not broken down by 'age classes' like all the others?   

AGE CLASSES**
Cat3 JUNIOR: 0-10, 11-14, 15-18
Cat3 MEN: 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+
Cat2 MEN: Open; Junior; 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+
Cat1 MEN: Junior; 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+

[Bentcrank]

I would say not enough racers. What could would it be to tell someone you got first place, but you were the only one in that group?

Cat 2 30-39 men had 31 racers in that age group alone.

Previous years that group was broke down in to 30-34 and 35-39, but the 30-34 class had a usual 3-5 racers in it, so the classes were combined for this year.

Just my opinion

[David Kuehnen]

Versailles had 27 women riders across 3 Cat's  - Just wondering why the Women Cat's are not broken down by 'age classes' like all the others?   

AGE CLASSES**
Cat3 JUNIOR: 0-10, 11-14, 15-18
Cat3 MEN: 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+
Cat2 MEN: Open; Junior; 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+
Cat1 MEN: Junior; 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50+

Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh.

[Nhunt46051]

Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh.
[/quote]

NICE!!!!  Just like there is no Athena Class for the women, age and weight: BIG NO NO!!!!

[holzhaus]

LOL... "Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh"

The real reason is indeed group size. If women's DINO fields continue to grow as they seems to be, age groups may come in the future. At first, would probably be just two groups... perhaps split at 40. But for now, keep racing and show us we've got a solid women's contingent.

[Dave G.]

Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh.

Nicely played, sir.

Back in my running days, women were not afraid to say how old they were, however most just said what age group they were in, rather than give an exact age.  The ones that could beat women half their age were the ones unafraid to admit their actual age.

Dave

[wabasso]

"Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh"  -I loved this comment!

  My questions comes because at 1 race this season at the start line there was a 14year old, and a 50+year old in the same Cat field.  Shouldn't they be racing more against their peers than each other?   or even somewhat their peers?  How do you get more women to race if they are 'lumped' in all together in a field that diverse?   

"The ones that could beat women half their age were the ones unafraid to admit their actual age."
      -No fear here.   

[Fett]

"Because you are never allowed to ask a women what her age is...duh"  -I loved this comment!

  My questions comes because at 1 race this season at the start line there was a 14year old, and a 50+year old in the same Cat field.  Shouldn't they be racing more against their peers than each other?   or even somewhat their peers?  How do you get more women to race if they are 'lumped' in all together in a field that diverse?   

"The ones that could beat women half their age were the ones unafraid to admit their actual age."
      -No fear here.   

If the 14 yr old and the 50 yr old completed the course in roughly the same time, are they not peers?  Creating age groups that have 1 or 2 riders does not solve any problem.

[wabasso]

"If the 14 yr old and the 50 yr old completed the course in roughly the same time, are they not peers?"

There was a significant difference in their finish time.

[rangelinenaturepreserve]

Women like you, wabasso, will surely encourage other female riders to try the sport of competative XC cycling.  As the numbers grow, your wish will most likely come true.  Until then keep up the good riding.

[Bentcrank]

There was a significant difference in their finish time.

I only see 1 race with a so called significant difference in times between the winner and last place. In that race, the winner was the same person that has been 1st or 2nd in several of the other races. I am sure She will be moving up after the season. But, you have to compare the time to the person in front of that person. There is a difference, but not enough in my mind to have a different age group. In that race the last place person was still in 6th place.

If you want to look at a significant difference in time, look at the Cat 3 men from last weekend. 1st place was just over 42 min. and last was 2 hours and 25 min. (sorry Chris, nothing personal) and they were in the same age group.

You say how do you get more to race when they are all lumped in to one age group? I say, why keep coming back when you are the only one in a race? I have been there and at some point you wonder why even try when your effort does not matter in how well you do. If you are racing to push yourself and try to do better, then how old the person you are racing against should not make a difference as much as the fact that you actually have some other people to race against.

I race in Cat 2 and they are broke down in to different age groups. Now, I may try to do well in my age group, but what I really care about is how well I do over all. That means much more to me than individual age groups. Age groups came about when there was too many racers in each class.

I can understand one's frustration when they don't do as well as they might think. It is easy to blame a lot of things as to why, but the only thing we can control is our self. Keep working on improving and everything else will work out.

This is just my opinion. I am not connected to Dino in anyway. I would not want to be in their shoes.