• Mailbag

Friday’s Mailbag: Those big fields at ‘cross nats

by VeloNews.com

• December 15, 2006
• Comments Off

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.

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Huge fields show need for qualifying system
Editor:
I sent Richard Fries a letter that essentially mirrored the sentiments of Ken Hamel on the insanely large fields for ‘cross nationals.

There should be a qualifying system for all the age groups that results in 100 riders qualifying. Most of those competitive at the national level are racing in the big series events — the USGP, Verge MAC, Cross Crusade, etc. Let’s get a point system implemented around those races.

There are going to be a lot of unhappy people at the back of the 35-39 race, that’s for sure.

Darrell Davis
Salt Lake City

Race with biggest field isn’t a national championship
Editor:
This note is in response to Ken Hamel’s letter regarding the field sizes at the upcoming USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships. One important point that was overlooked in both Mr. Hamel’s letter and the editor’s response was that the field in question is not a national championship event. The field referred to was the Category-B division, and not the Master National Championships.

The B categories were designed by the promoter to give amateur competitors a second opportunity to race during the weekend, much like the California Giant Strawberry Cup was implemented Sunday to give elites another race in which to compete.

In fact, the national-championship category in which Mr. Hamel would compete based on his age group contained 126 riders at the close of registration.

Another thing to consider is that the B categories are broken down into only two age groups, U35 and 35+, so larger fields must be expected compared to the five-year age breakdowns of the national championship categories.

The largest field size in any national championship category this year is 177, exactly the same maximum we had in 2005 on the same course.

Andy Lee
Director of communications, USA Cycling

Qualifying system may do more harm than good
Editor:
I can understand a field limit for safety purposes, but I would recommend that care be taken with qualification-based restrictions. The compressed nature of the cyclo-cross season would make it very difficult for people to feel comfortable planning a trip to nationals (including hotel, airfare, car rental, etc.) when the racing typically begins in October and most state championships are contested within a couple weeks of nationals.

Knowing that registration is open to anybody on a first-come, first-served basis lets us plan ahead and get good rates before racing even begins. Qualifications might create a situation where the fields are too small instead of too large.

Some people may be concerned that a fast computer is rewarded more than a fast rider since start order (after the call-ups) is based on registration order. I do not feel that this is any less equitable than the old method, which was based on who showed up in the staging area first and was willing to step on a few toes to move up.

The registration order system last year (during the blizzard) was great because you could warm up (or stay warm) at your car and show up to the line a few minutes before your race and still have a spot.

Todd Pilger
Albuquerque, New Mexico

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The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.