RACE/EVENT CATEGORIES
Aside from the Island Championships, which is an age-based category system, our series is basically ability-based with a division by age. Fastest racers in Expert and Open Women’s. All others divided into basically beginner or above 40 years of age or below 40 years of age. For a more in depth description read below.
Starting racing in one category does NOT mean you have to race that category for the rest of the season. You can try out other ones. We have had people race beginners for the first time and then a masters race later in the day and then continued racing in masters. Same with Intermediate to Expert. We want you in the category that best suits your ability and competitiveness level.
BEGINNERS: This is someone that is new to bike racing. New to cross racing. Young. Old……does not really fit into any of the other categories…..putting their toe into the water….trying it out. As with all of our categories if you are TOO fast we will give you a gentle nudge.
KIDS: Some of our events will have kids races for KIDS….meaning under 12. Run bikes. Half Lappers etc. IF your kids are up to it they can race the beginner category…..if they get too fast for that they can move up to Intermediate. Kids over 12 can race Beginner or Intermediate but the kids races will probably be too easy/short for them. If you are unclear on what category to race…let me know. Speaking of kids racing and kids cross you might want to check out this bike from KONA. A 24 inch Jake. This bike has not been offered every year so if your kids needs a new bike OR this bike might fit them in the future…you might want to buy it now! http://konaworld.com/kids.cfm?content=jake_2-4
INTERMEDIATE AND EXPERT WOMEN: OK we have tried to do this for a number of years and it is NOW or Never….(or later and not Never). We REALLY want to do an intermediate women’s category this year. WE NEED WOMEN TO COME OUT AND RACE. In order to do these two categories we need to have at least 10 girls in each category…..if we don’t see that at the first race we will merge the women’s categories into an OPEN Women’s category for race #2 and beyond. Get your girls out! Intermediate women will race with the intermediate men. Separate start behind the men. Open women will race with the Masters Men….before the masters men. Separate start. We need 10 girls in each category…….we hope we can do it!
MENS MASTERS: OK Boys…..this is one of the MAJOR Changes for 2011. We have chatted about this for a while. We are not at the point where we can have a 50+ masters category BUT we are going to do two things this year. First. COTR Master races for this year will be 40 plus (age as of the end of 2011). IF you are over 40 and not quite fast enough to race Expert this is your category. We will also recognize the first Masters that is 50+ in the results as well as hopefully series overall. Masters will all race together as usual with one start and points will be given out as one category with the Masters that are 50+ having a highlight in the age column. If you were one of the few people that were 35-39 last year racing Masters and aren’t 40 this year….you will have to make a move to intermediate or to Open men.
SINGLE SPEEDERS: In a perfect world we would be as big as Portland and Seattle and be able to have categories for everyone……not perfect yet. While Vancouver Island is the Belgium of Canada we are still small in numbers at our series. BUT we would like to recognize the nutcases that do cross on Single Speeds. We will give it a try this year and see how it works out. For 2011 if you want to race against the single speeders of Vancouver Island in cross you need to race Intermediate category. We will have an indication on the results (and you need to tick the box on the registration…..clear head….clear head) that you are a single speeder. IF you beat all your other single speeders on the day. We will give you a 6 pack of Phillips beer….don’t drink and drive.
INTERMEDIATE MENS: You have graduated up from Beginners. You are not old enough to race Masters. Getting Faster but not quite fast enough to race Expert….this is your category. Keep in mind that this is a fun and competitive category BUT if we find out you are TOO fast or you are SANDBAGGING….well we will “politely” ask you to move up to Expert. If you were racing Intermediate last year but are over 40 years old this year…..best to move to Masters.
EXPERT: If you have raced Pro, Expert, Cat1, Cat2 or have finished in the top half of a Cat3 field…..Any age you should probably be racing Expert. Any Gender. Any Speed…….Races are a bit longer and a bit faster. If you have won a few Intermediate men’s races or are coming out to race our series after winning a world championships or something like that in another cycling discipline…this is probably your category. IF you find you are really too slow you can move down….if you are too fast in another category you can move up.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
- Please try to bring exact change.
- Entry fee is $20 for All categories EXEPT $10 for beginners and FREE for Kids for the KIDS RACE
- PLEASE BRING YOUR CYCLING B.C. LICENSE OR ELSE YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY $10 MORE (FOR RACE DAY INSURANCE).
- There will be no pre-registration for this or any of our events.
- All registration will be done on-site up to 30 minutes before each event.
- For Beginners the race entry fee is $10 with or without a cycling BC License. No license needed to race in Beginner category but if you have one please bring it.
- Sorry a Masters Cycling BC, Triathlon BC or other cycling association license does not cover you for this or any of our series events for this year.
- Learn to race cyclocross clinic is Free for all registered racers in any category. 11:00 start time for Coal Cross
- NOTE: You must be registered before you do the clinic.
EVENT AND SERIES RULES
- Good sportsmanship and fair play are our number one rule!
- These races are designed to be fun “club” level events. This is not to say that they will not be challenging or competitive BUT we are not as serious as some other events out there.
- Riders must posses a current Cycling BC license or pay for a one day Cycling BC license ($10 at our events). Beginners exempt.
- All events are open to any type of bike; road, mountain or cross. A cross bike should be your first choice followed by a mountain bike….road bikes will not enjoy our courses…
- UCI cyclocross bike rules do not apply in our events. Run any tire width you like, flat bars are fine….if you have any questions please let us know.
- Call up at the first series event at Cumberland is RANDOM to give everyone an equal chance of getting the front line and also making it so you don’t have to go to the line so early. From event #2 onwards call up for up to the top 25 will be based on series points for those ranked and then random for all remaining racers.
- All riders will finish on lap following the leader finishing the race.
- Other than these specific rules regular cross rules and common sense will dictate everything else.
- The race organizer and or official have the final say in everything!
- At Cross on the Rock events racers are not pulled if they are lapped by the leaders of their event. All racers finish on the lead racer’s lap so you are never more than one lap down nor do you race much longer than the leader of your race. IF you do not finish on the lead racer’s lap then you will receive a DNF.
RESULTS
- Points will be given out in to all participants in each category with the exception of beginners. If you move up from intermediate or masters to expert during the year you will retain 50% of your points.
- Because we have 6 events this year for the first time we will again have a throw away for your worst result/missed event.
- 2011 Points are distributed as following:
 Placing 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15  Points
30
27
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13

Placing
16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Points
12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 - 2 Points will be given out to any finisher 25th and beyond. The rider must finish the entire race and can not be a D.N.F.
- The last race is double points and thus will be double the above point break down.
- Series Awards are given for the top 3 in the following categories: Expert Men and Women, Intermediate Men and Women and Masters.
- AS a BONUS this year we will also be giving out a series prize to:
- Top Single Speeder in Intermediate
- Top 50+ Masters racer in the Masters Category
- Series prizes will be presented at the last event at ….you must be there to claim them as we do not do mail outs.