[MrLeffe]

I did a race a while back as a cat 4 as I’d not raced before, cat 1,2,3 4 we were all in together, when I look back the results, I didn’t understand how a cat4 or even 3 could gain points up against cat 1s in a race, I did pretty well as it was 50 mile with a lot of climbing,and came in 30 seconds behind first place, but still well out of the points, why don’t the cat4s score points within their own class in these races?

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[MrLeffe]

Thank you for your reply, I
Thank you for your reply, I do fully understand the limitation of the organisers,I can see its just not possible to run individual races for each class for most races, its quite interesting,I’m guessing most cat 4 s enter these races for the race experience, and self improvement, I think you need the points to enter the next cat, so I guess you have to seek out lower cat specific races to gain points,it’s a bit like having touring cars,f3 cars and f1 cars all in the same race together the f1 cars will get all the points unless you’ve been a very good touring car! As you say, it’s doable, you have to keep racing ,get fitter,and work your way up.

[crazy-legs]

Sometimes they run them as
Sometimes they run them as handicaps – 4th cats go off first followed by 3rds, 2nds, 1sts at intervals behind, the idea being it all comes together near the finish.
Other times it’s simply a way of giving everyone a bit of a thrash round on a crit. Generally there aren’t loads of Elites or 1sts anyway so it’s not like you’re up against the likes of the full Team Raleigh squad…

Sometimes it depends a bit on time or available light. If there’s enough time (summer crits) they’ll usually run two races, an E/1/2 and a 3/4.

In road races, it’s generally just a way of getting a full field but yes, there are better ways to run road races – Regional A (2nds, 3rds, 4ths) and Regional B (3rds, 4ths) are usually the most popular and can almost always get full fields. But it’s just top ten or top 15 that’ll get points. I’ve seen 4th cats win or place in races like that, it can be done – you just have to be a bit smarter about it.

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