Maybury Time Trial Race Participation

[Loren]

August 18th seems so far away, but I wanted to solicit your thoughts on this...

Daniel at Cycle to Fitness stepped up to help organize and sponsor our Maybury Time Trial chapter benefit race this year. He's got some great ideas and we're looking forward to seeing new life and vitality brought to this event. One of the suggestions was to increase the payouts for elite racers to increase the participation and raise the level of competition at the upper levels, and we agreed. This year, the Elite Men category pays $500 for 1st, $100 for second and $50 for third. It was important to us that we have parity between the men and women elite racers, and so we have also bumped up the Elite Women category to match: $500 / $100 / $50

Therein lies a challenge. Looking over the past results, we have had very low participation at the elite level for women racers for this race. Some years, we've had 1 participant. In other years, none at all. Making this level of investment in the Elite Women class feels like an act of faith. It's the right decision, but now it's up to us to make it work.

As we begin promoting and planning this event, what can we do that would make it more attractive to women racers that would entice them to participate and to compete at this level?

[Di_bear]

Well, the elite part does not pertain to me, so you won't be seeing me there.

My only comment is that you have to do something over the course of several years to see if it will really work. For example, bumping up the purse might encourage returning racers, such as myself, to make a greater effort to improve my fitness with the hope of competing at that level in three or four years. Personally, my goals are not that lofty, but I got burned out on racing before. Now, I just want to have fun, and I am now a part of a team that does it for the fun of it. Mountain biking is supposed to be fun!! ...not a job.

I race for the social aspect of it. If I really want to enjoy Maybury, I will go there by myself or with a couple of friends and do it at my pace with any breaks I feel like taking. With races, I like chatting with people I normally don't get to see. It's that social butterfuly side of me. Beer and yummy grilled food are a nice compliment to this social aspect.

I can't claim that this appeals to all of the women racers, but I do know a select few who share my viewpoint.

[bender13]

Maybe we could ask some elite women racers what motivates them to attend.

I made the suggestion at the chapter meeting of having the elite race be the last race of the day. I never get to see the elite racers as they are usually finished and gone by the time my race starts. Larger crowds might help motivate some elite racers as they would get more exposure for the sponsors. Also is it possible to have split timing so we can follow the race real time? Another idea would be a video camera located at the midway point which could display back at the start finish. This would help create more excitement for the crowd. I don't know if these ideas are possible, but they would help create excitement which may increase elite participation.

Jeff

[Di_bear]

I think having the elite race be the last race my discourage some women from moving up since "being last" and "holding everyone up" is a fairly common female mindframe that some have a hard time overcoming. Being fast is not always equated with being confident.

[bender13]

I am not sure this mindset occurs with elite women racers, at least it does not seem to be a problem at Iceman where many of the elite women are finishing with the elite men. I am not really thinking of ways to get sport women to jump to elite, but a way to attract elite women racers. I feel that if you can generate crowds and increase the payouts elite racers will come. It is good for them and good for the sponsors. When you have a larger elite participation I think that has a trickle down effect on the other classes as everyone gets the chance to race on the same course as the bigger names in the state. Maybe we can give a number of free entries to some of the pro racers (men and women) to get the race on the radar.

Jeff

[gossamer]

What other races are happening that weekend? or even the weekend before or after, it depends on making this race an "A" race for them, or just something else to do.

I personally enjoy this race a lot, it is a great venue and the atmosphere has always been great.

[bender13]

Ore to Shore is the week before. Not sure if this would be an elite racers "A" race, but it might be a nice way to pick up some extra cash after Ore to Shore.

Jeff

[Di_bear]

I am not sure this mindset occurs with elite women racers, at least it does not seem to be a problem at Iceman where many of the elite women are finishing with the elite men. I am not really thinking of ways to get sport women to jump to elite, but a way to attract elite women racers. I feel that if you can generate crowds and increase the payouts elite racers will come. It is good for them and good for the sponsors. When you have a larger elite participation I think that has a trickle down effect on the other classes as everyone gets the chance to race on the same course as the bigger names in the state. Maybe we can give a number of free entries to some of the pro racers (men and women) to get the race on the radar.

Jeff

I'll tell you right now that there are elite-level riders in sport (especially in races that combine elite and expert). Just giving you a woman's perspective. The elite field isn't going to grow if we don't somehow entice women to move up, and what encourages and discourages a woman to move up is often different than motives that men have.

[Di_bear]

Actually, I'm an example. When I was racing for the Red Jackets and I was having a good racing year, we all signed up for Iceman. I was mistakenly dumped into elite instead of sport, and decided to go with it since the field would be smaller. Then I learned that the category would be last, making me a trickle-in rider at the end. I decided to move back down to the sport. I ended up getting really sick that year, so it didn't matter, but that was my thought process.

[Loren]

The elite field isn't going to grow if we don't somehow entice women to move up, and what encourages and discourages a woman to move up is often different than motives that men have.

This concisely describes the information I'm hoping to glean.

[rideondirt]

Are you looking for ways to encourage Elite races to do your event or to encourage women to cat up from Sport/Expert to Elite?

If you just want women currently racing Elite, why don't you just contact them personally?

[Loren]

Well, yes, we could personally invite some elites. But it would be great if the pool was larger, and we're trying to understand if we should be doing something else to improve the experience. The impact of running elites at the end of the day I hadn't considered, but Maybury already schedules them first.

(We have the same issue at the Tree Farm Relay. Different event and different vibe, but each year it seems we buy advanced woman team medals, and each year we throw them in a box at the end of the day, unclaimed.)

[rideondirt]

Well, for me personally, we are on a tight budget and we have young kids with their own activities. Those two things limit how much racing I can do. In a good year I am about to do 5 races. Another consideration is proximity. I tend to do races close to home. I'm either going to do a race like Iceman because its a big family event, everyone can go and participate or I'm going to pick an event close to home that I can quick do and then be home the rest of the day with the family.

I like Sunday races because the kids have activities on Saturday. Plus its not unusual for myself or my husband to have to work on a Saturday--Sundays we know we'll have off. That being said, we like to go to church on Sundays as a family. My perfect race would be on a Sunday afternoon, within a 90 minute drive, cost $20 and have a kids race (that isn't during the Expert/Elite race) and offer babysitting

[Di_bear]

I like Sunday races because the kids have activities on Saturday. Plus its not unusual for myself or my husband to have to work on a Saturday--Sundays we know we'll have off. That being said, we like to go to church on Sundays as a family. My perfect race would be on a Sunday afternoon, within a 90 minute drive, cost $20 and have a kids race (that isn't during the Expert/Elite race) and offer babysitting

Yes. Although, I wouldn't mind a Saturday afternoon race, but then you might exclue some of the bike shop gals.