Classes in races

A

Anna85

Likes Bikes
Hi All,
Can someone please explain to me the different classes of events at races? I would classify myself as a beginner. I have a hardtail and ride some singletrack/firetracks and do a lot of trail riding (about 1.5hrs/day) I went to the national championships on the weekend and there were these different classes: Elite (self explanatory) but what do you need to do to get there, Expert and Sport?
also do you need to qualify to get there? and If you are just a beginner, what category should you enter to get experience?

Also, what is the difference between XCO and XCC?

thanks :)
 
ms switchback

ms switchback

Squid
Its best to try to gauge your ability by doing some club races first. Look at your lap times and compare to other riders (including the men). Generally expert and sport are like B and C grade on the road. Because more men than women race, clubs will offer lots of categories based on both ability and age for the blokes and some women like the challenge of racing against them, whereas the womens grades can sometimes only have one or two entrants. Check out what your local club has to offer and you will soon find out after doing some club races where you fit in.
As for XCC and XCO - XCC is short course (like a criterium on the road - hard fast and short - thank heaven) and XCO is Olympic distance - about 2hrs racing for elite with a sliding scale for length of race for the lower grades. Good luck.
 
akashra

akashra

Eats Squid
By the rules, Expert is aged 23-29, but the age restriction is regularly ignored. Sport is open age, and for anyone regardless of what other category they fit in to. Officially anyone can enter either Sport or Elite, but it's pretty poor form to enter Sport if you're competitive in another category.
Expert is an old thing from back in the days where there were >150 in sport and Elite (each), and they needed to split categories, hence you ended up with Elite, Expert, Sport A and Sport B. 'Sport' as it stands now is effectively what 'Sport A' was. This mainly only effects the mens categories. Race duration for Sport is from memory 1:15-1:30 target.
As a rule of thumb, for men if you race A grade at any club level, you should not be racing sport (or even Expert). Most of the Elite women tend to race club B grade, or occasionally A grade. I'm not sure where the transition is between Sport Women/Elite Women in how it translates to club grades.

XCO is your traditional lap-based racing - generally a ~20 minute lap +/-5 depending on category. Riders race a set number of laps (say 3, 4, 5, 7, whatever). This is the type of racing most people will be familiar with.

XCC is short track cross country - a much shorter course, with a target time of no more than 2 minutes per lap. It's designed for fast, bunch racing, where in theory you should be able to pass at any point on the track and roll turns if necessary in a bunch.
Riders are removed from the course before they are lapped, so that the lead rider should have clear track at all times, unobstructed.

Typically, XCO focuses on technical ability (to an extent) and endurance, XCC focuses on sustained power, ability to cover attacks and strategy.
 
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