I'm fairly new to MTB racing but the categories seem pretty strange. Shouldn't the Elite category be the cream of the crop?
In the ladies 7hr the podium of the solo masters beat all but one of the ladies elite. Why the elite category then? Surely there should just be a ladies overall podium? This happened to some extent in the men's too.
I believe the Masters are not allowed in the elite category as they are too old!
Seems a bit wrong to me.
Like Rida said, no one is excluded from Elite - the older riders can enter elite if they wish to. However if people choose to race age category then that's the category they are called onto the podium for... this round had more than double the amount of women in the solo 7 than round #1 so regardless of overall standing it was great to see them all recognised on the podium. Rocky Trail often do an "overall womens podium" like you suggest, they do this when there are just us three regular women who are all different age categories. Each of us wins our category but the podium is called up in terms of overall standing.People under the age of 40 (ie younger than Masters) are automatically entered into the 'elite'. Anyone else, including Masters and Supermasters, can also enter the elite if they want to.
But I agree with the gist of your comment. It would be more logical to just give the major prizes to the first three overall places in each gender (regardless of age divisions) with additional prizes for age categories as appropriate based on numbers/ demand.
In terms of prizes, I don't think you'll find there is such a thing as a "major prize" - in general there's a range of things of similar value.
Last edited: