Handicap Racing Principals
The best way to approach a Masters &
Ladies handicap race is for everyone to work together to keep
your group ahead of the predicted time and place your group in
the front of the race on handicap time so that one of you can
try and win it.
In contrast, some members ride Masters & Ladies races as
scratch races, treating others in their group as threats, and
sitting in the bunch, “soft peddling” and conserving energy
waiting for the sprint, or even attacking their own group.
Others seem to treat handicap races as a group ride and are
happy to get towed along, doing little, if any, work.
In an Masters & Ladies handicap race there is a clear
expectation that everyone should rotate and do a pull on the
front. Even if you 
are a sprinter thinking of the win, then you should still try to
do your fair share of the work.
It is acceptable though in Masters
& Ladies races to just
roll through and drift to the back again. But don't just sit at
the back the entire race and then jump everyone at the finish,
leaving everyone wondering whether you've actually been in the
same race. You'll make no friends racing this way!
In a handicap event you should not attack your own bunch for
most of the race as this
disrupts the flow and slows things
down. You should be working with them, not against them. But
feel free to attack inside the last few kilometers.
Being part of a well-functioning group in an Masters &
Ladies race where everyone is sharing the workload, aiming to
get the best time for the entire group, can be an exciting and
satisfying experience. In your next M&L race get your group
working together properly and really have a go!
Seeding Principals
The club has a clear policy
around the seeding for handicap races. The rules that form part
of this policy are described below. The rules are intended to
provide riders with a clear understanding of the seeding system
that the club enforces. The purpose of this policy is to ensure
fair
play on the field to all riders when racing.
Having
a bad day or not feeling well on the day is not an excuse or
reason to move down a group. Likewise feeling good on the day is
not a reason to move up a group as both incidences are unfair on
other riders who are legitimately riding in that seeding and
could be disadvantaged by unfair movement of riders and points
that may be competed for in a series. If a rider elects to move
up, with the approval of the Seeding Committee, then he/she
remains in that group unless approval by the Seeding Committee
is given or otherwise asked to move down by the Seeding
Committee.
The following rules will be
applied to seeding in the Club:
1 -
If a
rider has 2 top 3 finishes in a race he/she will be considered
for promotion to the next higher group.
Applicable to finishes
where a rider has had a clear break from the bunch and not
applicable to bunch sprint finishes.
2 - If
a rider has 3 consecutive bottom results in a race they will be
considered for movement down a group.
Applicable to riders who
are a long way behind the bulk of the group that they are
allocated in.
3 - Over
and above 1 and 2, the Seeding Committee may reconsider
regarding any rider who is believed to be unsuited to race in a
particular group. Example: a rider that breaks away from the
group and then deliberately slows down towards the end to be
caught by the group again so that superior performance relative
to the performance of the allocated group cannot be detected
from the results.
New
Members
Will
be seeded according to the average speed that the rider declares
on the membership form that he or she rides BUT
if the time the rider has ridden in the first race is outside
the parameters of the particular group ridden in, the riders
group will be adjusted on the results before
the provisional results are published. This is to ensure that
the rider is in a group according to the time achieved. This
process can repeat itself in the second or third race until the
member is in the correct group.
Members
that was not part of club previous season
Will
be seeded according to the group that the member rode in the
last time he or she was a member of the club BUT
if the time the rider has ridden in the first race is outside
the parameters of the particular group ridden in, the riders
group will be adjusted on the results before the provisional results are published. This is to ensure that
the rider is in a group according to the time achieved. This
process can repeat itself in the second or third race until the
member is in the correct group.
Existing
Members
Will
be seeded according to the group that the member rode the last
race of the previous season or in the group the Seeding
Committee has placed the rider during the off season BUT
if the time the rider has ridden in the first race is outside
the parameters of the particular group ridden in, the riders
group will be adjusted on the results before the provisional results are published. This is to ensure that
the rider is in a group according to the time achieved. This
process can repeat itself in the second or third race until the
member is in the correct group.
Masters
and Ladies Race Results Explained
Current Course Records
The current course records can be viewed here: View Overall
Records View Ladies
Records View Tandem
Records
Explanation of each Column
| MbrNo |
Member
Number as per riders cloth number
|
| Names |
Member
surname and name
|
| Gnd |
Gender
male or female. Tandems are indicated as a X. We only
allow male / female combinations and no male / male
combinations to participate on a tandem.
|
| AgeGp |
Age
Group. Your age is determined as at the end of the
season i.e. 1 April of the following year. This is done
this way so that your age group does not change during
the season. In some cases the member benefits a couple
months when going into a new age group, as the member
may only turn the new age late in the season, but is
already in the new age group from the beginning of the
season.
|
| Grp |
Racing
Group i.e. A to H
|
| Cyc |
Bicycle
used SF = Single Female SM = Single Male TMF = Tandem
Male Female
|
| ActTime |
Actual
Time obtained.
|
| ActP |
Actual
Position based on the Actual Time
|
| HcTime |
Handicap
Time. All our races except the four Age Group races are
all based on Handicap Times. This evens the playing
fields and any rider can potentially win the race on
handicap. How the handicap time is calculated will be
explained at the end and become apparent as the rest of
the columns are explained.
|
| HcP |
Handicap
Position. This is based on the Handicap Time
|
| AgeP |
Age
Position. This is the position in your Age Group, Male
and Female separate, based on the Actual Time.
|
| Pts |
Points
for this race. Points are allocated from 180 down to 2.
|
| IndxP |
Index
of Performance. The formula used is the following:
100 / (Winners Time / Riders Actual Time x
100)
What
this means is the percentage time that you took more
than the winner of the race, based on actual time. This
value is used as a guide for seeding purposes as all
riders with a similar performance index range should be
in the same racing group.
|
| AvSp |
Average
Speed for this particular race. It is calculated from
the Race Distance and the Actual Time per rider.
|
| PreTm |
Predicted
Time. This is a predicted time that the particular group
should obtain for this particular race. More on this
will be explained below.
|
| TotPts |
Total
Points Accumulated. This is your total points
accumulated including this race. From this you can
monitor your position in the Handicap Competition and
see where you are relative to your fellow riders in your
group. This is just an indication from race to race as a
final calculation gets done at the end of the season to
see who the different winners are. |
| Ras |
Rider
Adjusted Seconds. |
More
detailed explanation on the handicap calculations
The following columns are important in the calculation of the
handicaps: Actual Time, Predicted Time, Handicap Applied (not
shown in results) and Handicap Time
At the end of each season all our results for the different
races are used to calculate the handicaps for each race for the
next season. Currently the club is using in some races, 6 years
data and in others less as situations changed over the years.
The more races data you have the more accurate our calculations
will be.
The
first thing that is calculated in the Predicted Time for each
racing group for each race. We do not use the minimum time per
group as this will not be a true reflection of the groups
ability as you have riders that ride out of group in some races
giving a false winning time for the group. We also do not use
the average for each group as the very slow and very fast riders
times will influence the predicted time and not be accurate. We
therefore use the Percentile formula and in most groups / races
we use the 10th Percentile for each group. This then
gives a more true time for the group and is much more accurate
than just the minimum or average for the group.
We
now have a Predicted Time for each Group per Race.
To
calculate the handicap that each group must have per race, the H
group Predicted Time per race is used. H group gets zero time
added to their time as handicap. To calculate G groups handicap,
the Predicted Time for G group is subtracted from H groups
Predicted Time for that race and the difference is the Handicap
Applied. To determine F groups handicap, the Predicted Time for
F group is subtracted from H groups Predicted Time for that race
and the difference is the Handicap Applied. This calculation is
then done for each group. In theory if the entire field rode
exactly the Handicap Time per group, everybody will be first on
handicap. Obviously this is not possible in practice.
When
the results are done in the database, the Handicaps Applied are
loaded for each race per group and then the Actual Time as per
time keeper is loaded. The database then does the calculations
to determine the race order based on Handicap Times.
In
the results, if you take your Handicap Time and subtract your
Actual Time you will get the Handicap Applied for your racing
group.
|
