Another way to view Glencoe: the extra early prereg actually bucks the trend elsewhere of *dropping* reg fees vs. the 2011 price by 10%. And also note that the total purse is $4,500 greater than last year.
Perhaps Jon or Jay can chime in here to clarify, but according to the GGP flier, three are three tiers of pricing:
1. Pre-reg pre-April (save ~$3)
2. Pre-reg post-April 1 (save ~$10-$15)
3. Day-of (pay full price)
The USAC registration page makes it look like fees will go up $18 come April, but I think—and hope—that is not the case. Even for a state championship, compelling riders to plan their schedule two months in advance is a stretch.
(For that confusion I blame USAC’s Web design. I would suggest that USAC, Prerace and BikeReg all need to invest in better UI/UX design, but apparently the task of processing registration is so complicated and expensive as it is that asking them to do it right would bankrupt everyone.)
Glencoe is a great race but should never have been a state championship. Its interests are different.
Categories are decided by the promoters interests, races will be much shorter than advertised and the main Elite championship will be overshadowed by the NRC race.
Great event but it doesn’t need State champs to be successful.
Luke,
You are correct. We are offering three tiers of pricing - Now, April to close of registration and day of. Yes, the USA Cycling site is a little confusing and we have discussed this with them and perhaps we can get it sorted by next year.
We are trying to be mindful of economic pressures for riders against our planning interests. So if you’re really with us, you get a nice discount, if you are with us (pre-reg) you get a discount and if you are not sure and show up race day and make all of our volunteers work harder, then you pay for that privilege.
You’ll note we are using USA Cycling’s registration this year as they are the only site that allows for electronic signatures. Pre-registration will simply consist of picking up your number and chip. We seriously considered eliminating same day registration altogether, but for now, ultimately decided against it. We did not feel the customary $5 extra for race day was much of a reason to force pre-registration so this was the next best thing.
I do believe next year, we will probably stage in order of registration.
@MJH - Actually no. There will be a 2 jersey awarded and a 3 jersey awarded, as well as separate jersey’s for 3s and 4s for the women. I can also tell you our Technical Director jay Mirasol has worked very hard to develop bibs that will clearly identify each category within the race. You will, unfortunately, still not know who is and who is not from IL. This is also true for the 45+ race which will have a 55+ state champion as well. Incidentally, you must race your age category, you cannot chose which race to try and win a jersey, nor can you win both. By the way, we will be offering 3 finish line primes for 55+ guys which we hope will be an incentive for more of them to race - think of it as a mini race within a race.
All of these three races for purposes of prize money and overall will be scored as single races. So as far as I can tell, we are awarding the exact same jerseys as last year.
We simply cannot divide these races without severely shortening the race time and reducing the purses. We just do not have the time, manpower or ability to run races from 6:00 am until 8:00 p.m. to accommodate every single possible outcome we’ve been asked to provide.
@dead seagull.
Actually, I disagree with you. We have prided ourselves over the last six years in making sure the amateur categories get a VERY fair shake. Our Cat 5 race is not 20 minutes for example and has never been. We work very hard to be efficient in our timing and running of the events and I believe you can check chip timing results over the years and find the races have never really been shortened ever. If you can point me to a specific egregious example, I will be more than happy acknowledge that fact.
As the Race Director the past six years, I can tell you that our race categories are as much a function of what RIDERS want as it is what we can provide. I personally pushed for womnen 3 and 4 separate races trying to develop those categories. It didn’t work. I tried a separate category 2 race last year with $1000 purse and got very little response. We race a juniors race for 25 minutes which is 5 minutes more than some Cat 5 races I’ve seen. There is no economic benefit for us to run juniors races, but we do it, and gladly, because we know it what some people want and it is good to see juniors race on a nice stage.
We surveyed category 3 and 4 women and asked them which course they wanted. Overwhelmingly, they preferred the long course. That might get some 4s out of their comfort zone, but I think they can step up. We easily could have made it the short course. Why? Less course marshals and conflict with residents, so don’t tell me we do just what we want.
There is no reason we cannot run a state championship (on a very worthy course) in conjunction with a NCC race. As one of my racing friends from another team said, we prefer Glencoe as a state race so someone will actually watch us race.
We are trying to create a cycling event in Glencoe and I think we have achieved that with the quality of the racing, the prizes, the food and beer garden and the live entertainment, the kids activities and all the other amenities that we think makes Glencoe a good place to spend a Saturday. I’m sorry you feel the State Championship deserves a different venue. We don’t feel that way at all and if you do come and spectate or race on June 2, I’d like to think we could change your mind.
Sorry for all the long posts, but knowledge is power or so they say. I would encourage everyone to read very carefully the technical guide (out soon) which will provide all the day’s details.
Thanks!
Jon,
Appreciate all the comments. I know you put a huge amount of work into this race.
I’ll be there racing and cheering on June 2nd. I still stand by what I’ve said.
@dead seagull.
Fair enough my friend! Thank you for racing and we look forward to showing you a good time on June 2!
Happy training.
Dead seagull - man up and post your name.
GGP is by far one of the best organized and run events in the entire state.
Seeflan ... C. Flan. ... Rotten attitude ... Sore about state champs being moved from Peoria ... Whoever could it be?
“I do believe next year, we will probably stage in order of registration.”
Yes, please.
I don’t think it’s fair to beat down on dead seagull for his/her comment.
Having a State C-ship in conjunction with a big race leads to the possibility that the state champion is not the winner of the race, which kind of sucks. That being said, tying the State C-ship to a big event ensures a big racer turnout and crowd turnout, two things you want for a Championship event.
It’s a tough topic and there are good arguments to be made for both sides. I guess for the road it makes a little more sense to have it tied into Glencoe from the field size and crowd size perspective. Really the only fields that may suffer from the state champion not being the winner are the elite fields. Plus it may create a little blip in the national press about our community. But I still understand the other perspective.
Mar 21
2012
2:44 pm
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I know I’m just a bitter, old troublemaker, but will there every be two consecutive state championships with consistent cats? Since Cat 3 and W4 have been replaced with 2/3 and 3/4 respectively, I take it that those two will be scored together for purposes of the jersey?