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Self Promotion - Should I? |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 01 February 2001 |
As the new race year approaches, there are novice and sport riders that may be asking themselves this question. (Expert riders shouldn't be wasting their time even reading this article----They should be getting themselves back on the trainer for another 45 minute sweat session!) There are two basic types of racers that have this concern: those that will eventually earn enough promotion points to be promoted anyway and those that will probably never earn enough points within the system to be promoted but are competitively in too easy of a category for their skill level.
First some basic rules of the promotion system.
Each qualifying EFTA sanctioned race (not just the NECS) offers the opportunity for promotion points to be earned. Qualifications include minimum race lengths and number of racers. The top 15% male and top 15% female finishers for each category (either novice or sport) are awarded promotion points. What age class you race in does not matter. Junior male novices are competing against senior 2 male novices for these points; veteran female sports are competing against senior 1 female sports; etc.
The promotion point chart shows the number of points that will be earned by a racer at each event. The points awarded for a posting in a category will vary, depending on total number of racers in that category. For example, if you place second in your category in a race that had only a total racer count of 15 in that category, you would earn 22 promotion points. If you placed second again in another race that had a total racer count of 100 in that category, you would earn 25 points.
When do you get promoted? Novices are promoted to sport when they have earned 30 points in any one season, or when they have earned 50 points cumulatively over two or more seasons. Sport riders are promoted to expert when they have earned 60 points as a sport in any one season, or when they have earned 100 points cumulatively as a sport over two or more seasons (novice points don't count here). The promotion is effective for the next EFTA sanctioned event that follows the race results that caused the promotion. Yes, that means that a hot shot novice rider may not only win their first two races of the season, but may also place first in their novice promotion rankings, earn 50 promotion points, and find themselves in the sport category for the rest of the season!
So, back to the two types of racers who may be concerned about self-promotion.
First, the ones who may eventually be promoted anyway. Now that EFTA recognizes separate novice and sport champions in the New England Championship Series, some of these racers might actually like to try for the title. The problem will be, if they are too good and have trained too hard, they may be promoted mid-season, before they can clinch the title for their class and category. Championship series points (not to be confused with promotion points) earned as a novice will remain there for the year. After promotion, that same racer will need to compete against sport riders for the remainder of the season, and try to earn championship points in that class/category. So, how good are you and how hard have you trained? If you think you may be promoted mid-season, you may want to self-promote at the beginning of the season, so you have any annual championship points earned all in one class/category. But, if you didn't really train hard................
And for that second type of racer who may be concerned about self-promotion. These are typically the racers that are in the "extreme" age classes, such as juniors, veterans, and masters. Remember that they are competing against the senior 1 and senior 2 riders for promotion points. While they may be skillful riders, the age differential is frequently (but not always) too much of a burden to overcome to earn promotion points. The question these riders need to ask is whether they are ready within their age class to advance to the next level. Look for the appropriate level of competitiveness. If you are a veteran novice rider, who is not receiving promotion points, but your riding skills and your race times are equal to the average rider in the sport veteran division over the same course, then you should probably self-promote to sport.....and quit sandbagging!!!!!!!!
A final warning. Once you are promoted, you can never go back. Once an expert, always an expert. Once a sport, never a novice again. So be careful if you consider self-promotion, but do find the appropriate competitive level. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 February 2007 )
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