10k unlimited - Individual Time Trial
This discussion has an associated proposal but it has not been approved yet.Comments about this discussion:
Started
Comment
Background
I'm relatively new to unicycling (12 years already!), but I know that the 10k was one of the first events created and that it was originally called a marathon.
For me, the standard (historical) 10k is a long athletics race and the unlimited 10k is a short road race. They are already 2 separate races.
Proposal
I propose that the unlimited 10k becomes an Individual Time Trial (TT).
In the rulebook, an individual TT is mentioned in chapter 3D.10.
I don't know what the author had in mind. I think it's a format that's suited to short races and a limited number of participants.
I would like to see this TT format also offered in the standard 29" category. In fact, I know that many standard marathon riders race the 10k in 24" by default, because they can't win in unlimited... the world champion of the standard 10k told me that he didn't like riding in 24"... that makes me wonder.
Body
In fact, I don't really see the point of adding a TT to the 10k race as it currently exists, but it's a format that seems very interesting to me. That's why I'm making this proposal.
From a practical point of view :
- start with the standard 24" race first, then the slowest unlimited, and the fastest unlimited at the end.
- allow at least 30 minutes between the start of the slowest and the start of the fastest (to avoid traffic jams at the finish line).
- I'm afraid we're going to have to limit the number of participants... with starts every 20 seconds for 1 hour, we can get 180 participants to start... beyond that it doesn't seem reasonable to me.
I have listed the PRO and CON below.
PRO:
- a different race format that consists of managing an individual effort without worrying whether you have someone in your wheel.
- the pleasure of catching up with a rider who started 20 sec earlier.
- no need to build up waves. I think that the constitution of waves is often problematic (podium expert/age group not in the same wave, drafting, questions about gender mix...).
- safety: the unlimited 10km is the fastest road race (and consequently the most dangerous) and it often takes place on day 1 => it's very stressful, I can't imagine a mass crash at 35 km/h (falls are part of unicycling, but I think we should try to limit the risks).
CON:
- potentially limited number of participants
- I don't know what difference it makes from a technical timing point of view.
- supporting change: I don't think it lengthens the race, but it clearly changes the organization.
Overall, I'm in favour of more different race formats, not just flat road races that differ in length: time trial, fixed-distance race, free-distance race. More variety and perhaps tomorrow a combined ranking might make sense.
Comment
Note -- the above is not my comments -- it was part of the proposal.
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I was mistaken, I wanted to make a simple discussion.
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This was a first for me, I didn't realize there were 2 different buttons. I can't delete the proposal I created. I've just copied the content into a discussion. It's better to start with.