Initial category assignments are now available for the first race of the 2023 Spring season. Please visit the Rider Race Category List page on our website to check your category assignment.
Open Non-Competitive race
This spring the league is offering riders who would prefer to ride in an open non-competitive ride category a new option. This “race” will be a rolling start between 8:45 am and 9 am. Riders will be timed, and times will be posted with race plate numbers only. This offers students who haven’t raced before a chance to race the course in a non-competitive format. Just you against the clock. Riders can choose to ride in the Open Non-Competitive race at all the events or switch to a competitive category when they’re ready.
Note: This ride/race is not a pre-ride or an extra lap. Riders entering the course during the Open Non-Competitive race will be timed only in that race. Riders racing in the competitive categories must not be on the course during the Open Non-Competitive race.
Category Changes
If you would like to petition to change categories please visit the Petition for Race Category Change page and complete the form. Petitions for the first race of the season must be submitted by Noon on April 10th to be considered. Any petitions received after that time will be considered for the next race.
Note: Only students or their parents may petition to change categories. Any petitions submitted by coaches will not be considered. In submitting a petition, riders must provide justification for the category change in the fields provided on the form. The league will also examine performance from previous league races in making its determination. Request without sufficient justification will be denied. In the event the league feels they need more information to make a decision, we may reach out to the student, parent and/or coach.
Side Note: Last year, coming out of COVID and not having much historical race data to work with, the league was quite generous in approving petitions regardless of who submitted the request. Riders and coaches should not expect this to be the case this year.
Coaches: This is your opportunity to discuss categories with your riders and help them to decide which category is the best for them. If you have a rider that is unable to complete the petition process themselves or with their parent’s help, have them contact the league at info@washingtonleague.org or (206) 317-4278 and we will help them though the process. Coaches should also receive an email when a rider submits a petition (assuming their email address is entered into the form). This is another opportunity for you to provide input into why a petition should, or should not, be approved.
“Why don’t coaches get to decide which category students race in?” We hear this all the time. The Washington Student Cycling League is about empowering youth and promoting youth development. We want students to be responsible for themselves and make their own decisions. Certainly, coaches provide a role in guiding riders through those decisions but ultimately it is the rider’s decision.
Staging
The staging for each weekend is posted the Thursday before the race. Staging order is determined by the points accumulated in the current season. In the event of any ties, points from the previous season(s) are used. Any remaining ties are then randomly seeded. At the first race everyone has zero points for the current season so previous season(s) points are used. Anyone without points from the previous season(s) are then randomly seeded.
Waves
Many of our categories are quite large, some over 100 riders. For the safety of the riders and to help ensure competitiveness we divide these categories into waves. Riders are still racing against every rider in a category regardless of which wave they start in. For riders that do race in wave categories, they should remember, and be reminded, that they are racing everyone in the category. Finishing first in your wave may not be sufficient to finish first overall. They should also race all the way through the finish line. The five seconds you give up at the end of a race could be the difference between finishing on the podium or not.
