Combined Category Racing (in particular Women's Cat 4) What do you think?
Women's Cat 4 is most often combined with the Juniors Under 15 ages (10-14 boys and girls).
In 2013, out of the 12 Verge Series Races in New England, all of the Women's 4 races are combined with the U 15 Juniors.
Women's Cat 4 is less often combined with the Women's Elite race, but this still occurs.
Rarely do Cat 4 women have the course to themselves.
We can all understand that women's participation in cyclocross is growing. There are generally less women racers than men this is not always a large margin, if at all, (Providence Festival 2013,the Women's 3/4 race vs the Men's 4/5; Saturday 131 W/121 M and 103 W/109 M). We can also acknowledge that there are only so many hours in the day to accommodate the number of races at an event. However, I do not feel that women need to suffer the injustice of constantly combined fields, especially when paying just as much, training just as hard and supporting the cross community just as much.
I would like to know your thoughts and experiences as a woman (or man) dealing with combined field races. Have you experienced any discrimination based on your gender? Have you felt like your safety or your racing success has been affected by combined fields?
What are the solutions? What changes would you like to see made in USC rules and regulations?