# Race category too low?

**URL:** <https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [March 8, 2021, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672 "2021-03-08T10:32:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gary\_James1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/gary_james1/32/441462_2.png) [@Gary\_James1](https://forums.zwift.com/u/Gary_James1)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/1 "2021-03-08T10:32:00Z")

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Did my first ever race-the ABSA-yesterday just for a change and the kit. Was in category D and came well down as expected. Noticed the top 10 all averaged over 3W/Kg and the winner 4.2. How come they are in category D?

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**Author:** ![Mike\_Rowe1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/mike_rowe1/32/530428_2.png) [@Mike\_Rowe1](https://forums.zwift.com/u/Mike_Rowe1)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 11:14am UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/2 "2021-03-08T11:14:21Z")

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Either they have no idea what category they are/should be signing up for, or they know exactly what they are doing…

Zwift doesn’t enforce any rules so why follow them when you can sandbag a race for an easy win.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_James1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/gary_james1/32/441462_2.png) [@Gary\_James1](https://forums.zwift.com/u/Gary_James1)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 11:31am UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/3 "2021-03-08T11:31:01Z")

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I thought that was the case. I’m relatively new to Zwift and have come across the term “sandbagging “ before somewhere. Where does the term come from do you know?

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**Author:** ![R\_S12](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/r_s12/32/425342_2.png) [@R\_S12](https://forums.zwift.com/u/R_S12)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/4 "2021-03-08T11:53:33Z")

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Would say they haven’t the balls to go in cat they should be in

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**Author:** ![BenJones](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/benjones/32/491995_2.png) [@BenJones](https://forums.zwift.com/u/BenJones)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 12:30pm UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/5 "2021-03-08T12:30:40Z")

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sandbagging = racing in a category below your true ability  
i guess it means adding extra weight on your profile page, so your w/kg stays within the cat limit, although in reality you are a much more powerful rider.

sign up to ZwiftPower website and look up official results there, they enforce cat limits a lot more robustly than Zwift in-game results page does.

keep in mind, that super lightweight riders can exceed the cat limit in w/kg if their FTP raw wattage is below a certain amount, so they aren’t nessecarily all cheats.

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**Author:** ![S\_A\_ccc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/gozwift/user_avatar/forums.zwift.com/s_a_ccc/32/529686_2.png) [@S\_A\_ccc](https://forums.zwift.com/u/S_A_ccc)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://forums.zwift.com/t/race-category-too-low/541672/6 "2021-03-08T13:26:49Z")

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it’s been used in real life crit/road racing for a long time. the nuance is a little different but both refer to riders racing in categories below their ability for one reason or another