I have not raced in a while and did a couple sprint races over the past couple days (Cat C). Yesterday the winner of our C Cat race was very strong. Upon review of the Zwiftpower event I noticed that they finished 2nd overall only losing to a single A+ racer as it was mass start, they beat the entire B field, 3 of the A field racers, and even an A+ racer.
They finished the race in 12:41, Average Power=271W and Average W/Kg=3.5W/Kg.
What I find laughable is that they are classified as a D CAT!!! Here I was thinking that the 3.5 must have been ok since the race was a bit short and maybe it worked out to being under 3.2 for 20mins estimated. Their profile is full of sprint races that appear to NOT be used in the 3 race category minimum avg calculation. The longer races seem to show they hold back quite a bit to stay under 2.5 for D rankings.
Historically I recall that for these short races Zwiftpower estimated your 95% 20min w/kg, but I do not see that column any more. Did Zwiftpower stop doing this estimation for shorter races?
I thought to myself wow, I am surprised they are a legit C, they are certainly a B Cat, maybe even low A… but a D Cat, lol what a joke!
I see there is 95% of 20min data on the race that was less than 20 minutes. Is that used only to DQ a racer from a specific race but not to determine their minimum category?
Thats good news, but for now any of the normal races will continue to allow the racers to enter into a lower cat it seems if their minimum category does not take into account these sprint races that are less than 20 mins.
Sorry for so many queations I have been out of the loop on racing, it has been a while and i am catching up.
They run Mon-Fri at 1215 BST, tomorrow’s is ZwiftPower - Login , they run the category enforcement. The aim is sub 15min races, usually 1 lap.
Probably others around as well, but I’ve been using these lunch sprints since mid Jan.
@Tim_Perkin It would be good to get all your events on category enforcement and get rid of the rather large number of riders signing up for lower categories than they should, including the new “micro” event on Thursdays at 1200 BST ZwiftPower - Login .
“Make it so James” - I am all for fair racing, and now this category enforcement is available, let’s use it.
@James_Zwift, I would be grateful if you could apply this to all my events. Many thanks.
My only question, is can Women still race in the “Women’s only event” and have the option of racing in the category, if they choose. It is important that women have the option, particularly as I have now finally got my other half on Zwift and racing! Thank you
Hi Steve, thanks for highlighting this. You will see I have asked James to update my events. Fair racing is important, I just want to make sure Women are included and have the option to race in either their own Cat or the relevant one for their power.
Thanks for showing an interest in my events. I hope you have tried the new one, it’s very hard.
Joined last week’s and flogged myself to my limit for ~8mins, what surprised me more is I joined the 1215 Electric Spirit race after ~7mins recovery and put in a pretty respectable ~15min effort for me.
