Competitive Sportives

hillclimber

This may be a stupid question but I am a relative newcomer to road riding so indulge me. Why do the numerous sportive rides organized in Ireland each year not have a more competitive element to them. ie times, placings, prizes?

I have done four so far this year and only the ww 200 provided timing. I really think it would add to these events without taking from the fun side of things.

Chips Lovell

Well, I guess it's because if you want to be competitive, there are races rather than sportives.

As for times, most people use their own computers, so it's probably a needless expense. Certainly with something like the Wicklow 200, I've never bothered much about the 'official' timing given that it takes into account feed stops etc.

blorg

There is a bit of a thin line to tread if you don't want to be seen as running a race- there is a whole additional raft of stuff you have to do for the gardaí etc. I believe in that case and possible legal issues if someone is injured.

There are some others here that do have timings and classifications- the Tour of Louth was a notable one this year and was very good fun. 100km at an average of 36km/h and it was punishing.

Prizes and placings AFAIK make it a race. The likes of the Marmotte has these but it is classed as a race- effectively the front 300 are doing it as a race, the rest not. Note with that sort of terrain it is going to split up and you are not going to have bunch sprint finishes.

Terrain in Ireland however would tend to favour large bunches staying together. It can be a bit hairy if you get into a bunch effectively racing with people who are not very used to it. Note there are open races if you actually want to enter a race, sportives/randonees/audax are something different.

Generally more of a challenge you are doing against yourself, and you can after all record your own time.

hillclimber

Fair enough, I can appreciate the extra legal and compliance issues involved in running a race.