Should the CTCT race format change?

[Vetplant]

I like the suggestions, especially the circuit one:

 

Bad idea DieselInDust.
Catching up to slower riders in a "pro" race just spells out chaos and crashes.  Funriders deserve better.  
 
 

This is the better idea.

Take the top 200 riders, men and woman (I could exclude age cats and just use seeding)and race them on Saturday afternoon.
It doesn't need to be the CTCT route necessarily. Just a course where they can race it out to determine the pro winner of the CTCT.

Sunday is then reserved for fun and charity.

With the Giro del Capo it was like that in a way.

SA Champs on the Union Building Loop this year had a great spectator turnout, feel you can do the same in Capetown on Saturday and people can come collect their race numbers and watch the Elites race.

[Pulse]

No

[Chingy182]

Also.

 

Taking DieselInDust's suggestion to the books.....

Take away the "pro" groups.....you gain 27minuts. Or do you?

Because the same amount of people will still enter and still need to get off the line.

So yah....the fist seeded group will start at 6....not 6:27......

But 35000 devide by batches will still give you the backmarkers.

 

Why are they starting late?

Because the did not train and got a seeding

Because they do not care.

 

Either way.....now that I think about it......this is just another baiting thread from DieselInDust

I agree

 

It's all about your seeding.

I specifically went out and entered 2 seeding events leading up to the CTCT with the missus in order to move her up in the groups - so as to avoid the chaos of a 9am start.

['Dale]

Reversing the route is a good idea ????

 

I’m tired of pedaling squares up Sugarbushie

[Prince]

Make everybody do a qualifying race. That should halve the field..

Edited March 11, 2019 by Prince

[Li Mu Bai]

I have been thinking about the current format for the CTCT and just how silly it is to have the Pro men and women start so early in the morning. Currently the back markers are starting at the back and occupying the roads till 4:30pm?

 

Why not start the Pro's Men at 13h00 and ladies at ladies at 13:00

 

IF the main fun ride starts at 6:00am around 95% of the back markers are in .

the other 5% can be handled through imposing a more stringent cut off of 6hrs or via a motorcade travelling ahead of the peleton by 10min to clear the road. Once the pro racers are through the roads are opened to traffic again.

the advantage is more of the men and women races will be watched and more of the participants will get to see the finish.

Its a draw card to keep more people at the Race village which could also help alleviate the traffic. Maybe the more riders will prefer to ride off to find a suitable vantage point to watch the Pro race.

 

I'm just thinking there's a better way to structure the day's racing?

Who wants to ride in the heat of midday?

 

As suggested, a qualifying race makes sense. Starting groups with bigger gaps between each could improve racing too. Currently groups catch each other in no time, and then its one huge amalgamated mess.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Li Mu Bai

[Headshot]

Nope, its worked fine for 41 years.

[Owen]

Bad idea DieselInDust.

Catching up to slower riders in a "pro" race just spells out chaos and crashes.  Funriders deserve better.  

 

 

 

This is the better idea.

 

Take the top 200 riders, men and woman (I could exclude age cats and just use seeding)and race them on Saturday afternoon.

It doesn't need to be the CTCT route necessarily. Just a course where they can race it out to determine the pro winner of the CTCT.

 

Sunday is then reserved for fun and charity.

 

With the Giro del Capo it was like that in a way.

Hmmmm...... at least we can dream

 

We forget that this is the world's biggest fun ride. A time means more to a rider, than spectator value. The event organisor is more interested in getting the 5 or 6 hour riders to enter the event. It was a master stoke to get events to use the Racetec Timming for seeding events. If you race regularly, you will have a proper seeding. Or join the PPA and get seeded much higher than you actually seeding.  

[Vetplant]

Who wants to ride in the heat of midday?

 

 

It doesn't put the pro's off from riding their World Tour events.

 

Most of those races reach the finish line in the afternoon, if not all of them, to ensure viewership numbers.

 

Think other factors will scupper the idea before the issue of pro riders enduring the harsh March Cape Town sunshine becomes a determining factor

[American Flyers]

Pro and league riders can race on Sat am with only 3 hrs road closure 6-9am (People can sleep late) Lol!

Fun riders can ride on Sunday whole day. 

[Pulse]

Pro and league riders can race on Sat am with only 3 hrs road closure 6-9am (People can sleep late) Lol!

Fun riders can ride on Sunday whole day.

What is the difference?

They may as well just ride early on the Sunday then?

[Thomo]

It took somewhere between 0 and 40 years to relocate the Expo as well as the start area.

Good luck with this ...

[DieselnDust]

Also.

 

Taking DieselInDust's suggestion to the books.....

Take away the "pro" groups.....you gain 27minuts. Or do you?

Because the same amount of people will still enter and still need to get off the line.

So yah....the fist seeded group will start at 6....not 6:27......

But 35000 devide by batches will still give you the backmarkers.

 

Why are they starting late?

Because the did not train and got a seeding

Because they do not care.

 

Either way.....now that I think about it......this is just another baiting thread from DieselInDust

 

 

My my you have quite a large chip on that shoulder.

 

I asked myself the question re "does this format work for race viewership/" after I finished yesterday. Not because I wanted to "bait Spinnekop" but because I heard many people asking 

"who won?"

then if I looked at the stands around the finish area they were moslty empty. How is that good for sponsors (and btw I ear the PnP won't be sponsoring the event going forward and that CTT is having a hard time finding a new sponsor). Could jsut be  rumor but I've heard it from multiple sources.

 

races in Europe start late morning or early afternoon to catch the viewers. I asked a few of the International riders why they don't ride the CTCT - starts too early.

 

Live TV viewership is important for sponsors to get maximum airtime for their brands over 7hrs of broadcast rather than 30min of highlights. So I'm just looking at this thing from a perspective of how does the organiser fill those stands all daylong and keep people interested after 9am on a Sunday Morning because by then the Men and ladies race are over.

 

Last year, despite the great weather the course wasn't exactly littered with excited spectators. Suikerbossie was quite sparsely populated. Entries have remained open for longer than I can remembers. In the past if you weren't entered by end of September you had to wait for a substitution. Clearly interest is waning. So what will spice it up?

[Hamstring]

I have also heard a rumor that the same people that own Epic W2W iron man????????? are interested in CTCT  

[Frosty]

This, and other similar events, is an event organised by a trust whose sole purpose is to raise funds for Rotary projects. The way to raise funds is to charge an entry fee for a cycling event which happens to be a fun ride. Why would they change it?

[Pulse]

My my you have quite a large chip on that shoulder.

 

I asked myself the question re "does this format work for race viewership/" after I finished yesterday. Not because I wanted to "bait Spinnekop" but because I heard many people asking

"who won?"

then if I looked at the stands around the finish area they were moslty empty. How is that good for sponsors (and btw I ear the PnP won't be sponsoring the event going forward and that CTT is having a hard time finding a new sponsor). Could jsut be rumor but I've heard it from multiple sources.

 

races in Europe start late morning or early afternoon to catch the viewers. I asked a few of the International riders why they don't ride the CTCT - starts too early.

 

Live TV viewership is important for sponsors to get maximum airtime for their brands over 7hrs of broadcast rather than 30min of highlights. So I'm just looking at this thing from a perspective of how does the organiser fill those stands all daylong and keep people interested after 9am on a Sunday Morning because by then the Men and ladies race are over.

 

Last year, despite the great weather the course wasn't exactly littered with excited spectators. Suikerbossie was quite sparsely populated. Entries have remained open for longer than I can remembers. In the past if you weren't entered by end of September you had to wait for a substitution. Clearly interest is waning. So what will spice it up?

Then you may as well say the same about the Comrades.

If PnP is leaving as sponsor, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the race format.

You’ll never get places like suikerbossie full of supporters when there is extensive road closures making traveling to more isolated areas near impossible. Supporters are usually locals, and thats part of the charm.

The drop in entrants has nothing to do with the race format.