Re: [RC] Weight divisions - quick stats - Heidi Smith
>The % of starters by weight division
represented in the top 10 at these rides. That is the % of the category
starters that finished top 10 is as follows:
FW-21%
LW-17%
MW-14%
HW-11%
There is one other thing that skews these
stats besides weight--and that is rider fitness. The further up the chain
you go, the more apt you are to find people who SHOULD be a weight division
lower, but aren't--and hence can't hack a faster pace. As one of those
HW's myself who has "packed it on a bit" due to age, ailments, etc. I know that
it isn't my weight that is limiting my horse as much as it is the fact that I
simply can't maintain a pace that fast for a lengthy period of time at this
point. The people whose frames match their weight divisions and are fit
tend to be able to finish up front much more readily than do us 5-foot
"weeble-shaped" HW's who have to struggle to get on the horse in the first
place. So even here there are variables that need to be taken into account
besides just the raw percentages.
Heidi (who is just glad to be back in the
saddle, even if I have to take "slow-down" breaks that puzzle the heck out of my
horse.... And who nonetheless just missed a Top Ten placement by one place
a couple of weekends ago because I wasn't about to go in ahead of the wonderful
rider--Mary Forrester--who slowed up and rode with me when I had to slow up, and
lost places herself as a result, and got my tired butt
through!)
