Re: [RC] FEI and 100 mile competitions - Barbara McCrary
We just put on a well-recognized 100 mile
ride, albeit on the same day as Steph's ride, so I know that took some
prospective riders to Idaho instead of here. However, we also offer a
75-mile ride along with the 100. As my daughter says, "Give people a
choice of two mileages and they will choose the easier one." We suspect
that the general population of endurance riders are not as willing to ride the
distances or the deal with the difficulties as we might have done 25-30 years
ago.
I down loaded all the 100 data some time back and have started
a couple time to look at it, but haven't managed to finish. At the top level
100 mile ride participation has declined steadly - almost at a linear rate
between '96 through 2003. The number of rides and the number of riders has
decreased. At the same time the membership has increased by 50%. Some
interesting things that have popped out is 15% of the riders during that
peiriod have accounted for a little over 50% of the starts. During that 8 year
period 35% of the riders only had one start and a little over 60% only had 2
starts. The 100 mile distance seems to be dominated by a small set of riders.
In 2003 if you exclude the non-AERC members from the count, a little
over half (like 51%) of the 100 mile starts were AERC Int members. I don't
know and someone could quickly calculate it but I don't think the membership
in AERC Int has grown at the same rate as the overall AERC membership. I also
haven't calculated the numbers for the other years. I suspect the numbers
participation percentage of AERC Int members vs. non AERC Int members has been
increasing over the years.
What does this mean? For starters these are
just snippits - so not a lot can be concluded. When I get time I plan on
getting back to it. The interest in FEI seems to be on a two year cycle the
same as the Pan Am. We see a lot of participation leading up to the Pan Am (or
in the case of 2005 the NAC). I'm not sure one can conclude that interest in
FEI is growing or not growing. The one thing you can conclude is the interest
in the 100 mile ride in the AERC is going down. What you may be seeing is the
interest by a small core group of riders - which would tend to be the same
group interested in FEI - has maintained interest while interest outside this
core has drastically decreased. This may be the "multiday effect." In
the 100 there are lot of "one timers," riders that do only one or two rides
and call it quits for 100's. There is high correlation between AERC Int
members and riders that have done a 100 mile ride in 6 of the 8 years
considered.
The one thing that does stand out, however, FEI or not,
the 100 mile ride has changed since I started doing the sport and this change
is a slow constant decline in participation over the past 8 years.
When I get some time I'm planning on digging further.
Cheers, Truman
steph teeter wrote:
Some food for thought and discussion: At this years FEI 100 mile rides,
there was considerable participation - 78 started the 100 at Biltmore
CEI***, 43 started the Fort Howes CEI***, and 53 started the Arabian
Nights CEI***.
There are still three more CEI*** rides on the calendar - Wisconsin,
Maryland (Fairhill) and Idaho.
So - is interest in doing FEI declining, increasing? Are the 100 mile
competitions going in the right direction? Is FEI Endurance good for the
sport?
This is pretty big stuff for Endurance, certainly worthy of some serious
discussion -
Comments?
Steph
--
"It is necessary to
be noble, and yet take humility as a basis.
It is necessary to be
exalted, and yet take modesty as a foundation."
