Kickapoo Race Input Appreciated

[gratefulbiker]

For this years XC race we are thinking about shortening our laps in an effort to get everybody; racers and volunteers; done a little bit earlier. Of course making the race laps shorter comes at the expense of skipping sections of trail; namely the opening prairie, the playground loop on 5, Heaven and Hell, and Devil's Gulch. Skipping these sections will cut about 8-15 minutes off per lap depending.
So, the question is this: shorter race more in line with the rest of the series or longer race with all of our kickass singletrack.
Discuss

[Bexter]

I'm a bad measuring rod as far as offering opinion about racing, but might as well since you asked. I've only been there once and the singletrack ROCKED!!!!! I raced Novice and that seemed like plenty for me. I can't imagine doing 2 laps of that for Sport! But, I'm out of shape. I know a few other folks from our club were actually talking about how long the race course is down there and expressing their concerns about being able to finish the race. But, keep in mind, these people aren't hard-core racers. We like to ride a lot, and now and then sign up for a race. The benefit of the opening prairie is to spread people out before they hit the single track, but honestly, prairie riding isn't so fun. Your single track is awesome and I'd rather spend my time there! Seems the series lap distances are shorter than yours. Maybe shorten the lap distance a bit or at least post in advance the lap distances so racers can prepare / make decisions about which class they best fit in.

[SweetSVT99]

Maybe shorten the lap distance a bit or at least post in advance the lap distances so racers can prepare / make decisions about which class they best fit in.

I've always tried to be an advocate about making the lap distances similar across the board in a series. I'm a "Sport Rider" (mid-pack at best), and I wouldn't want a bunch of Expert racers dropping down a class because they feel they can't do the distances required for their own class. Same goes for the Novice class. It's very frustrating when you hear "I usually race XX but dropped down here for this race".

I say do what you need to do to keep the classes as close to inline as possible with the series, in terms of both distance and technical/fitness aspects.