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OBRA:UpgradeRules

Oregon Bicycle Racing Association

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OBRA Categorization Guidelines

Upgrade Rules
Cyclocross

Mountain Bike

Road

Track

Road/Track riders may not upgrade without the express consent of the Executive Director
. Cyclocross
riders may not upgrade to A and MTB riders may not upgrade to Elite without approval from the Executive
Director. To speed processing, please include a race resume or other documentation with all requests.
Please do not confuse BAR points with upgrade points. The points you find on your results page are NOT
upgrade points.
All upgrade requests must include a list of races listing date of race, name of race, type of race, placing
and number of racers (DNFs may be included in the count). Any upgrade requests having inadequate
information will be rejected.
Please send all upgrade requests to upgrades@obra.org .

Road Upgrades
For a road upgrade, all points may not come from a weekly series.
Points for combined fields will count only for upgrades from the bottom most category with the exception
of 4/5 fields For example, 1/2/3 fields will count only for upgrades from 3 2. 3/4 fields will only count for
upgrades from 4 3. 4/5 fields will count toward upgrades to 4 3. We do not separate fields out for the
purposes of upgrading e.g. picking out riders of a certain category for upgrade purposes.
If a category is
run together with another category but scored separately in the results then the separate category
results are considered. For a road category upgrade, no other disciplines count your upgrade.
The only
races that can count toward your upgrade are qualifying road, criterium and circuit races.
Time Trials do
not count toward your road category upgrade.

Guidelines and Notes by Category:

54: Experience in 10 mass start races or 15 points.
25 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.
43: 20 points in the previous 12 months; or experience in 25 races.
30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.
32: 25 points in the previous 12 months
40 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade
21: 30 points in the previous 12 months
50 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Category
http://www
.obra.org/upgrade_rules.html

Class

RR

Criterium and Circuit

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Category
5 to 4
4 to 3

Class
Men
Men
Women
Junior
Men
Women
Men
Women

3 to 2
2 to 1

RR
15 mi.
25 mi.
25 mi.
25 mi.
50 mi.
40 mi.
80 mi.
50 mi.

Criterium and Circuit

10 mi.
20 mi.
15 mi.
15 mi.
20 mi.
15 mi.
30 mi.
20 mi.

Points awarded for Criteriums and Circuit Races

Placing

510

1
2
3
4
5
6

3
2
1

Number of Starters
1120
4
3
2
1

2149

50+

5
4
3
2
1

7
5
4
3
2
1

2149
8
6
5
4
3
2
1

50+
10
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Points awarded for Road Races

Number of Starters
Placing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

510
3
2
1

1120
7
5
4
3
2
1

Points awarded for Stage Race GC (Cat 32 and Cat 21 upgrades only)*
Number of Starters
Placing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

1019
5
3
2
1

2035
7
5
3
2
1

3649
10
8
6
5
4
3
2
1

50+
20
18
16
14
12
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

* For points earned in stage races, GC and stage places both count for points, but only up to a maximum of
20 points for a cat 1 upgrade or 15 points for a cat 2 upgrade from a single stage race. TT stage places do
not count toward an upgrade. For stage places, use the appropriate road/crit schedules. When deciding
whether a rider qualifies for an upgrade, an administrator will take into account points earned in qualifying
events per the table above. In the case of a rider who is marginally qualified, the quality of the events and
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events per the table above. In the case of a rider who is marginally qualified, the quality of the events and
the level of competition may be taken into account.
Road Downgrades
A rider who wishes to downgrade may request a downgrade. Such requests will be evaluated individually
no case will a rider be allowed to downgr ade to category 5.

. In

Cyclocross Categories and Upgrades

Cyclocross categories are selfselected except for mandatory upgrades
(Women, men and masters).

and upgrades to Category 1 & 2

Riders may not move down in category without the approval of the Executive Director

For those who wish to upgrade to 1 (W omen, men and masters), send an email to upgrades@obra.org with
your race resume. Racers wishing to upgrade must have at least 20 points to qualify as an 2 or 1.
Men:
20 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade except for to Cat 1.
35 points in 12 months is required for a mandatory upgrade to Cat 1.
Women:
20 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade except for to Cat 1.
35 points in 12 months is required for a mandatory upgrade to Cat 1.
Consideration will be taken as to the quality of races.
Riders should take the following guidelines into account when choosing a category

CCX Category based on Road or XC Category

Road Category

MTB XC Category

CCX Category

1
2
3
4 or 5

Pro
Cat 1
Cat 2
Cat 3

Start as a 3
Start as a 3
3
4 or 5

Masters Age 35+ (unless otherwise noted) and ability graded as outlined above.
Cyclocross Upgrades for Men
Placing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Number of Starters
1015
3
2
1

1625
5
4
3
2
1

2660
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

60+
10
8
7
5
4
3
2
1

20 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.

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Cyclocross Upgrades for Women & Juniors

Placing

Number of Starters
610

1120

2150

50+

1
3
5
7
10
2
2
4
6
8
3
1
3
5
7
4
2
4
5
5
1
3
4
6
2
3
7
1
2
8
1
20 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade. Consideration will be taken as to the quality of races.
Cylocross Downgr ades
A rider who wishes to downgrade may request a downgrade. Such requests will be evaluated individually
no case will a rider be allowed to downgr ade to Beginner.

. In

Mountain Bike Categories and Upgrades

OBRA allows selfselection of categories as a Cat 3, Cat 2, or Cat 1. Elite class is only available through
upgrade through OBRA or by having a current USAC P ro license. *Masters 50+ Men are not required to
upgrade beyond Cat 2 but may do so by meeting the upgrade criteria. Masters W omen 40+ are not required
to upgrade beyond Cat 2.
Mandatory upgrade rules:
Cat 3 Cat 2
3 finishes in the top 3 in class with a minimum of 15 competitors for men and 10 for women in a 12 month
period.
Cat 2 Cat 1
5 finishes in the top 3 in class with a minimum of 15 competitors for men and 10 for women in a 12 month
period.
Cat 1 Elite
5 finishes in the top 3 in class with a minimum of 15 competitors for men and 10 for women in a 12 month
period.
Downgrade rules:
A rider may downgrade one category when:
They have no significant results for 2 seasons or at rider's discretion and approval of OBRA.

Track

All track upgrades are processed by the V elodrome Managers using the following criteria:
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All track upgrades are processed by the V elodrome Managers using the following criteria:
Cat. 5 to Cat. 4
4 mass start race days
Cat. 4 to Cat. 3
5 mass start race days and 20 points
Cat. 3 to Cat. 2
5 mass start race days and 25 points
Cat. 2 to Cat. 1
5 mass start race days and 30 points
Points:
National championships will be 7,5,3,2,1 for each event.
Regional/State championships will be 5,3,2,1 for each mass start event.
For all other events, upgrade points are 5,3,2,1 and are based on an omnium of the evening's races.
Additional Consider ation:
1. At least 50% of all points must be mass start events (Not TT or sprints).
2. 6 person field minimum for Cat 4. Ten person field minimum for category 3 or 2 and 20 person field
minimum for upgrade to category 1. This applies to each event of a championship or the entire day
for an omnium.
3. Fifty percent of Upgrading points and number of times raced will be carried over to the next year .
Points do not carry over to the next category .
4. At least 50% of all points and race days must not be age graded, madison, grouped categories(A/B)
or round robin events for upgrades to category 3 or 2.
Upgrading from Cat 2 to 1 must be 100%
against other Cat 1 and 2 riders (Senior Open events) and does not include round robin, grouped or
age graded categories.
5. A race day is defined as one full day of racing. A race day can include a number of events such as a
kilometer, sprints or time trial, but it only counts as one race day .
6. Results from other velodromes will be considered for upgrading.
Downgrading:
A rider may be downgraded for the following reasons: unsafe riding; lack of ability to compete in current
category; or lack of placing within current category .
All upgrade questions should be sent to:

upgrades@obra.org

Contact Us
Copyright 20012 Oregon Bicycle Racing Association

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