i’m looking to enter this event but am a little confused by their categories
i know i’m a veteran, i don’t want to enter the fun race so whats the difference between ‘open’ & ‘sport’.

Also they have races for
super veterans and veterans

I’ve checked their website but it hasn’t shed any light on the subject.

Open is 3 laps, Sport is 4 laps (and will have more whippets in it) !

http://www.gorrick.com/racing/autumn/info.php

And I take it you know the venue has changed from Tunnel Hill to Swinley ?

yeah i spotted the venue change.
So whats with the super vets and vets?

Lap by lap analysis of the results…

http://xcenduro.co.uk/racing/lapbylap/GorrickAutumnClassicRound12010.asp

Obviously its too late now, but the difference is that Vets is 3 laps, while Super Vets is 4 laps. Anyone eligible for one is eligible for the other, just depends how many laps you want to do.

There’s a fairly wide range of abilities in Vets whereas Super Vets is mainly whippets. But the pace at the front is pretty similar.

I had a go for the first time last Sunday. Similarly confused, I went for Vets. God it was tough. Or maybe I’m just rubbish. Good fun, though. Worth starting in a fun category with hindsight I would have thought just to get a flavour of it, unless you’re used to regular racing.

IME The Vets is often the fastest catagory at the Gorricks, just try not to get lapped – that was always my goal.

FAIL in my case, then…..!

oh i didnt really like the start of the course that all piled into the uphill, techy singletrack, dont get me wrong, i rode the 2nd and 3rd laps just fine but the 1st lap literally had to walk the entire section as it was a complete jam of people falling of their bikes in open, enjoyed the course though, actually felt a little easier than usual, possible as it was so fast/short?

It’s not the fastest, but it’s not slow. Mark Hutt – who’s a vet – often rides Elite at the Gorricks and does well. That’s why there’s now Super Vets, designed for the quicker vets.

Masters/Super Masters had got ridiculously fast in the last 5 years, but there’s now a trend for the top Masters to move to Elite (not just for Gorricks), so Masters may well return to being genuinely for over-30s who aren’t training 20 hours a week.

That first bit of singletrack didn’t really work! Shame really, but being new I guess they had to try it, it was that off camber left hander that was worst, there was just no decent line, by the afternoon anyway!

What was the course?

Great, over 30’s that don’t do 20hrs a week. That’ll be me then. Ace.

So what Category should a 46 year old like me be entering?