BC National Ranking Points. All change!

Is it a change for the better though?

By Seb Frost7:44pm, Feb 11th 2010

British Cycling have taken a leaf out of Formula 1's book, and decided to completely revamp the points we get awarded at races. F1 have increased the points gaps between the top positions, putting the emphasis on wins if a driver wants to take the Overall. BC seem to have done the opposite - the points difference between the top placings at UK Nationals & Regionals are half what they used to be.

Seems like an odd decision to me - are they saying DH is a sport about playing it safe and consistency, rather than "death or glory"? Pah! :)

Furthermore, last year if you came 13th at a regional championships, you got as many ranking points as if you'd won a regular regional. In my mind that's always been flawed, maybe they've improved this scenario..? Unforunately not. This year things are even worse! Now finishing 16th at (say) Southern Champs nets you as many points as winning the SDA at Fort William. Not ideal, surely, and definitely a step in the wrong direction, imho.

The National Rankings for 2010 will be a dull affair I fear, with the top spots simply taken by those who managed to get to more nationals and regional championships than the others. Something I was partly guilty of myself last year. The stupid thing is National Ranking doesn't even count for anything. No-one really acknowledges it. There's no big end-of-year prizes or awards ceremony, yet we all want to look at that screen and see our name as high on the list as we can get it.

At the end of the day DH racing is more popular than ever, and we all enjoy it every weekend, and it's not worth getting our knickers in a twist over what BC does/doesn't do. I just feel things could be better, ya know?

One day maybe... anyway - enough rambling for now! I blame old age, makes you rant.

The new 2010 British Cycling points structure:

International A (IA) World Championships and Olympic Games
International B (IB) World Cup and Continental Championships
National A (NA) National Championships
National B (NB) BC National Series, Regional Championships and UCI Class events at elite level
Regional A (RA) Regional-level ranking events
Regional B (RB) Eligible short course downhill

Position	International A	International B	National A	National B	Regional A	Regional B
1st	200	150	100	70	40	20
2nd	195	145	98	68	39	18
3rd	190	140	96	66	38	16
4th	185	135	94	64	37	14
5th	180	130	92	62	36	12
6th	175	125	90	60	35	10
7th	170	120	88	58	34	9
8th	165	115	86	56	33	8
9th	160	110	84	54	32	7
10th	158	108	82	52	31	6
11th	156	106	80	50	30	5
12th	154	104	78	48	29	4
13th	152	102	76	46	28	3
14th	150	100	74	44	27	2
15th	148	98	72	42	26	1
16th	146	96	70	40	25
17th	144	94	68	38	24
18th	142	92	66	36	23
19th	140	90	64	34	22
20th	138	88	62	32	21
21st	136	86	60	30	20
22nd	134	84	58	29	19
23rd	132	82	56	28	18
24th	130	80	54	27	17
25th	128	78	52	26	16
26th	126	76	50	25	15
27th	124	74	48	24	14
28th	122	72	46	23	13
29th	120	70	44	22	12
30th	118	68	42	21	11
31st	116	66	40	20	10
32nd	114	64	38	19	9
33rd	112	62	36	18	8
34th	110	60	34	17	7
35th	108	58	32	16	6
36th	106	56	30	15	5
37th	104	54	28	14	4
38th	102	52	26	13	3
39th	100	50	24	12	2
40th	98	48	22	11	1
41st	96	46
42nd	94	44
43rd	92	42
44th	90	40
45th	88	38
46th	86	36
47th	84	34
48th	82	32
49th	80	30
50th	78	28

* These riders have opted out and wish not to share their rider history publically