Since it's very well spelled-out in the rules of bicycle RACING, "races" are contested when everyone is on similar equipment, there is a start line and a finish line, and everyone has agreed that it is, in fact, a race. And everyone's invited to participate on the grounds that they don't hide behind their equipment.
HPVA rules classify bikes by the degree of fairing. The OP's bike and the uprights were both stock class, so I don't see an issue. The specific platform is the riders' choice. They understood aerodynamics enough to cut their flags down to hip height and echelon into the headwind to catch a SINGLE rider, they just weren't willing to go the final step and ride faster bikes. If you want to preach your narrow view about UCI or USCF rules, do it on a forum that cares. When you do it here, you're just being a carpet-bagger.
Last I checked, "Mars" had nothing at all to do with cycling...
I haven't asked, but I presumed that Mars was a reference to the Metro Area Recumbent Society. Feel free to Google it.