Okay I'm having a debate with one of my teammates over the question of getting upgrade points while racing masters classes. I say you cannot get any 4 to 3 upgrade points in a masters race and he says you can. Who's right?

You both might be correct, it depends on your local upgrade coordinator. I think around here, ours will recognize a Masters (open) 30+/40+ top ten or 1 - 6 placing as being much more difficult than getting a result in a straight 4 or 4/5 race and will consider such a result for upgrade purposes. However, if it was some other race category like a 35+ Cat 4/5 only, that would probably not be considered since the field is watered down by the age restriction.

I was able to confirm today that in North Carolina, a Masters 4/5 race counts toward an upgrade from a 4 to a 3 so long as the field size is large enough. Once you get to a certain point (Cat2 I think?) the Masters races no longer count.

--Steve

I know our local rep will up grade you but as far as USCF points go do masters races count.

Me: Do placings in Masters 4/5 races count toward a Cat3 upgrade or can I only earn points in general field races?

Rep: For 3's I would count those races if they qualify on distance and field size.

--Steve

I'm 39. When and why should I do a masters race? I feel as good as I did when I was 28 or whatever, and my body still responds to training. I feel like I can handle a similar amount of miles and intensity as 10 years ago.

When and why should I enter a Master's race? I feel happy enough doing the cat 3/4 races. I just don't know why I would do one. But then again, some of those guys are fast!

Fewer crashes? Shorter distances? Slightly smaller fields?

--Steve

Because most 35+open fields here are by far much harder than the 4's and even some of the 3's races. The 35+ is full of mostly cat 1/2 guys and they know how to inflict the pain.

I guess I'm wondering about the age based Masters classes. 35/45/55 etc.

They do here. And the open or Masters Cat3 count towards a 2.

Sounds like it depends on your local rep. Ours won't do it (so I've been told).

Masters is very competitive here and the 35+ Cat 4/5 race is always the first field to fill and many races offer 2 fields because it is so popular. If masters didn't earn upgrade points toward Cat 3, then many of them would never upgrade and just dominate the masters 4/5 races.

I'm guessing that in other parts of the country they don't have separate fields for 35+ 1/2/3, 35+ 4/5, 45+ 1/2/3 and 45+ 4/5 like they do around here.

Hardest around here, easily...

You would want to avoid Masters races around here; Former pros like Tom Doughty (who wrote The Complete Book of Long-Distance and Competitive Cycling in 1983) and Fabio Orlandi typically race 1-2 in the 50+ and then come back and do the same in the 40+. In 30+ you have former US Postal racer and Vision Quest Coach Robbie Ventura.

The start of a Masters race in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin (at least if there's any money at stake) is blistering as these guys burn us mortals off the pace in a hurry. At 48 years I often race the Open Cat 4 just to avoid them, but then race with kids half my age who seem to have a lot less worry about bodily injury!

That's the impression I'm getting. You'd think the USCF would have a definative rule about what races qualify for upgrade points and what races don't.