Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Trans Iowa v14: Lottery Reaction

The registration for Trans Iowa v14 is over. The last hurdle was the Rookie Lottery held yesterday evening. I selected 50 folks from a pool of 84 available names to be on the roster to possibly show up next April and take part in the madness that is Trans Iowa.

The basic lottery was unremarkable in as far as the number of left out folks and how it went down. It is pretty typical to have around 30 extra entries, it seems. Of course, the lottery has only been done three times, so there is that.

But I was impressed by a couple of things that have not happened before. First off, I got the most women entrants ever. That resulted in the registration of the largest Womens Open class field ever. But that's not the most striking development! Not by a long shot.

In the Single Speed/Fixed category we have had maybe one Women enter here or there in the past, but this year we have several women entering, and maybe more than I can verify. You see, names don't tell the story, and I have a hunch there are actually more women in this category than appears at first glance. (Judging by the penmanship on the cards and the ambiguity of the names) But however that plays out, the result is the biggest SS/Fixed registered class ever. It's about twice the size it usually is. Now......

Yes, there will be attrition. Folks will drop off the roster sooner or later, they always do. How many actually toe the line in April is yet to be seen. That said, this is an unprecedented roster for any Trans Iowa. I am impressed.

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