Breaking up the Family class?
Submitted by More Cowbell on Tue, 2007-05-22 04:30.
Strategies for winning
It seems to me that families with kids on foot should not be competing against families in which the only kids on the team ride the whole way in a jogging stroller. These are really two different types of team, and it isn't entirely fair to ask a 10-year-old to race against an adult--even if that adult is pushing a jogger.
Given that a dozen or more Family teams show up for each Scramble, doesn't it make sense to divide the Family class into Family/Foot and Family/Stroller? To be in Family/Foot, at least one team member under 12 needs to propel himself/herself for the entire Scramble.
family class
I agree somewhat, but I'm not sure there is a clear bright line between walking kids and riding kids. There's an intermediate stage where kids say they want to walk, but you have to bring along the stroller anyway because there's a good chance they'll turn into a pumpkin and need a ride. It doesn't seem like such teams deserve to be competing against a parent with an infant in a jogging stroller. But from what my wife tells me, if you've got such a kid, you've got no chance of winning anything anyway, since they'll likely spend the whole time watching ants crawl on the sidewalk.
Still, there are a lot of family foot teams. I'd say you could divide them by age, into teams with only kids 4 and under (who presumably are mostly stroller-bound), and those with kids 5 and over (who ought to be walking).
Or maybe you could just give a special prize to the youngest walker, just as they sometimes give prizes to the best team name.
Of course, the same argument could also be made about family bike teams, but luckily for me there are only a few of us.