And we agree, you will have the option to drop your time from 2019 when calculating your average time for your wave placement. We have had a few other really great questions come across email and social media over the last few years, here are the answers.
Can you give us a few examples of how to average our results?
Sure! In fact, we made a calculator to help out as well. You can download it here.
If you only raced one year since 2017 2016, you can use that time to calculate your wave place. If that one year is 2019, we can’t change that. So if your time is greater than 2:59:47 and that is your only year, then you can enter any wave after wave 28.
If you have three times and one of them is 2019 and it is dragging down your average (because it was a very muddy year with long waits and longer times), average together your other two times.
Are you really double checking this information?
Yes. You will be asked a series of questions during registration (we will send these out to you head of time). These numbers will be compared with our list and we will verify your average calculation before placing you in your wave. Last year our information from the two different platforms and two different timers didn’t gel and led to many wave place errors. We are hope that this new method will fix past errors plus provide you your wave placement sooner.
What if I qualify for wave 3, but its full so I’m placed in wave 5. Is there any hope of moving up?
Yes. As people vacate their spaces during the transfer out period, those that are already register will be moved as space allows before the people that are transferring in are placed. This is also done on a first registered first placed basis so sign up early.
I was in wave 8 last year; this year it looks like I will be in wave 10. Why?
If it appears you are dropping in waves from 2021, we have a reasonable explanation. First, we raced 1500 few riders in 2021 which allowed some people to ride in an early wave placement and second, when we had the wave issues in 2021 we didn’t move anyone backwards. You kept the wave you were in even though through the recalculations we did it may have scooted you back a few waves.
Why aren’t you using overall place instead of time?
Unfortunately, there is no perfect world and place can be just as flawed as time. For example, in 2021, with 1500 fewer riders, which means places could vary greatly over a full race year (like 2022).
What do I need to have ready for registration?
Just be sure to look up your times here a head of time. You’ll need those and your average. Sign in to your bikesignup account early. If you have issues getting signed in follow the instructions to reset your password.
Have additional questions?
Please email icemaninfo@iceman.com.
Hi Iceman
Is it midnight Eastern Standard Time? You didn’t specify a timezone.
And Midnight is when the day begins. You mean midnight at the end of February 28, so tonight, correct?
Thanks
Scott
Thumbs down to this new registration process! I acknowledge no system is perfect but this one has so many glaring cons it’s like you’ve gone out of your way to discourage the most people.
Having the registration process opening at midnight then not telling people until the day before in a subtle email doesn’t seem like a nice way of playing. Then stating it wasn’t possible to specify the opening time in run sign up also doesn’t smell right when I used Run Sign up to sign up for another race that opened registration at 8:00 AM on March 1st. It just doesn’t seem fair.
You’ve rewarded people that saw the email + were willing to stay up until midnight. So in order to get a wave up front, you not only have to be fast on the course, but you have to perform in other ways not related to your racing ability.
The new system also greatly penalizes people that skipped 2021. Atho your site incorrectly states there were 1500 less finishers in 2021..there were 3400 finishers in 2021, but that’s another subject, nevertheless there were lots of people that wanted to skip 2021 because of health and/or financial reasons. Their reward if they want to race again in 2022 is to go to the back of the line and pick a wave from all the scraps that were left over.
With the current system, an amateur could have been the overall winner in 2019, skipped 2021 due to COVID, and his reward is no better than Wave 8 cause his time was relatively slow time but more likely they’re getting a double digit wave because they can’t select a wave during the first week. Hardly seems fair.
I personally know of a person who’s improved greatly over their last 4 races. Last year he started in wave 16, he held his own, finished around 1200th, but because of ranking people based on time and not finishing position, his reward is wave 29. Hardly seems fair to that person. You did a great job last year! Now go backwards. If I am that person….you’ve greatly discouraged me from wanting to come back.
The new system also isn’t friendly to those who are on the fence to race, to those who didn’t initially sign up in March…now it’s May, June, July. They’re a decent racer, but should they sign up, well it’s Wave 28 for them because that’s all that’s left in July.
If you’re still reading, if I had one suggestion that could be implemented. Seed people according to their best finishing position. Take their best ranking out of their last 2, or 2 out of 3. Don’t go back any further than 3 years. What somebody did 4 years ago isn’t relevant. Yes, there’s issues with ranking by finish position because the field size changes every year, but the number of finishers has only varied by 400 from high/low over the last 5 years….meanwhile the overall winning time by the pros has varied by over 40% during that same period. Which is the better method? To me and many others its obvious, rank by finishing position.
Allow people to sign up till July 31st for seeding purposes. Release wave assignments August 31st. Entries received after July 31 get seeded in a first year wave, no exceptions. Allow 2 weeks after August 31 for people to submit disputes to their wave assignments. Only allow disputes due to actual errors. You could make up a standard form for this so you’re not dealing with random emails. Disputes received after Sept 15 no matter the reasoning, not allowed.
For the special cases of where people feel like their seeding doesn’t reflect their ability, allow petitions but limit the number 100? 200? And assign a deadline for submitting a petition. Petitions after the deadline, not allowed, no exceptions. Allow people to present a case as to why they deserve a higher ranking. They just won the Lumberjack or some other local race.
Thank you for reading this far! Just one man’s thoughts among many others I am sure…
How do I get placed in a wave if it’s my first Iceman?(Dont have past times)