How to score a cyclocross race
Oct 1998

Introduction	If you're planning to run a cyclocross race, you should know that scoring can be a bit of a challenge. Riders come by at random intervals and often get lapped. By the end you will have leaders, riders a lap down, and riders more than a lap down all mixed in together. The first bit of advice I have is: Get the help of a licensed official or experienced scorer. If you attempt to do it yourself and mess it up, you'll have to deal with dozens of irate riders. That warning aside, the method of scoring is quite straightforward as long as you execute it well. The following is a discussion of 'cross scoring procedures from two experienced USCF officials.
Jeff Cozad, Illinois race official	"First some background. I am a USCF official (87 to now) and I raced for a number of years (80 to 89). So... I think that I can offer advice." "I ran Iowa's State Cross Championship two weeks ago. I also had another official to work with me. I put her at the top of the climb of the course and I was at the start finish. We left all of the riders in. We started with 26." "Think of this as a dirt mass start time trial. We left everyone in. I personally don't like to pull riders unless it is a safety issue. At the end we had only 5 riders on even laps and some riders only managed to complete 6 laps total. My take is that the riders paid to race and they should get their money's worth." "I normally just work with a legal pad. When they come by I simply write the numbers down. If I miss a number, I try to note jersey color, etc and figure out who it was on subsequent laps. The tricky bit is knowing who the leader is. I have no good advice for you other than to pay attention. You can tell if a rider is lapped if he doesn't show up on a given lap, for example..." Rider numbers 1 2 3 4 5 start Lap scoring: Lap 1 - 2 4 1 5 3 Lap 2 - 4 2 1 5 Lap 3 - 4 3 2 1 5 OK... From this you can see that Rider 3 has been lapped. "My guess would be that you won't have people getting lapped more than 4 times at the 60 minute length. You will need to make sure folks know what lap they are on. You can have folks who get lapped on the bell lap. This means that they will never get the bell." "If you have two people to do scoring, I'd be tempted to have you both scoring. It's pretty easy to see numbers and write them down. You will wind up with two sets of scoring sheets and it will be more complete. This will also make finish sprints (if any) easier to deal with. You get two sets of eyes calling each sprint." "I'd suggest getting in some practice before hand if you can. Is there another race that you can go to? If you have questions, I'd be happy to help answer them. I'm sure that there are officials where you are. I'd check with the District Rep for your area." "Other things...I would make sure that then numbers are placed in a consistent fashion. Make sure that registration tells them where you want them. Then spend a couple of minutes on the line making sure that they are the way you want them. Use lots of pins! Cross numbers can and do take a beating. Doing this will make scoring easier." [Editor note: Always put numbers on the left side, since riders carry their bikes on the right. If numbers were on the right the bike would scrape mud on the number and the bike would obscure the number altogether if the riders are running by. --DC] "Also, what kind of weather will you be looking at? I'm guessing you're in sunny California. If it rains, you need to plan for it. A nice big plastic bag will work fine to keep over your scoring pad."
Casey Kerrigan, NorCal race official	"Basically you have to have someone on the start finish line ( hopefully more than one person) who has to write down the number of every rider on every lap. After the race is over the scoring people have to go back through the scoring information lap by lap to find the lapped riders. If a rider is near the back of the lap on one lap, disappears on the next lap and then shows up again near the front of the following lap then you know that person was lapped on the lap they disappeared. " "People who are well practiced at scoring are pretty good at picking out the lapped rider on the fly. when you find a lapped rider on the scoring sheets mark them somehow ( I circle lapped riders). On the finish order of the last lap mark every lapped rider and how many laps that rider is down. Then to determine the final finish order start with the first rider to cross the finish line who is unlapped as the winner. Keep working your way down through the unlapped riders, then start with the first rider to finish who is 1 lap down through all the rest of the rider who are 1 lap down, then start with the first rider 2 laps down etc. Longer laps are better since there is less lapping." "When scoring be careful about the rider who sits out a lap and then jumps back in about where they were before in the field ( some people think they get a free lap in Cross races and just sit out 1 lap when they have a problem). Scoring will only catch these people on a careful inspection of every lap. Normally these people aren't caught unless someone files a complaint and you have a specific number to look for every lap." "Also, it really helps if the people who are scoring can do the following: - Can write fast and still read their writing - Can read crunched up numbers, upside down numbers, numbers that are pinned to high on the back or in other wrong places - Will not get flustered when they miss a couple of numbers when groups of riders come by, just put down Xs to mark the riders you didn't get and just keep going. - Try to put the finish line on a slower part of the course. If it is really muddy you might need a number washer on an uphill section ( someone to wipe the mud off a number so it is readable)."

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