On December 7, Zwift’s James Bailey announced in the Zwift Riders Facebook Group that Zwift would begin working in January to clean up the platform’s race calendar. Zwift believes that larger racing fields make for a better race experience, so they are looking to remove low-participation events from the public calendar (the calendar you can easily browse in Zwift Companion or at zwift.com/events).
Let’s dive into how this will work… and where things might go in the longer term.
Why Is Culling Needed?
James’ post says, “larger racing fields provide a better racing experience and therefore we are now seeking to increase minimum race fields on the public calendar.” Digging into the specifics a bit more, he says:
Detailed analysis of all racing events demonstrates a very clear correlation between the number of participants in an event/subgroup and the percentage of starters that go on to complete the race – (finishing %s are one of our clearest measures of race quality) -. This correlation is not surprising – we know that in smaller races and/or subgroups it’s more likely that you’ll end up alone and you’ll be less likely to finish the race. This is also supported by a range of qualitative feedback we receive.
My guess is most Zwift racers would agree with what James says. It’s really not much fun to race against 5-10 riders. I’ve found that a group of 30+ is about the minimum if I want a good race experience. And the longer the race, the more starters you need, as attrition continues while the race is underway.
How Will Culling Work?
James explains how Zwift will cull races:
- From January 4th onwards, we will review existing racing events on the public calendar
- Races with an average attendance of under 50 over the previous 4 weeks will be transitioned to shareable Club events.
- These races will not be on the public calendar, but they will be available to all members of the club, as well as anyone that the event is shared with.
- When a race is removed from the Public Calendar, the organiser will be contacted to let them know that it has happened, why it has happened and the criteria for the event to be readded to the Public Calendar.
This seems sensible enough, although there are three “gotchas” which Zwift will need to look at closely.
#1: Low-Traffic Time Slots
Zwift traffic varies widely based on time of day, and race participation varies accordingly. Requiring 50 participants during high-traffic times may be perfectly sensible, but during low-traffic times it may wipe out every race on the calendar!
The solution? Zwift will have to pay attention to the density of race events, not just the number of participants in specific races. The good news is, James says, “I’m not going to allow a situation where there are no races to choose from.”
#2: Women-Only Races
While Zwift has always done a good job of supporting women’s racing, participation in women-only races is still much lower than mixed/open events. Simply put, a 50-participant requirement would mean that most women’s races would be removed from the public calendar.
James says Zwift is looking at a threshold of 25 participants for women-only races. That may or may not be the right number, but Zwift has the data. I’m sure they’ll run the numbers and make sure whatever threshold they set doesn’t erase women’s racing from the calendar.
#3: Seasonality
Zwifters know that numbers swell during the Northern Hemisphere winters, specifically from around mid-November to the end of February. I would say traffic during these times is 3-4x what we see during the summer months.
Does a year-round 50-participant requirement make sense when traffic is so seasonal? Probably not. If the 50-participant requirement stays in place during the summer, we may see a very sparse race calendar June thru August.
Converting Club Events to ZwiftPower Races
One reason Club organizers don’t like the idea of their races being “privatized” is that Club events don’t show up on ZwiftPower. But James mentioned in the Facebook thread that “Club events can be added to ZwiftPower,” and this is an intriguing proposition.
Additionally, Club owners can’t just create race events. All Club events are automatically defined as group rides or group workouts, and can only be changed by Zwift staff intervention.
If Zwift is going to get more picky about races on the public calendar, they should feed the race ecosystem by giving Club organizers tools to create great races via their Club, so those events can grow in popularity and eventually be upgraded to public races.
Auto-Upgrading
This leads me to another thought. If Zwift is going to set requirements for races on the public calendar, they should have a process in place whereby popular Club events can be “upgraded” to the public calendar.
James says that’s the plan: “Race organisers will need to provide evidence that the event is achieving attendances of over 50 people for the last two weeks, as a club event.”
Easy enough. But I think this process should be automated, so organizers of big one-off events can blast the event out to their networks, get enough signups for the event to go public, then watch it explode in popularity. Everyone wins in this scenario: the organizers get more event participation, and Zwift gets more engagement.
What About New Events?
James says race organizers new and old will still be able to ask Zwift to put a new event on the public calendar:
- These will initially be on a 4-week trial period to ensure that attendance reaches desired levels.
- We will, however, expect the Club of the group requesting an event to be placed on the Public Calendar to have at least 100 members.
Automation
Overall, it sounds like Zwift has put some good thought into the process of culling the race calendar. I, for one, fully support this initiative. It’s a topic I’ve bugged Zwift about for a year or more because I agree that too many races within a timeslot just thins the competition and reduces the quality of the race experience.
While Zwift’s initial culling looks to be a rather manual process, I’m hoping they will automate this in the future. Participant thresholds should automatically fluctuate along with overall Zwift traffic, races should be automatically culled based on set criteria, and race organizers should be automatically contacted when any changes are made to their events.
Additionally, organizers should be encouraged to publicize their events well, boosting participation so they can be automatically moved from the Club-only calendar to the public calendar (assuming that’s what the race organizer wants).
All of this could be automated to work efficiently and effectively with very little ongoing input from ZHQ. We have the technology. Make it happen, Zwift!
Your Thoughts
Do you agree that the race calendar needs some cleanup? Got any concerns? Share below!
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