it is a bit mean to tell juveniles that you are not good enough so you can't race... it does however mean that you have to build chicken runs for everything. i want harder tracks too !!
could you just say there is no more juvenile class, only one in the easier regional races so the national courses can be made harder ?

I agree with that, Like Hardtail Cat. Juvienlle could be a non-bc ranking catergory at regionals. So they couldn't qualify for the NPS till they were in youth anyway.

The same could be said for Elites with only 5 riders in category at some races

That could also be said for the women's categories as well, especially the Elite category... which now spans a very vast level of ability in my opinion. 

I can well imagine the uproar if some riders were told they couldn't ride the nationals whilst others were allowed - people like to judge these things for themselves. What ought to happen is the tracks just get made harder anyway, and then the people who don't have the ability to ride them will simply stop coming because they've stopped enjoying it because they're finding it too scary.

Champery was not a pleasant experience for many and I imagine if a track like that was a National track then a lot of people wouldn't return the following year. It might take a year or two to weed out the "less able" riders, but that is, I think, the best way of doing it without putting anyone's nose out of joint (in addition to the rquirement for points, which is defo a good thing) - afterall, in a couple of years time 2008's slower riders may be quite a bit better, but if they have a bit of a chip on their shoulder about the Nationals because they were previously turned away they may not want to come back to them.

...becuase they'd still be in a plaster cast  hehe. If you made the courses that tough it would be carnage.

people say picking up the points are like impossible, but like at caersws, you needed to come top 30! i had like licence for one race and have achieved 15 points towards 2009, so like it's not impossible i guess

Caersws Cup.  Points were down to 40th place because it was a cat-D (regional champiohsip, Midlands this time) race.  Next Pearce race at Hopton will be the same deal (english champs). 

Also welsh champs @ mynydd Du dragon 12/13 july.

Regional champs are definitely the easiest way to get points - same points on offer as an NPS, but without most of the competition.

Certain categories will always be better off points wise than others simply due to the limited amount of riders (eg, Women, Elite, Juvenile).
That doesn't necessarily mean that the quality of riders is better (except for Elites obviously).

I already have enough points to race NPS next year (or this year should I choose) even if they do raise the bar but there's a lot of male riders who are much better than me who won't be able to. Unfortunately I think that's just sods law.
Just because it's easier for me to get them though, doesn't mean I haven't pushed myself and worked hard for it. I'm still progressing and pushing my riding, and getting better too with each race. For me, racing NPS will be the next step, riding against more and faster women and hopefully getting faster myself because of this.

As some people were talking about regionals though, it would be nice to see a Southern regional championships race to go along with the Welsh and Mids champs. I don't know if anything like this ever happened in the past with the old Pedalhounds series or if it's even possible, just food for thought really.