What is MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club?

The MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club, or SRC as it's widely known, was launched in 2019 and is regarded as the highest level of racing available to virtual cyclists. It has grown into the biggest, most lucrative, and toughest form of racing on the internet – but it’s not reserved for elite athletes alone. There are six categories designed to offer riders of all abilities a chance to compete for the weekly, category-based prize money. The racing takes place every Sunday and is open to men and women with a monthly final where teams compete for additional prize money and bragging rights.  

While all the details are available in the official Race Book and Technical Guide, we’ve condensed and refined everything in an easy-to-digest format so it’s easier to understand.

Here’s everything you need to know about the MyWhoosh SRC.

 How to participate in the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club 

As the name suggests, the Sunday Race Club takes place every Sunday, with each category kicking off at a dedicated start time (start times may change slightly from week to week). First off are the Category 6 riders; Category 1 goes off last. There’s quite a lot to discuss here, so we’ve broken it down into three sections to make it easy to understand. 

 1. Registration

Before you can start racing, you must register on the MyWhoosh website. Registration for each SRC event opens every Monday at 7am (GMT) and closes on Thursday at 3am (GMT). After registering, you'll receive a confirmation email, but you'll only be notified of your assigned category and start list 24 hours before the race. Your racing category for your first event is assigned to you based on your performance data from the Power Passport Test. New riders must complete the Power Passport Test to be eligible to race.

Riders can ride for individual prizes in each weekly event, however, to be eligible for a team and team prize money, a rider must have completed two races without an annulment during the calendar month.

The finals are considered the pinnacle of the month's weekly races and have a bigger prize pot for individual and team competitors. They take place on the last Sunday of each month.   

2. The Power Passport Test

MyWhoosh requires each rider to complete a Power Passport Test before they can race – this ensures riders are categorised based on ability and physiology. The Power Passport Test is a comprehensive and dynamic assessment that goes beyond traditional Functional Threshold Power (FTP) testing, evaluating multiple performance metrics, including anaerobic capacity and recovery. The Power Passport Test is divided into four individual but challenging intervals: 2 x 6-second max sprints, 3-minute max, and 12-minute max. Each interval targets different energy systems, providing crucial insights into your VO2max and FTP capacity. 

It’s mandatory for all riders to video record the Power Passport Test. This video should be a single, unbroken recording that covers all aspects of the test. You will need to clearly show the date and time, record your height measurement, equipment setup (bike, smart trainer and power meter including serial numbers) while ensuring your entire body, equipment and game screen are visible during the test, as well as complete a weigh-in after the test concludes. Once this is completed, the video must be uploaded to YouTube as ‘Unlisted”. It’s worth reiterating that this should be one continuous video. 

The accepted protocol for weigh-in, height, and equipment videos can be found in the MyWhoosh ruleset. In a new update, Category 1 has a maximum in-game weight loss capped at 1kg per week. The remaining categories have a maximum in-game weight loss capped at 2kg per month. Category 1 riders have to submit a weigh-in video every week, while the rest of the categories will need to provide this every month.

Riders must re-test their Power Passport on request from the MyWhoosh Race Control Team. It is advised that riders test every 6-8 weeks or as their fitness level changes.

Pro tip: Get everything ready the day before. Test your camera setup, organise your room and space, and ensure your weight scale is working and the batteries are charged. It’s also worth doing a height and weight test video to ensure that the correct protocol is followed.
 

 3. Pre-verification form

The MyWhoosh pre-verification form needs to be completed before you can participate in the Sunday Race Club. Once all your metrics are verified, the results will determine your race category, so this form needs to be filled out carefully. The form collates details such as a height video, equipment video, Strava link and detailed information about primary and secondary power sources. This form is used to verify that participants are using pre-approved equipment and that everything aligns with the MyWhoosh ruleset, ensuring a fair and accurate competitive environment.

SRC race categories

The Sunday Race Club racing format is available to cyclists of varied abilities, not just elite-level riders. It uses a six-category system that organises riders based on many factors, including in-game power-to-weight ratios, SRC results, and the data from the Power Passport Test. The field is split between women and men, using the same Category 1-6 system across both genders.

The collected data is then used to benchmark rider ability for placement in an appropriate category. Category placement is based on factors such as route profile, power profile, and historical performances, to ensure equal ability and fair racing. Category 1 is for the strongest riders, and Category 6 is considered the entry level.

New riders will not be eligible for prizes until at least two SRC events are completed without an annulment. An annulment is issued if the verification team cannot verify your performance for any particular reason.
 

SRC prize money 

The overall prize purse is a whopping $320,758 per month, which is equally distributed across male and female riders. The prize money is now available to the top ten riders (previously the top five) in each category and top seven teams (formerly the top three) in the finals. This new structure encourages greater teamwork and collaboration between the riders.

MyWhoosh has also introduced a Sprint and King/Queen of the Mountain (KOM/QOM) prize purse for segments and overall standings, to stimulate dynamic, entertaining racing and greater earning potential among riders.

Prize money is split on a sliding scale from Category 1-6. The largest weekly monetary prize on offer is $2,170 for a win in Category 1 – for reference, a win in Category 6 is worth $170. The monthly finals offer even greater earning potential, where teams can compete for a portion of the prize pool.

The detailed prize money table for Categories 1-6 can be viewed in the official SRC Race Book and Technical Guide. 

SRC team structure 

Teams are formed by riders within the same category and consist of three to five members. They compete as a unit, with the combined times of the top three riders determining the overall ranking and subsequent prize money eligibility.

While teams can compete every week in the MyWhoosh SRC, they can only win prize money in the monthly finals, which take place on the last Sunday of every month.
 

 SRC race routes and formats 

Each MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club event is a scratch race, where the first rider to cross the finish line wins. With 12 different worlds on offer, the diverse set of courses allows riders of varying physiologies to compete for prize money and segment rewards.  All categories will race on the same course, ranging in distance between 40 - 55km for the men and, for women, some courses will be a shortened version of the men’s routes, while others will be a custom 35 km route.

Each race has sprint and climb segments, where points can be earned by finishing in the top 5, as the fastest time through the segment (FTS), and not necessarily the first to cross the line – every sprint and climb has different points based on difficulty. At the end of the race, the rider with the most cumulative points from all the segments is crowned the Sprint Winner or King or Queen of the Mountain.

Early additions of the Sunday Race Club were known for their challenging, relentless climbing courses, but this has changed considerably in recent months. The amount of climbing per race varies significantly depending on the course. Some courses feature punchy climbs with short, intense efforts, while others have longer, steady climbs requiring a more measured approach. For instance, the Bruges course in Belgium is known for its climbs, which require high-power efforts for a few minutes, followed by easy riding in between. Other courses, such as the notorious Jebel Hafeet or the Bogota Climb, demand steady power outputs upwards of 20 minutes. 
 

 SRC post-race verification 

To ensure fair play and transparency across the board, MyWhoosh performs stringent verification measures. While we’ve already detailed the pre-verification protocol, post-race verification takes things to another level, comparing race results with data from the MyWhoosh Power Passport Test, historical data, including heart rate and power ratios, weight changes, and equipment, to verify performances further. It’s a very thorough process.

In cases where results are marginal, additional investigation is applied, including reviewing historical Strava or TrainingPeaks statistics. If needed, MyWhoosh may even invite riders for further testing at the company’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

All results and classifications are provisional until post-race verification is completed.