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@clubman
No, I wasn't thinking about your problem, but my own in my very first 25, when aged 14 I started in the Staines and District CA medium gear 25 (Bells of Ousley course).
I don't think *any *of my kit had been bought new by me. The frame I had acquired by swapping, but I think virtually everything else had been donated by senior club members (they were all senior to me, of course).
Not much of their largesse was in perfect condition, and I had achieved my medium gear with a steel 51 ring of doubtful origin which was certainly in less than perfect condition.
After about three miles I could see my minute man. Naturally I was dead chufffed, because even though for all I knew he was a useless laughing stock as a rider, he was definitely an adult and I was a kid. There was no doubt I was going to catch him, but just as I got within spitting distance....my chain came off. I stopped and replaced it, rapidly nearly recaught my adult, and the chain came off again. This happened three or four times before I gave up and abandoned, bitterly disappointed.
The lesson, which I did not fully absorb on that first occasion, is that if anything can possibly go wrong with a bike, it will do so during a race.
Therefore the first requirement of any piece of racing kit is reliability.
So no, I wasn't thinking about your saddle.