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From following TABR and TCR this year, there does seem to be a few levels of racing going on out there. Ultra-racers (skinny, hippy, samuli et al., know what they are letting themselves in for and stop to "grab and go" as skinny said), semi-ultra (checked off the aero gear list and have a plan that is then challenged by lack of strategy, endurance or the harsh reality of it), fast touring (people pushing personal goals while aiming to meet time cut-offs and stopping at times to enjoy the surroundings) - some of the most fun to follow!
There was a top ten racer in TABR who said he couldn't understand people still 1,000 miles back posting Instagrams because "it's a fucking race, man!" and you also have a rider like Grace who, from reading that, gains a huge amount of credit for going beyond what she thought previously impossible:
I probably should be proud. I rode 1700km in one week in six different countries without a single mechanical or tumble.
And it sounds she really attacked the challenge in the right spirit. If there was a qualification then you would lose some of the human element, but you might have more of a tighter 'race' instead. In the best scenario maybe all these different racer types can co-exist?
Squaredisk-
The qualification isn't "I have raced xyz" it's a judgement call from race organisers based on a multitude of factors. There's a whole article Mike wrote about it.
http://www.transcontinental.cc/blog/2016/10/27/things-that-will-be-different-for-race-no5
Or was it...
https://reportage.transcontinental.cc/?p=2587
hippy
Does there need to be some sort of entry qualification for TCR? Bit like how you need to have done a SR series for PBP.
From that ^
Is 6 months enough?