JK & British Relays

[Gross]

Not quite........ the topic on open / closed races is worse

Put a good race on , good planning, good terrain & a good map and run........ (with a girly cutoff as well)

[NeilC]

As one of the JK organisers I read the comments and it will be raised at the next meeting in early January. I guess we have followed what has been done before - I cannot say that is the best way but it has been the accepted way.

Deja vu?

JK2008 - end of cheap relay entries 21st Feb for 24 Mar event date
JK2009 - end of cheap relay entries 31st Jan for 13 Apr event date

Followed what has been done before?

[Freefall]

The question was more about cheaper rates than actual dates so yes why not put it into the mix? Have you actually organised a major event before and if so your advice would be very welcome.

[seabird]

Mharky it may be a boring subject but anything which creates extra bureaucratic pressure for hardpressed volunteers should be addressed. 2 tiered entry fees for relays does just that for club captains. (

I cannot recall a two tiered entry fee for the relays before 2008, unless you count the perfectly reasonable surcharge for those entries that could be accepted after the closing date on the basis of map availability.

When I was involved with planning the relay in 2006 we only had a single pre closing date entry fee and I don't recall that causing any problems.

I would imagine early entries for the Individual days would give more than enough money to keep the event financially sound.

If I am right in my recollections, it would be helpful to know why the two tiered approach was introduced in 2008.

[mharky]

Extra bureaucratic pressure for hardpressed volunteers???

Or just rewarding organised relay captains?

[NeilC]

The question was more about cheaper rates than actual dates so yes why not put it into the mix? Have you actually organised a major event before and if so your advice would be very welcome.

For JK2008 we realised that few if any clubs would be able to enter relay teams by the Jan 31st cut-off date for the cheapest individual rates. In contrast quite a few would be able to with a four week lead time. It was for that reason that a fee increase at the end of January was felt to be unfair.

[Freefall]

Neil

That's good feedback and I wish it had been brought to our attention earlier - not sure if it will make a difference now but I am glad it has been mentioned. It is very helpful to have comment based on practical experience rather than speculation on what is nice to have. Helpful all round.

For those who haven't been there Dipton is a great relay venue and has been used for the Harvester amongst other things over the years.

Colin

[Rich R]

As an ex club captain I know how difficult these early entries can be. It happened once in 2007 (think if was BOC but not sure). The biggest difficulty is advertising to the club. You give the early deadline and people send their entries at the lower rate. It's getting close to the deadline and you have had around half the entries you are expecting, do you make teams up from them? Spend hours phoning around?

You could make teams up with these runners and then more with the rest but then you don't get your best teams. Your later people can be charged as such but you will probably end up with people who have paid less in teams at the later entry fee.

When this happened last time I put in what teams I thought we would have, due to injuries etc we ended up with two whole entries not being used. The club ended up paying quite abit more than the relay entries fees received. Also, I had to make numerous course changes which probably caused the entries team far more of a headache especially if many others were doing the same!

One dealine around 3 weeks before the event is the easiest solution for everyone. With regards people ending up at adventure races etc. rather than a relay if they don't get an early entry in, it's rubbish; this is the JK and BOC we are talking about, I would think nearly all are commited to these events months in advance.

[graeme]

It is very helpful to have comment based on practical experience rather than speculation on what is nice to have.

So having organised a major relay...

I don't think entry deadlines are a big help. You won't actually to do much with the information if you get it in January rather than February.

The big problem is team declarations: captains like to pick their team at the last minute, and if you want to avoid being up all night you really need this to be efficient. An online system for entering runners names would be nice (transferring organiser effort from the event itself to the weeks before), but I'm not aware of such a thing. One alternative is to insist everyone runs with the same dιbber as the individual, and pick up names from the database on download. Has anyone tried that?

[NeilC]

For JK2008 Fabian took online relay entries (just classes not names required). For the 24th March event early fee cut off was Feb 21st but then club captains could make changes (eg convert an M120+ to a short open) online up until the final closing date of March 7th. I see that JK2009 are also offering online relay entry but I don't know how flexible that will be with respect to changes.

[seabird]

I would echo Rich R's comments entirely.

[MIE]

For JK2008 Fabian took online relay entries (just classes not names required). For the 24th March event early fee cut off was Feb 21st but then club captains could make changes (eg convert an M120+ to a short open) online up until the final closing date of March 7th. I see that JK2009 are also offering online relay entry but I don't know how flexible that will be with respect to changes.

In addition Fabian allows for team declaration, if the team captains want to up to a specified date. The data can then be downloaded to the on the day Relay results management system (well to Mike Napiers anyway). This means that the relay organisers have a bit less to do in loading the team declarations on the day of (or before) the race(s). There will of course be amendments on the day but the total work over the weekend is reduced.

[Tatty]

As team captain this worked very well last year. Just had to make late amendments on the day. The difficulty was with entering hire numbers for SI cards.

[King Penguin]

Based on event dates, my priorities were to be BO relays, then CSC, then JK relays.
I had assumed I could defer JK arrangements until a little later than BO.
Seems the saying about those making assumptions is correct.
I feel a last-minute amendment to the copy for the next club mag coming on, as the 1 Feb edition will now be too late.....