Scottish "6" Days start times

[IanD]

Apparently we should now be able to pick our start times for the 5-Day competition in Deeside this summer. Has anybody worked out how to do it?

[King Penguin]

A good question. The page
https://scottish6days.com/entry-informa ... selection/
says
"Start time selection is now open and we are in the process of gradually sending out emails to allow people to choose their start times."
but there is no link or button to click which will allow us to do so.
Perhaps the email will contain a link to allow us to select start times for those we entered and we have to wait for receipt of the email ?
I wonder how long "...gradually sending out emails..." will take ?
I have not received an email yet, have you Ian ?

[IanD]

I have not received an email yet, have you Ian ?

Not received anything, despite having been one of the earliest entries, and having chased twice re start times (once in December, once earlier this month).

[HarryO]

Wish they would simply just tell us. I believe we are supposed to select from within our Club slot (if you want to remain competitive) so doesnt give us much latitude anyway

[IanD]

we are supposed to select from within our Club slot ... so doesnt give us much latitude anyway

Except that I am travelling in a multi-club party, and we need similar start times.

In the past, we have been able to request these upon entering. We're still promised the ability to select from one club for all of us, but we must be getting close to the bib printing deadline now. Not unknown for me to be without access to a computer or internet for a couple of weeks; I shan't be happy if that coincides with the only window for arranging starts.

[Snail]

Not sure why they have decided to do it, but it will be interesting to see if/how it works out.

Will:
- people who are not bothered about the S6D competition, or are only running 1 or 2 days, or are arriving or leaving on Day 1 or 5, stick to their club block?
- you get to see start times that others have chosen, before selecting yours? If so, will fast runners pick a time just in front of a good competitor? Or will people wait until close to the deadline, to see which times others have picked?
- the blocks largely fill up in reverse time order (apart from a few wanting early starts in the first block)?

The last might be a bit unfair if they are only letting people have access to self-selection in batches. And if enough people don't stick to their club block for some reason, could that mean that people only getting access to the system in a late batch might find their allocated block is full?

In previous years, start order was at least partially reversed on different days, so that you had some starts before and some after another specific competitor on the same course. With self-selection you might start 2 minutes in front of them every day!

I guess there will be a number of people who miss the self-selection deadline (for various reasons), so they will still have to have a sweep process to allocate them to the relevant club block.

[King Penguin]

......a bit unfair if they are only letting people have access to self-selection in batches........

I hope that is not the case, as it would be totally unfair, and potentially impossible for those who need split starts for childcare.

[Snail]

Well.. they say "... we are in the process of gradually sending out emails ...", which would suggest that it is being batched, and has already started.

But then they said earlier that self-selection would start in May, so it clearly isn't going quite as smoothly as hoped. I'm happy to wait and see how it goes this year; progress depends on a bit on experimentation, and they can always revert for 2027.