Mike Murray
Recent races have been losing and breaking OBRA equipment at a far greater
rate than what we have previously experienced. It is not clear why this is
the case. When equipment is not returned or is broken the race organizer is
charged for the cost of replacement. This adds to the race organizer's costs
which will eventually come back to effect all of us in higher entry fees,
smaller prize lists and fewer races. In addition, collecting money from
race organizers after their event is over is difficult to do. This stuff is
not free and the money to pay for it needs to come from somewhere. Clearly
race organizers could do a better job of controlling this but they need help
from the general membership, i.e. you and me.
The other problem we are having is that equipment is not being returned on a
timely basis. After their event is over organizers are taking a long time
returning equipment. This is a major problem since, due to the busy race
schedule, equipment is generally needed for use at another race, often the
next day.
We need your help. Please do everything you can to facilitate return of
OBRA stuff. If you are holding any or have knowledge of the location of any
OBRA equipment please contact us and help us get it back as soon as
possible.
Frequently lost items include:
- FRS/GMRS radios. These are the small handheld 2 way radios made by
Motorola and several other companies that are used in caravan vehicles and
by corner marshals. They are small and easy to leave in your car or pocket
after a race. I am certain that there are several that people have taken
home accidentally and not bothered to return because they do not realize
they are needed. If you have any please lets us know.
- Signs and sign tripods. A small number of these are outright stolen.
Twice this year people have been seen stopping their car and stealing a road
sign. Why would people do this? The signs have no value to anyone but us.
Unfortunately no license numbers were retained. If you see this try to get
identifying info. Many more signs or tripods are just not returned,
probably left in a road side ditches. If you see them after a race pick
them up and get them back to us. The cost to replace a sign and tripod is
$100 but it is a major pain because they cannot be purchased individually
and we need to special order them in larger numbers.
- Megaphones. We just bought 2 new ones for $100 each in June. One was
broken at Elkhorn and the other went missing at Cascade. If you have the
missing one get it back ASAP.
All the OBRA equipment belongs to all of us. Money that is spent of
replacing lost items is money that could be otherwise spent elsewhere. More
importantly, the time spent ordering, purchasing, delivering, etc.
replacements for lost items and the time spent repairing broken items is
time that the very few people involved in this process could better spend
doing other things.
Please help us out.
Mike Murray