Andrew Beehler
I think I heard a plug for electronic timing, I would gladly support that
and be willing to purchase or rent the chip/bracelet used for the timing. I
have heard that that is how most triathalons work, the athlete owns the chip
which holds all of their registration information, and the organization owns
the equipment to read it.
-Andrew
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Myers [mailto:jonem-@lycos.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 8:30 PM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] mtb race prizes
Evan,
You bring up some good points worth talking about.
From what I can tell from the Utah race you did, you paid at least
$40 and maybe as much as $45 to race which is about 1/3 more than the
average oregon race. Also, it looks like one of the big reasons you got
results so quickly was they only had to score the the Pro/Ex race (about
60 riders) since all the other races started at earlier times. This is
the same way Skibowl races are scheduled and they also have results very
soon after the finish of the race.
In the case of the race that our club puts on, that extra $10 per
racer that the Utah race charged would be an extra $1,600 for our club.
With money like that, we could probably hire someone to do computerized
timing and hire some staff instead of relying completely on volunteers.
I would guess that most weekend races in Oregon are put on by people
that have other full time jobs and don't get any direct monetary
compensation from putting on the event.
There have been problems with timely results at some events this year
and clearly some issues with prize lists.
Would all racers be willing to pay extra to get quick results and
more prizes? Would promoters be willing to spend extra entry fees to
hire officials and augment prize lists?
Those are not easy to answer questions and I would bet that there are
a lot of different opinions.
-Jon Myers
Evan Plews wrote:
As a former(future?) promoter here are my two cents:
Raffles are both good and bad. Good because they reward attendance and
participation but bad because they are a big waste of time. Because of
this, they really only reward patience! (since patience is a virtue
maybe raffles are inherently good!)
I say give awards 5 deep to all cats with 10 or more riders and 3 deep
otherwise. Make the Pro/Elite/Expert payout standardized (depth/amount
based on number in class) and have all this taken care of before/during
the event. That way all efforts can be focused on results as the racing
concludes.
If there is still schwag when the "awards" are given away, then have a
raffle. Just randomly choose numbers from the start list during the race
and hand out the prizes as the racer crosses the line!
I was at an Intermountain Cup race (Utah) this weekend and my race
didn't start until 1:30pm. I had raced been awarded and was in the car
by 5pm... and the promoter was leaving right behind me. Unbelievable!
See www.intermountaincup.com for information.
PS. The lowest cash prize should always be at least the entry fee + late
fee or it will likely be looked at as insulting...
Thanks!
EP
Damian wrote:
I was just wondering what people expect for prizes at
a mountain bike race. I received an anonymous
feedback stating that Pickett's prizes were
"insulting." Now, I know Pickett's pissed some people
off this year, but I would have put prizes at the
bottom of the list. I've been to 2 mtb races this
year (only using as an example, I don't care about
prizes) and one provided no prizes and the other gave
a pint glass (now heavily used) to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Now along with this came money to the top Pro/Elite.
In addition to that the races had big raffles. Do
people want raffles instead of top 3 prizes? I've
chosen to give items to the top 3 and only give out
what is left over at the end of the day. Here's a
sample list of my, "insulting," prizes: 4 giro
helmets, wool IBEX clothing (arm, knee, shorts,
jersey), nice wrench force floor pumps, Carnac MTB
shoes, and yes prizes went as low as bottle cages.
Plus I gave out $2000 in cash to Pro/elite men and
women.
Now this email isn't meant to get praise, or negative
comments about my prizes, results or award times
(still good in my opinion and I've been to a lot of
races), but it's meant to hear what people expect from
race organizers because if my prizes are, "insulting,"
I have no idea what you are getting else where.
Thanks and I'll see ya at the races.
damian
ps 1 out of 3 bad Pickett's is still 66% good, which
gets you through a lot of college classes.......After
next year I'll raise my grade to 75%.
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