Steve Scarich

In response to Candi's posting about the shortage of officials, I have a few comments. Candi and I have had this discussion in past years. I have been a race offical for about 20 years. I have done many National caliber events in the past (Cascade, Washington Trust, etc.) I also had a long career as an official in soccer, basketball, and fast-pitch softball. I rose to the highest amateur level in both soccer and softball (NCAA Division 1). So, I have a unique perspective on officiating.
I rarely officiate cycling anymore, usually only when the Chief Ref is desperate (like this weekend's District RR). I know many will take my remarks as somewhat callous, but the primary reason that I don't officiate is the rate of pay. I did one event earlier this year where my fee was $45. I showed up at around 8 am and left around 5 pm. You figure out the hourly wage. To give you some perspective, I receive about $60 for a high school soccer match, where my time commitment is about 2 1/2 hours. I'm not advocating that cycling officials get paid $25 an hour, but something above $10 per hour would be great. The current fee scale is based on the number of racers, so sometimes an official is decently compensated, and sometimes it is just unfair. I suspect this is one reason that people do not want to officiate. Their time is just worth more to them than $6 an hour.
One other point that Candi and I have discussed (and disagreed on), is the need for an offical for every field. I understand her reason for setting this standard, but I think that sometimes it results in an excess of people just sitting in a car at 20 mph with nothing really to do. I won't get into a long discussion about when you do, and do not need an official with a field, but I think we could be more flexible in our approach.

Just one guy's opinion.