mandatory knowledge for organizers

European Races & Results (for Major, Main and Prime level races)

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Donald Campbell
Pavel
Pavel
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Location: germany
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mandatory knowledge for organizers

Post by Donald Campbell » Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:38 am

hey there
i set up a few points here for anybody who wants to throw a race
these points are for bigger races and open to discussion,but i guess it will be helpful for newbies too
so please read and add

Setting up a race
Day#1
So say you start a 9am..you should start then,when you host a contest with more than 50 people attending anway.this is what you need to have checked and done anyway.
#1 existing course-done and ready
#2 power,needs to be done and ready when you start
#3 existing and working timer.no matter what you use(we recommend tapeswitches),always make sure you have tested the setup several times prior to the race,not in your garage,under live conditions.
Is there enough cable?
Do you have a backup?(more tapeswitches,possibly a second timer?)we recommend as connectors the same jack which are used for guitars.
Laptop with excelmate running and working of course-one guy doing the typing
Separate monitors for the racers
#4 p.a. system:whatever you rent,make sure you have the right adaptors to feed music into the system.so you have spek-on inputs in you mxing desk or regular jacks or xlr-be prepared to have the right adaptors to usb f.e. when you want to feed your system with music from your laptop f.e.
Do you really have enough speaker cables for the whole track or will the announcer talk to himself and may 50 folks? Are there enough monitors so that people at the end of the track are able to hear you? do you have enough watts for outdoor use?
Is your wireless mike or even better overhead mike able to receive input from a 50m distance?
and of course this all needs to be field tested and set up before the show starts to avoid unnecessary loss of time.
#5 conejudges-you know the drill:you host a main or major race you need to provide conejudges-don’t ask the racers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#6 live up to expectations:this means you have to remind yourself that you lured grown-up folks to your contest who in 100% of the cases paid money,some of them a lot,to come to your race.this is a great burden and you have to live up to expectations.
The mature racers should always be the main focus of any race,especially the pros.
#6 results :there have to be finals to achieve accurate results-no finals should mean no race happened-if you want this to be a legit contest do your best to make this possible!
#7 backup solutions:for championships as the worlds you need to have that.examples:we had a gigantic tunnel in brixlegg as a backup,similar to what you know from swiss tunnel races.the Swedish guys had a huge factory as a backup in Gothenburg
#8the organizers life during the event:two examples:I was at the tracks at 6 am in brixlegg preparing,got home at 11.pm each day.henrik and the others in gburg arrived at 4.am each day.
Don’t apply for main or major when you dislike those facts
Don’t show up late at the track
Make sure things are done when the first guys arrive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you are an organizer and you have a family-forget those for the 2 or 3 days.you made a promise,you carry a great burden,you have to live up to expectations.expect to work your ass off and know that this whole event will be a complete nightmare for you-nothing else!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by Donald Campbell on Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jonas Wikstrom
Yoda
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 1:00 am
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Re: mandatory knowledge for organizers

Post by Jonas Wikstrom » Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:03 am

I totally agree with Donald, But you should use XLR connectors for the timing system they can not be unplugged by mistake like tele connectors.
And make it mandatory to publish the results right away on FB or blog, maybe live video. We have wireless internet today so the technology is there, it's 2012.

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