[Members] Marshalling at Club Road Races

Thu Jan 5 07:55:03 AEDT 2012

Hi all ... it has been a long time and many of you may not even know me, however, I felt it was important to provide some feedback on this issue.

I first raced at the the Illawarra Cycle Club in 1991/92. At this time, we had some marshals on the roads to ensure the safety of the riders - certainly not as many as there are now nor where any of us trained in the art of traffic control. What we did have though was the drive to keep our friends and fellow riders safe while enjoying the thing that we all have in common - road racing.

I know of members that have come out to the races for weeks on end to support their friends and fellow racers even though they couldn't race due to injury. I know of others that don't race but still come and join the club to assist the running of events. They are there for the enjoyment of the sport and to help their friends.

We all want to race a bike flat out along the roads but unfortunately in this day and age, the requirement by those that grant us permission to race (Council and Police) require the Club to provide qualified traffic controllers to look after each race regardless of the number of riders, the size of the club or the size of the clubs bank balance. The only way that the Club can do this is by each member standing up and taking their turn to be trained in traffic control and then to use that knowledge a few times a year to ensure the safety of riders just as we expect others to do for us.

With the number of members in the Club, each member shouldn't have to do a turn on the Marshal roster too many times IF all Club Members do their share for the Club and their friends. I agree with Jeff that the Marshal groups should run each weekend from start to finish including the sign on of riders, setting up of morning / afternoon tea, organising the marshals / commissaires etc. And I also believe that their should be consequences for them not doing so. We have tried this in the past and it 'sort of' worked for a short period of time. However, when people didn't turn up for their roster, the same people stepped in and ran the race with no consequences - visible ones at least - for those that skipped their turn without making alternate arrangements. The same people shouldn't be stepping in to run a weekend race and as a result miss out on racing themselves. We all want the same thing to enjoy the sport.

Looking at the proposal to employ traffic controllers for club racing and the costs associated with it, I can't see too many of racing every weekend and paying $20 to $35 to enter - as much as it is to enter a CNSW race. It would in my view also be prohibitive to families and youngsters wanting to race. We have a hard enough time now encouraging juniors to race adding the burden of a substantial entry fee would just make this harder.

The bottom line is that we are one of a very few clubs in metropolitan NSW to have a road course to race on. Most other clubs have an off road course in a 1 to 2 km loop. The down side is that we need to manage the safety of ourselves and other road users. 

Andrew Telford
andrew at telfordinternet.com.au

On 2011-12-08, at 9:07 PM, Jeff Gray wrote:

> Hello All
>  
> I am taking the opportunity to write to you all before we head into the Christmas break, to give you some food for thought about the topic of marshalling at our Club’s road races.
>  
> Unless we manage to find a solution to the issue of marshalling at the Club road races, then we will only have the resources to be able to conduct racing every second week at best and once every four weeks at worst. If there is someone else in the Club that thinks they can bring fresh ideas to this area then I am happy to stand aside from the role of marshal group co-ordinator. There is a Club meeting scheduled for next week, Monday 12th December, please come along if you are interested in helping to resolve this.
>  
> Listed below are some points that I feel are pertinent to the issue and some that have been raised by Club members in regards to paying for traffic control. I would appreciate feedback on any of these.
>  
> The Past Road Season (Winter roster 1 April to 30 September 2011)
>  
> ·         The reduction in the number of accredited traffic controllers (TCs) within in the Club impacted on the road racing during the winter by way of reduced race distances.
> ·         Although there may be a perception that a large number of members are skipping out on their marshal duties and should have been suspended under the marshalling policy, this is not the case. If a member misses their scheduled duty they are provided with a chance to  make up for the missed duty before any suspension is applied. In all but one instance members arranged a replacement duty.
> ·         Due to the shortage of marshals, we were unable to roster additional marshals to each group, as a spare, to cover unexpected or last minute absences. It is understood that nearly all of us have the type of family, work or life commitments that could see us called away at the last minute, leaving us in a position of being unable to arrange a replacement.
> ·         Every weekend of road racing during the winter season was in doubt as to whether racing could go ahead. There was not one weekend when an issue of some kind didn’t leave me to consider whether there would be marshals for racing to proceed. This was exacerbated by the fact that we did not have the enough marshals available to allocate spares to each group.
>  
> Current Position on the TC Marshals
>  
> ·         Currently there are 32 TCs marshalling the summer season (Oct – Mar).
> ·         When the winter road season commences there will be an additional 12 TCs available for marshalling (assuming they return to winter racing after their summer break).
> ·         There will be another 8 TCs whose accreditation lapses in April. Based on the current trends, these members may not renew their accreditation.
> ·         I estimate we may have as few as 36 TCs available for winter road racing.
> ·         We need a minimum of 5 TCs to run a long course race and I intend on allocating 1 spare TC to each group in order to avoid the issues of the past season, that is to cover last minute or unavoidable absences. This results in 6 marshal groups available for the coming road season (April to September 2012).
> ·         If there is no increase in the number of accredited TCs we will not be able to race every weekend of the winter season, unless we decide to pay a contractor to provide traffic control.
>  
> Marshals Required to Run Road Racing
>  
> ·         In order to run the road races we need marshals other than TCs. There seems to be a perception that the non-TC marshals are not necessary for the races to proceed.
> ·         Regardless of what resolution is arrived at in relation to TCs, there will always be a need for non-TC marshals in order for the racing to proceed. Everyone will still be required to do at least some marshal duty.
> ·         It has been proposed that in future the marshal groups be arranged so that they have total responsibility for each week’s road racing. Therefore, they will have to organise amongst the group to attend, set up, sort out the traffic controls for marshalling, take entries, run the races, commissaire, provide lead and following cars, record the results, pack up and provide a race report.
>  
> Proposal Regarding Paying for TCs
>  
> ·         It has been proposed that we pay for traffic controllers for road racing and therefore remove the requirement for the Club members to do this. It is proposed this will result in:
> o   Freeing up members and remove a disincentive from participating in road racing.
> o   Reduce the cost to the Club of training TCs and these funds can be used to pay for traffic control.
> ·         In my opinion the only way we can successfully pay for traffic control is by using an accredited contractor to provide this service.
> ·         It has been proposed the cost of using outside TCs be recouped by some of the following methods:
> o   Increased entry fee for the races.
> o   Charging for the use of the velodrome by various training groups.
> o   A yearly charge to members who participate in road racing.
> ·         Some members may wish to continue as accredited TCs and they be exempt from any additional charges.
> ·         Attached are some initial costings that reflect what members would have to pay if the Club choses to pay for traffic control. I am not advocating any of the proposals listed, I am providing these costings for information purposes only.
>  
> Thank you if you have read this far.
>  
> Regards
>  
> Jeff Gray
>  
>  
>  
> <Marshal Costings as at Dec 2011.pdf>_______________________________________________
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