Outdoor calendar - discussion!

[DianneH]

I have looked at trying to put an outdoor calendar together this morning and this is not an easy task!

I had thought that the club was moving forward, old and new members, more youngsters starting at the club - and we could look forward to a good outdoor season. What problems do I face?

I am now informed that some of our club members are racing in the North East, some in the North West and some in the Mid East. Everyone has a choice which region they race in so no problem there - but what about Batley for its club racing?

Put all 3 regions together and 6 national weekends thrown into the mix + other events Supercup, Oople etc - where is our outdoor calendar?

We had a fantastic Supercup event last year and even this is now affected because a Mid east regional is the same weekend and a large number of drivers that would have attended will do the regional instead.

As drivers you can choose what you do - turn up or not, go to another club when you want, but someone has to commit to the club to attend meetings that are put on the calendar - and we also have the weather to contend with!

1. Will we ever have a Sunday where we get a good attendance?
2. Do I personally have to commit to every Sunday in order to catch a few racers at a meeting to bring funds into the club?
3. If attendance is low at each meeting because a third of the drivers are away at whichever of the 3 Regional Series they are attending will other drivers come back again because there was no competition to race against?
4. Can we run a Club Championship series?
5. Will we ever have enough U13s at the same meetings to be able to put them into the same heat? This worked so well last year and encouraged others into the club.

I am sure you all have your reasons for selecting the regional series you have chosen to do - travel distance, quality of tracks etc but planning a club calendar is made more difficult when club members are divided in their choices.

Have I come up with a suitable calendar - not yet!!

[Aire valley]

Don't despair Dianne....some of us will be there to support the club..!
In the " old days " when there were many more RC racers about I regularly accused the BRCA of trying to destroy local clubs and entirely dominate the sport
by taking away racers to too many BRCA rounds. Cant blame the racers for wanting to compete at "higher" level but if clubs are not viable and close, then were will the BRCA hold their rounds.. !
Nothing changes....
Thank you for an excellent indoor season.......hope you can do the same outdoors...

[Danny Harrison]

Aside from next Sunday and north east regionals, I'm sure ill be there every week. I think you will be fine judging from the numbers indoor and last season. If you make any losses maybe you will have to have a rethink then.

[PaulFarrand]

Personally I think the club will be better off. If different people are doing different regions then there will be fewer people not turn up. If everyone did the same regions you lose them all in one go. This way it's only a few a meeting as I don't think many of the regional dates clash. Only my opinion tho...

[Bells]

James and myself will there every event except family holidays , were both looking forward to racing outside

[Oscar]

Personally I have done the whole regionals and nationals thing and honestly I now prefer to just turn up at club meetings. I'm never going to win a regional and to get into the top 50% at a national would require almost a miracle
I am obviously heavily involved with the oOple series, so have no option but to be away on those dates, however other than that I intend to support the club as often as possible.
I do get Diannes point that it is a lot to ask her to commit to every weekend, but we do know that we are at the mercy of the British weather and will naturally lose some of the planned meetings anyway. I am happy to stand in and run a few meetings if Dianne would like a break, but others will have to help out a bit too. Simple things like turning up 20 or 30 mins early to mow the grass makes a HUGE difference. I'm sure between us we can easily arrange the correct people to have keys on the correct week etc.

I suggest planning to run almost every week is the best option for the club. Just look at the other successful clubs withing 100 miles, virtually all of them offer regular weekly meetings.......

I'll volunteer to help out and give Dianne a break if others put their hands up too

[NeilRalph77]

Originally Posted by PaulFarrand

Personally I think the club will be better off. If different people are doing different regions then there will be fewer people not turn up. If everyone did the same regions you lose them all in one go. This way it's only a few a meeting as I don't think many of the regional dates clash. Only my opinion tho...

I think I agree with Paul if everyone was spread over 2 regions you could stand to loose a large % of the clubs drivers on those dates, but with people spread over 3 regions that figure should be less and not everyones doing regionals anyway,

[Tobamory]

And you have my Vote, ive just started coming so more for the pot.