Open District Race Coordinating Question

[jbofkc]

Folks,

Second year district pwd race coordinator here. Good Day!

After bumping the entrants last year from under 50 cars to just short of 80 and upgrading the event on the whole. This district professional Scouters have asked that this years race be an open event.

Last year, the top three from each Pack within the district qualified. I ran an open event pitting each car/rank against each other to determine the fastest car in the district. For example, 80 cars were in the pool, they raced each lane each round and narrowed the field by round.

For 2009, if the boys want to race they can enter and have a good time. I am all for that, but it presents some potentail challenges in time management if I get a larger field of cars. My question to more seasoned race coordinators is ....

"At what car count do I go from an open race to breaking the event down into rank sub-divisions and then take the top from each rank to determine the fastest in the district? Tigers run at 9am, Wolf run at 10:30, etc. Or, simply leave it at rank champions."

Perhaps you wise and seasoned coordinators have some car count break points and format/scheduling suggestions so folks are not sitting around all day. Thank you for your input

[ohiofitter]

Am I understand this right.you want to open the race to all the scouts within your district and not just the top three that placed in there perspective council packs


If that is the case let the boys race a bracket race.It might take a little while to set it up depending if they show up....I know most people like the communicative time races.but IMHO that's just the short and sweet races...parents spend the time to build a car with there child and then when its time to race.oh lets hurry up and be done with it.........that's not the true meaning of this event...Hopefully Darin McGrew will chime in here because I think it there group that runs point for the cars and it seems that might give you the most racing action

[gpraceman]

Our district opened up the race to all Cub Scouts within the district and attendance went downhill each year. Then when I was the race chair we closed it down to the top 2 racers per age group and attendance went right back up. I think the moral of the story is that when you take away the feeling that someone has "earned" their way to the district race, it starts to lose its appeal.

[Stan Pope]

Randy's experience is consistent with a nationwide survey that I did over 10 years ago ... participation in the district/council race peaks when the "trip to districts" is earned and invitation is selective, but not too selective. The peak appeared to be at about 3 to 4 racers per age group. 20% to 25% of the district's registered Cub Scouts is a likely nose count. For most districts, this many means that age group racing is appropriate! Trying to run 300 to 400 scouts in one group is nasty!

The other benefit of this plan is that packs have reason to hold their own races and more than trophies is at stake ... excitement in the pack races is elevated!

[jbofkc]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your input. We are in accord with each other on the key points points you make.

Ohiofitter - yes, any or all Scouts in the district can race, but not by my choice.

Let me state my position. I was opposed - lone decenting voice - to opening the race for two reasons. First, like any "race event" the field gets narrowed. The Pack races are the first line for this. Second, the Pack races control the number of cars for district venue selection and create a sense of demand.

The district feels that it was time to open the event as every other district event is open to all Scouts. The district race is seven years old. I yielded to the majority vote noting that I will be making the judgement of continuing this open event staus going into 2010 should I elect to serve as district race coordinator. They agreed.

I am hopeful it is well attended and will promote it with as much enthusiasum as last year. The PWD is a big event in my family and I want it to be such in others as well.

Stan Pope and Randy - thank you for your real world input about attendance actually dropping as it runs for anyone to enter.

Looks like the best race grouping is breaking things down by rank (age) for a large field of entrants. My thoughts.
* Any idea on a number of entrants to begin breaking down by rank? I have coordinated races in the 80's. Beyond that, I do not have experieince when adding another 10, 20, 30 or more cars over 80.
* Would it be advised to inspect the cars the night before or a few day before the race to ease the work load on raceday for a larger group?

I appreciate your input.

[gpraceman]

We always raced by age group, with each age group having its own time slot. Basically, as one group was checking in, another was racing. The top racer from each age group would then come back at the end of the day for the overall race. It made for a long day for the race crew, but was more manageable than trying to run everyone at the same time, which would have required running multiple tracks.

[Stan Pope]

District events should serve the entire district. PWD can serve two ways: directly by members participating in the event and indirectly by stimulating participation in the corresponding pack event. Applying "not too stringent qualification" criteria accomplishes both goals. In fact, considering direct service alone, the "not too stringent qualification" serves better than "no qualification"!

Looks like the best race grouping is breaking things down by rank (age) for a large field of entrants. My thoughts.
* Any idea on a number of entrants to begin breaking down by rank? I have coordinated races in the 80's. Beyond that, I do not have experieince when adding another 10, 20, 30 or more cars over 80.

The big issue is how long the boys "sit on their hands" versus "active participation." If the boys have a specific number of heats to participate in, then, as the total number of entrants increases, so does the percent of time they spend "sitting on their hands." Tough call as to acceptable ratio. I think my district is trying another approach to improving this ratio this year ... Since competitors draw for lanes, we can add a track to each age group without affecting outcome accuracy. This will approximately double the number of heats run per minute for each age group and cut the duration of the age group racing approximately in half without affecting the number of heats that each boy will race!

* Would it be advised to inspect the cars the night before or a few day before the race to ease the work load on raceday for a larger group?

I appreciate your input.

If your district is geographically small, you might separate the inspection from the racing ... if you can assure unquestionable security for the cars. For larger districts (some of our units have a 1 hour drive to get to the center of the district, and it is worse in areas of low population density ... I seem to recall a north central US state, Wyoming, maybe, that was one district) they need to happen the same day with no long gap between inspection and racing. A one-hour prerace inspection for a group of 80 racers should be sufficient, since the cars have almost all been inspected (hopefully to the same criteria) before during pack races.