NEW RACE-DAY REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR THE LEINSTER LEAGUE
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Conor O'Farrell | May 29 2019, 1:15pm | With another busy race expected this evening, we would just like to clarify a few things about the new registration process on race day for the Leinster League. As we migrate to the new timing system, it is imperative that we follow this process to the letter. • EVERYONE must sign-in on race day, regardless of whether you are registered online. • EVERYONE must SCAN-IN with their chip, at registration. • NO CHIP, NO RESULT. Everyone must have a timing chip attached to their shoe. This must be registered annually and swiped-in on each and every race day (as above). If you lose your chip out on course, please let one of the finishing marshals know. • SIGN UP EARLY, please purchase annual membership at least 24 hours before the race. If your name is not in the system, it is not possible for you to race. As all of our participant information is downloaded from the website, we may not have an up to date list within 24 hours of the race. We will always endeavour to facilitate a new download of runner information to ensure everyone is included, but this may not be possible in some remote locations, or due to a busy registration. • REGISTRATION CLOSES 15 minutes before the race starts, to allow the volunteer team to get to the start line and set up. • EARLY STARTERS should make themselves known to the registration team upon arrival and sign-in. Early start is usually 30 minutes before the main race. • JUNIOR/SHORT COURSE runners should also make themselves known to the registration team upon arrival and sign-in. Short course start is usually 10 minutes after the main race. Many Thanks The Committee |
| Stuart Scott | May 29 2019, 4:49pm | Point #2 is worth highlighting in a separate post just in case anyone overlooked it (I refused to believe this last week despite being told multiple times!): * EVERYONE must SCAN-IN with their chip, at registration. * |
| Conor O'Farrell | Jun 15 2019, 5:50pm | Hi All A quick reminder on this: * EVERYONE must SCAN-IN with their chip, at registration. *. If you don't have a chip, your first chip will be provided free of charge. While most people are adhering to this, we have had a number of people racing without scanning-in. This causes us endless headaches when trying to resolve results. In the future, unscanned/unchipped runners will not get a result. Regards Conor |
| Conor O'Farrell | Jun 20 2019, 2:53pm | Hi All I'm on again to remind everyone that you must both sign in AND scan in for each and every Leinster League Race. Last night at Powerscourt Uphill we had 18 people who did not scan in at all, 4 of whom do not even have a chip assigned to them. This creates big headaches for the laptop operators, resulting in delays at prizegiving and means that the results are slow to be published. Please spread the word on this to ensure all runners know that the must both SIGN AND SCAN at registration. In future, automatic DNFs will be issued for any runners not having scanned in. It is unfair for myself and the Laptop Operators to be spending a few hours trying to resolve results when we have a simple process to prevent it. Thanks Con |
| Gordon Place | Jun 20 2019, 5:12pm | Hi Conor, it seems fairly clear that hardly any one searches for a forum post or any other info, and just ask the same questions before their first race, if at all... how do I register, where do I get my number etc. Is there any way that an automatic email can be sent with confirmation of membership explaining everything, and then nobody can say they weren't told when dnf'd. Just an suggestion, no idea how hard it is to set up or if even possible, and appreciating everything is done by volunteers. Or at least this post stays at the top of the forum? Similar to the first event? |
| Andrew Hanney | Jun 20 2019, 5:44pm | Could be as simple as, everyone is directed towards the scan desk first. They pick up a token, they then go to the sign in table and must hand in the token to show they’ve scanned. |
| Gordon Place | Jun 20 2019, 6:07pm | People seem to be slipping past the desks despite best efforts to direct them, and even though everyone around them is doing what needs to be done. Seems another addition to that process. Email or something on sign up leaves no excuse or dispute on DNF? |
| Conor O'Farrell | Jun 20 2019, 6:19pm | I'm not really sure what the best solution is here. I've not much confidence that people will actually read an email all the way through of there is too much info in it. The website and forum is our main conduit to the members. Mass emails get blocked by spam filters etc., so this is the main portal. I plan on updating every relevant event page with the registraion process and hopefully it people will notice. |
| Brendan Lawlor | Jun 20 2019, 6:38pm | Hi Conor I think Race Directors can help you here by making this new sign in process part of the pre race announcement and if necessary delaying race start time a few minutes to pick up any laggards. After that it’s DNF time for anyone without a chip. The carrot / stick here is a valid finish time versus a DNF but at the moment people who aren’t playing ball are getting a finish time anyhow. IMRA members please help out to get this sorted. Oh and please stop wearing your numbers on your shorts, it’s impossible for finish line people to pick these out |
| Jason Dowling | Jun 20 2019, 6:51pm | The solution to this lies with the RD and how they setup the registration and the finish line area. "Exclusion Zones" need to be setup around both the registration area and the finish line. The registration area needs to be laid out in such a manner so that when a person is signing in for the race, they have to pass the chip reg before they "exit" the registration area. After they have finished their registration, they are not allowed back into the "exclusion zone" around registration. If a queue develops (which it the most likely scenario), then it must be queued outside of the "exclusion zone". This way, it is very clear to all the volunteers behind the desks who is registering. Too often, the registration process resembles a very packed conference with people talking and chatting right in front of the registration area and this causes a lot of problems and confusion for the people doing registration. The finish line needs to be treated in the very same manner by creating an "exclusion zone" around the finish line. This gives the volunteers the space to operator it so that they can do their job with no interference. This also allows the finish line volunteers to quickly "grab" runners who didn't show their number at the finish line (which is a very regular occurance). When a volunteer attempts to pursue these people through the crowds, it means that the finish line is now down one person for a while and this can have a knock-on effect on the rest of the finish line volunteers. The finish lines for most of the races that I've been at this year have been nothing short of chaotic and this places a lot of unnecessary pressure on the finish line people. I've spent a lot of time at both the start and finish lines over the course of this season and the solutions above are both very simple and easily implemented but the RD has to drive the solution on race day. |
| Barry Minnock | Jun 20 2019, 10:41pm | Just a quick feedback point. This type of information ideally should to be posted as a news item and in policy & beginners sections of website. For me a forum is a place for discussion rather than official policy. This piece could easily be missed. Only raising point as I'm seen a trend of important information being buried in the forum ... not everyone looks at forum ... everyone lands on homepage for results etc |
| Brendan Lawlor | Jun 21 2019, 8:14am | Thats a very good suggestion from Barry and can be done straight away |
| Richard Leahy | Jun 21 2019, 9:51am | While I have no problem with the DNF suggestion, I think a process change might also work. How about adding a tick box/slot for an initial as the first column on the registration sheet? This would have the effect of preventing anyone who had not chip registered from completing the form. This could be augmented by the volunteers at registration asking everyone to make sure they had registered their chips before signing. Full disclosure - I was one of those that forgot to scan at Wednesday nights race. I stood in the queue for several minutes but did not notice where the chip registration was going on. |
| Justin Rea | Jun 21 2019, 1:07pm | Get rid of sign-in sheets altogether. Chip scan should register both pre-registered or voucher runners. This could mean vouchers are virtual too? The less paper the better |
| Richard Leahy | Jun 21 2019, 1:23pm | Agree 100%, but I suspect getting rid of vouchers and sign in sheet requires recoding the platform. This may be part of the work already underway but in the interim adding a column to the sheet could improve things immediately. |
