The People Who Make It All Happen
It takes a lot of people to provide events for competitors to race in. This gives a little of the flavour of what actually goes on.
Event Secretaries. Also known as Promoters, these are the people organise the races that we all want to ride in. Their duties are extensive, as prescribed in the CTT Handbook, and cover all manner of things such as: booking the hall; liaising with the police; checking the course; providing signage, timekeepers, marshals and officials; organising prizes; preparing start sheets and finish sheets; collecting entry fees and settling up with the CTT. There are lots of events each year, and so a wide pool of people share out these vital roles. Two people in particular rate a mention, both being extremely successful and yet having quite differing approaches - the prolific Robin Johnson of Brighton Mitre and the entrepreneurial David Collard-Berry of ...a3crg.
Robin organises 11 events each year. His enthusiasm is such that he introduced an extra event (the SCA 30) in 2013, and yet another extra event (the SCA 15)in 2015. That is a phenomenal workload and commitment and is greatly appreciated. He has been doing this for many years now and long may it continue because it will be an enormous hole to fill when he does eventually retire from the role.
David has a real knack of putting on events that people want to ride, and it is not a all uncommon for him to have full fields with extensive reserve lists. He is quite prepared to chop and change his event programme from season to season just to keep it all fresh and attractive. And the organisation of those events is top rate. Marshals with red flags help to keep things safe, and where else do riders get sent home complete with their own printed results sheet?
Robin organises 11 events each year. His enthusiasm is such that he introduced an extra event (the SCA 30) in 2013, and yet another extra event (the SCA 15)in 2015. That is a phenomenal workload and commitment and is greatly appreciated. He has been doing this for many years now and long may it continue because it will be an enormous hole to fill when he does eventually retire from the role.
David has a real knack of putting on events that people want to ride, and it is not a all uncommon for him to have full fields with extensive reserve lists. He is quite prepared to chop and change his event programme from season to season just to keep it all fresh and attractive. And the organisation of those events is top rate. Marshals with red flags help to keep things safe, and where else do riders get sent home complete with their own printed results sheet?
Timekeepers. A large number of events also requires a large number of timekeepers and assistant timekeepers. This is a crucial role as riders will be dependent upon the accuracy of the recording. It is testimony to the skill of those involved just how well these all seems to run.
In the 2014 season the number of timekeepers used for Open events in the Sussex area was approaching 30. There are some stand-out candidates though, who provided a huge level of support. Mick Kilby of Lewes Wanderers was there at 15 events, and Mick Irons of Worthing Excelsior was not far behind him with 13 events. Up there in third place were the double act of Lesley and Bob Donnington.
In the 2014 season the number of timekeepers used for Open events in the Sussex area was approaching 30. There are some stand-out candidates though, who provided a huge level of support. Mick Kilby of Lewes Wanderers was there at 15 events, and Mick Irons of Worthing Excelsior was not far behind him with 13 events. Up there in third place were the double act of Lesley and Bob Donnington.
Statistics. In a sport where success or otherwise can be measured in a mere handful of seconds then numbers are crucial. And nobody does numbers better than Ann Human of Eastbourne Rovers. It is always a real pleasure to find her at a race headquarters - the dynamic on-screen results service that she provides throughout an event is second to none. Throughout the season she also provides all of the excellent competition reports for all the many SCA competitions as well as for our sister association ESCA, and this data appears extensively on this site.
Marshals. Certainly not a 'glamour' job, the role of start marshals 'pushing off' and course marshals providing directions is another essential one. It's invariably sourced from volunteers from the host club or from several clubs in the case of an Association event. Do take the effort to thank them as go you past. It might just persuade them to return next year.
Helpers. Lots of other people chip in to help, doing such things as putting up and taking down of signs, results running for interim updates, and most crucially of all providing the catering.
Potential Crisis Averted in 2016
2016 was a challenging year for the CTT locally as, for a variety of reasons,several long standing committee members stepped down and there was a very real possibility of there being no racing in London South district in 2017.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who stepped forward at the 2016 London South District AGM and filled the several vacancies in the committee. There was immense relief that once again people had been prepared to make the commitment. The sport needs volunteers and a huge amount of behind the scenes activities is required to keep it all running well.