Is Div.1 K1 Men Too Large?

[harratts]

Yesterday was 16th February and we were told that the Div.1 / PCC race due to be taking place on the 11th April had already reached the available capacity.

This is the best part of 8 weeks before the race is due to take place, before the official 2015 race season has actually started and before any Slalom Year Books have arrived at our house.

Now that the event is oversubscribed with Div.1 paddlers on their own there is also no opportunity for any Paddle Up entries to be accepted.

With the proposed introduction of Portable Points coming in for the 2016 season which will make interest in these Div.1 events even greater to Div.2 paddlers does something need to change?

Although measures to delay promotion from Div.2 into Div.1 were introduced at the last Canoe Slalom ACM these will do nothing to resolve the current issue. When I last looked, over 165 Div.1 K1 Men's bibs were issued for the start of the 2015 race season.

Could some of these paddlers have been placed into Div.2 to ease Div.1 race congestion and to improve the general standard of Div.2 races?

I do not mean to offend anyone but would be interested to hear the thoughts of others.
Steve

[djberriman]

probably a case for going back to 5 divsions, in fact it might help because the difference in some div 2 courses in particular can be huge.

[djberriman]

2015 bibs

1 K1M 166
1 K1W 65
1 C1M 49
1 C1W 26
P/1 C2 34
Vets 16
Total 356

[Chris Baillie]

The list on the website was my up to date list on saturday 14.2.15. and Duncan is correct 117 which is what I posted on the website on saturday the race was over half full. I also asked the team managers to get their teams to me asap.

Since then I have received some Pan celtic teams a mixture of div 1 and non div 1 paddlers and spent many hours yesterday logging them but not updating the start list sheet.

By the time I finished late yesterday evening I had 200 for Sunday hence my post on this line and on the website.

I need to go through and check for possible duplication, between the manager's lists and individual entries and this will take time.

I am a volunteer with other things on hence the reason I said that I would up date the list by the end of the week.

Additionally I am currently receiving Pinkston entries and it is nearing the half full point for a June race.

Chris

[BaldockBabe]

Could some of these paddlers have been placed into Div.2 to ease Div.1 race congestion and to improve the general standard of Div.2 races?

If Div 2 was generally held on more interesting water then people probably wouldn't mind so much. However, you will lose people to the sport if you demote them to a divison where they don't feel challenged by the water.

[boatmum]

Really interesting and it is great that clearly more paddlers are coming into the sport and making their way up the rankings - really what's needed to promote the sport.

However what this does mean is a desperate need for more volunteers to help with timing, judging (especially at the Div 1 and Prem races at section judge level) and all the other components of running a race.

As it is I think the section judges this year are going to be judging pretty long stints at races which arguably goes with the territory but more folk are needed to qualify as section judges, if larger races are to be accommodated going forward.

While some paddlers and indeed parents feel that judges in particular are a nuisance races cannot be run without them - just saying

[stevepearson]

More divisions ? should there be more demotions a the end of the season then, in all divisions ? ,& it be harder to get promotion? or is it that there are simply more paddlers which could mean more races required over additional divisions?

I see races dropping from the calendar (Abbey Rapids, Cardiff/Tee's - depends on your perspective). If we have more races we need more volunteers to run them.

I agree, portable points is likely to be impacted if races are oversubscribed, at least this season the Div1 will get priority over Div2 etc in the Div1 races; so getting my entries in early!

[BaldockBabe]

As it is I think the section judges this year are going to be judging pretty long stints at races which arguably goes with the territory but more folk are needed to qualify as section judges, if larger races are to be accommodated going forward.

We also need more daylight hours. If anyone could arrange that I would really aprreciate it. Particularly if they were sunny daylight hours

[boatmum]

We also need more daylight hours. If anyone could arrange that I would really aprreciate it. Particularly if they were sunny daylight hours

Well in Scotland in March there are between 11 and 13 hrs of daylight

April between - 13hrs and 15hrs

So should be enough light - now whether that is sunny light or Scotch mist light I cant say

[BOMAD]

my humble opinion is that promotion is too easy and that there is an imbalance between those being promoted and those being demoted.

Promotion should be made harder in that you have to win races to get promoted and not simply be in the top five from a large start list.

[davebrads]

Personally speaking as an organiser and a competitor I don't want to see events running more than about 8 hours however much daylight there is. An 8 hour race means a minimum of 10 hours work for the organisation team, and racers don't want to be hanging around all day between runs.

[CeeBee]

Agree with Dave Bradshaw.

I think around 8 hours racing per day is about the limit i.e. approx 4 hrs per run including 30 minute for judges runs leaves 3 1/2 hrs for the ranking race which is 210 entries. You also have to factor in 210/2 minutes i.e. 1 hr 45 for practice runs at 30 second intervals. So, I think agreeing a limit is a good plan and is transparent to both organisers and paddlers.

It is good to see so many enthusiastic paddlers wanting to race and it is s shame that they cannot all enter. Regardless of the system, there are more paddlers wanting to race at Div 1 than there is time for. Therefore, some people will undoubtable be disappointed and some will kick off and take it out on the poor organiser.

I also think you need to consider the quality of the race. Part of the experience at Div 1s, is the opportunity to practise on the course on Friday and Saturday nights. We want to safeguard the experience for those who do get entries and encourage continued participation. It is better for 210 people to have a quality race rather then 250 have a poorer quality race.

Looking at the calendar, there are sufficient Div 1s on the calendar for people to enter throughout the year. Paddles Up is always an option for experience but appreciate you don't earn points by doing this.

[BaldockBabe]

Will this issue get worse when portable points are introduced?

[Glen Pether]

Looking at the calendar, there are sufficient Div 1s on the calendar for people to enter throughout the year.

There may be a good number of div 1 races to enter but there are races in May and June that young paddlers doing GCSE and A level exams won't enter.

I also think that portable points needs serious reconsideration.

[Dee]

Worth noting that Shepperton is now full too (5 weeks ahead of event)