One of the positive unintended side-effects of the 4week extension was that most organisers now pretty much know 4 weeks before the competition how many paddlers in which events they are expecting which does make organisation, startlists, prizes etc easier to plan.Nick Penfold wrote:.....There IS an issue with paddle up, and it has to do with when host-division priority ends. A couple of years ago this was moved from two weeks before the race to four weeks before, and I think it was a mistake. The change was made looking at things from the point of view of the paddle-ups. I'm a supporter of paddle up, but you have to remember that paddle ups are guests, paddling as a privilege, and - within reason - host division paddlers paddle as of right, and should have priority of entry to their own races.
At the next ACM I would like to see, and I would support, a motion to go back to the two week deadline, which ties up with late entry charges and so on.
Perhaps we should consider a single date 3 weeks before the competition as a compromise....
Upto the priority date host division paddlers get places.
At the three week deadline spare places are allocated to waiting list paddlers.
All entries received after the three week deadline are treated as late and incur a late fee.
This would go back to making the entry deadline the same as the priority period, but bringing it forwards by a week, making it slightly more reasonable for paddle-ups than the two-week deadline, and giving one date to the paddlers, rather than the current situation where they can beat the entry deadline but not get an entry