Short Season??

boatmum · Post by **boatmum** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:34 am

I woner if somebody can lend some insight to the short season ruling.

If promoted from Div 1 to Prem at the start of July the next Prem race (this year) wasn't until 6th Sept (yesterday) so a fairly limited opportunity to crank up the points by the end of the season - how are relegations decided? With 37 K1 women in Prem (roughly) currenly, and the year book stating there should be 25 K1 women in Prem at the start of 2010 do those promoted to prem mid season have to start again?

Any insights would be appreciated:-)

boatmum · Post by **boatmum** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:38 am

Also meant to add

Some promotees to Prem would have gone up after the current 31 July cut off date and have a protected season but still paddling in the same number of races as those promoted at the start of July??!! ie without short season protection ??

davebrads · Post by **davebrads** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:28 pm

This does seem very unfair, I don't know the motivation behind returning to a mid-season cut-off for short season, but I am sure that they didn't foresee that someone would only have 4 races to score points, in their first season in a new division, when everyone else has 5.

The mid-season cut-off might make some sense in the other divisions where it is possible to get to enough races to be able to "throw away" a couple of results, but it makes no sense in Prem. In order to get the opportunity to score in 7 races, you would have had to have got promoted before Easter Grandtully, which means you would have had to win 3 races out of 4, so that only one promotee in each class could possibly do it. Next year it will be worse, with the situation at Shepperton.

Munchkin · Post by **Munchkin** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:51 pm

Last year division 2 paddlers that were promoted to division 1 before the cut off were given short season protection. The rule was not applied then so maybe it won't be this time?

biker01 · Post by **biker01** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:14 am

Rule 3.1 of the year book states that the short season cut off date is the 31st July. Whilst this works for promotion to division 2 and division 1 due to the number of races, it’s clearly a big disadvantage for anyone being promoted to the premier division.

There are only 9 premier division races, with the 5th premier division race at Bala Mill on the 28th June, followed by the 6th premier division race at Washburn on the 6th September. Therefore anyone promoted to the premier division between the 29th June and the 31st July are at a disadvantage, in that they only have 4 races to secure their safety in the premier division for the following season. Given that any new paddler needs time/races to adjust to the higher division, and that your best 5 races (which you don’t have) count – this is crazy.

Although not in the spirit of the competition, any paddler that is only 1 qualifying score away from being promoted to the premier division would be wise to enter as a judge at the division 1 race at HPP and Washburn in July, and then compete next at Grandtully. Thus assuming they gain sufficient promotion points at Grandtully, they will still be able to enter the last 4 premier division races of the season, whilst securing their place in the premier division for the following season (under the SS rule), with the winter ahead of them to train hard so that they are ready to compete on an equal footing at the start of the next season.

In hindsight, maybe the 3 paddlers who were promoted in July should have raced tactically, and waited for the Grandtully double before being promoted. But it’s now September, and too late for that.

I hope the 3 paddlers in questions obtain enough points to secure their safety, and/or the BCU realise that the ruling puts paddlers promoted in July to the premier division at a disadvantage. It will be a shame if the BCU don’t recognise and support the hard work and effort of our younger paddlers –after all they are the future of the sport.

boatmum · Post by **boatmum** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:44 am

Thanks everyone

Even if to reassure me that I'd not gone mad :p

Hopefully the guys responsible will take a look at this and sort something out. I guess some things are trial and error when putting new rules together

Thanks for your thoughts - and support!

JRD · Post by **JRD** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:28 am

The problem is that the wording of rule 3.1 is ambiguous:

"...Competitors promoted, or granted ranking status after 31st July are designated 'Short Season'..."

We checked this with the relevant officials earlier in the season, (for obvious reasons), and were told that promotees are granted short season protection regardless of when they are promoted. I understand that others have clarified similarly with Anne. By the way, the comma is the important bit that's missed on a casual reading but affects the meaning considerably!

Hope this helps.

John Dixon

Kazz · Post by **Kazz** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:16 pm

Not sure why this rule exists if it is not adhered to ??? I dont think its been applied in the last few years it seems that all promotees get short season I agree that anyone promoted when there is less than five counting races left in the season should be granted short season--but for those promted when there are five or more left should not

boatmum · Post by **boatmum** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:25 pm

John

Thanks for the clarification viz the comma! That makes all the difference

when you read the rule again again slowly.

John · Post by **John** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:40 pm

the comma is the important bit

You still need an extra comma for it to change the meaning. It should be "Competitors promoted, or granted ranking status after 31st July, are designated 'Short Season'"
In 2008 it was "Competitors promoted during a season, or granted ranking status after 30th June are designated 'Short Season'", which was clearer.
Does anyone know why it was changed?

biker01 · Post by **biker01** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:04 pm

Agreed, that now makes sense regarding rule 3.1, although, I think different dates/criteria should apply to each division when it comes to the short season rule.

roodthomas · Post by **roodthomas** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:30 pm

To be honest I just think that the date is ridiculous! I was promoted from div 1 to prem on the 1st of the 2 days at Nottingham. Since then others at the top end of div 1 have been promoted because of the number of race opportunities they've had. This has meant that I haven't been able to race until the washburn prem where I had a poor race and so out of a possible 4 races I've already got a bad start. Because of the dates involved I got promoted well before the cut off so does that mean that now I'm going to be demoted because of dates!? The date should be decided year on year dependant on the race calender!

Nicky · Post by **Nicky** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:13 pm

The rule does not state that the mid season promotees can get demoted. The rule states two situations:
1 if you get promoted mid season
2 if you get reinstated after 31 July.

In either of these situations you have protection from demotion as "short season" applies. The thinking being that if you want to be reinstated in that division, you should be good enough to stay there, but if you're new, you need time to improve...

That's my understanding...

Nicky

boatmum · Post by **boatmum** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:52 pm

I think you can rest easy "roodthomas" both John Dixon's and Nicky's explanations show that you're safe

Although I don't think that efforts of the Div 1 paddlers who have got promotion qualification after the 31 July should be in any way devalued. They have all worked just as hard as the others who were promoted earlier. It's just good to know that it is a level playing field after all.

I think that John's point (the other John - not JD) is a valid one and that the text in the 2008 rule book looks much clearer. Maybe that text can be adopted for the next rule book with any relevant date changes?

Granddad · Post by **Granddad** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:41 am

Competitors promoted during the season have always granted short season in rule 3.1.
The addition for re ranked padders was to provide short season status for paddlers that applied for ranking late in the season to encorage more paddlers to participate with out the risk of demotion. This was added to the wording in the 1999 year book