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evening trials ideas


hrmad
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Hi guys,

I've started helping my local club set up trials, done 3 so far, going pretty well. We are thinking of hosting 3 evening trials in the summer, but aren't sure what format to do these trials.

Ideally we would like to give our regular observers a break in the summer. We were thinking of running these events as practice trials, the main difficultly would be stopping the events turning into a bit of a free for all.

We were thinking 6 sections 6 laps. Maybe riders could observe each other or go round in a group and take turns observing each section. 

I just wanted to ask if other clubs have done similar events? How do you set them up? I'd really appreciate some help with ideas, thanks

 

EDIT: with our main championship trials we usually run 3 routes, sportsman, clubman and expert. Probably would follow the same format for these smaller events

Edited by hrmad
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Lancs County MCC run five evening trials a year over 4 laps of 10 sections, some observed some we have to put the boards out, though generally, folks do come along uninvited and pick up a board to observe, and if they stay to the end they get a free attendance at the burger van. I think 6 laps of 6 sections would be a nightmare with the queuing that is likely to happen

We run 2 routes, a fairly easy clubman route and a dead easy beginners/returnees route, starting at 6pm and usually over by 9pm. You need to understand there is no such thing as a practice trial from an insurance point of view in the ACU. If you have a training permit, the insurers require a trainer/rider ratio to be observed, so it's best to have a normal open trial permit and run it as a proper trial, that way everybody knows what they are there for, it's controlled and the insurance is well catered for.

We find that evening trials are very popular and attract riders that wouldn't dream of riding on a Sunday. Wives/partners/girlfriends seem happy to let their men out for a few hours mid-week when they prefer them to be at home at the weekend so don't be surprised if you get decent entries. We charge £15 for an evening trial which easily covers the administration costs and a payment to the landowners. Hope this helps.

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Barnsley club run 4 Novice and Beginners Evening trials start at 6.30 finish approx 9-9.30 ish 3 routes  3 laps of eight sections Plus they pay Observers £10.if not enough observers then it's then we ask ppl to mark each other.

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5 hours ago, hillary said:

Lancs County MCC run five evening trials a year over 4 laps of 10 sections, some observed some we have to put the boards out, though generally, folks do come along uninvited and pick up a board to observe, and if they stay to the end they get a free attendance at the burger van. I think 6 laps of 6 sections would be a nightmare with the queuing that is likely to happen

We run 2 routes, a fairly easy clubman route and a dead easy beginners/returnees route, starting at 6pm and usually over by 9pm. You need to understand there is no such thing as a practice trial from an insurance point of view in the ACU. If you have a training permit, the insurers require a trainer/rider ratio to be observed, so it's best to have a normal open trial permit and run it as a proper trial, that way everybody knows what they are there for, it's controlled and the insurance is well catered for.

We find that evening trials are very popular and attract riders that wouldn't dream of riding on a Sunday. Wives/partners/girlfriends seem happy to let their men out for a few hours mid-week when they prefer them to be at home at the weekend so don't be surprised if you get decent entries. We charge £15 for an evening trial which easily covers the administration costs and a payment to the landowners. Hope this helps.

Our club is amca, so not sure what the rules are concerning practice events. I do have concerns it would be a bit of a free for all. We run 10 sections 4 laps for our championship rounds. We tried one evening event last year 6 sections 6 laps, unfortunately some riders lost count of the laps they had done though! Queuing didn't seem a problem, probably because we only had twenty riders, I can see your point that it would be a problem if we had more entries. Maybe 3 laps of 8 sections would be better and keeping the course relatively short. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

 

4 hours ago, bilks said:

Barnsley club run 4 Novice and Beginners Evening trials start at 6.30 finish approx 9-9.30 ish 3 routes  3 laps of eight sections Plus they pay Observers £10.if not enough observers then it's then we ask ppl to mark each other.

Thanks 3 laps of 8 sounds like a good format, would like to stick to the three routes, its nice to cater to each level, cheers.

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6 hours ago, hillary said:

You need to understand there is no such thing as a practice trial from an insurance point of view in the ACU. If you have a training permit, the insurers require a trainer/rider ratio to be observed, so it's best to have a normal open trial permit and run it as a proper trial, that way everybody knows what they are there for, it's controlled and the insurance is well catered for.

i beg to differ, i'm under the impression that many operate differently to this - ie no observers. Obviously several clubs have practice areas which operate in a similar fashion. Check with your federation (ie AMCA) what is OK (i've been to and ridden AMCA club trials run under this method)

 

as to evening trials - we tried for a long time doing 4 in a row (at the same venue) around the longest nights - ie 1 each Wednesday for 4 weeks - we found that the novelty wore off and the numbers dropped. we now just run two, spaced out by about a month. We put a BBQ on and get a wide range of people - from youths coming straight from school all the way to workers (like me) getting there at 7pm and riding till dusk (then take the markers down!). Really depends upon your riders in your neck of the woods - good luck!

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Barnsly's Evening series is run every fortnight.that way any who works shiftwork is still able to have a ride.Entry fee normally £12 but the Evening Series only £10

 

Edited by bilks
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9 hours ago, rabie said:

i beg to differ, i'm under the impression that many operate differently to this - ie no observers. Obviously several clubs have practice areas which operate in a similar fashion. Check with your federation (ie AMCA) what is OK (i've been to and ridden AMCA club trials run under this method)

 

as to evening trials - we tried for a long time doing 4 in a row (at the same venue) around the longest nights - ie 1 each Wednesday for 4 weeks - we found that the novelty wore off and the numbers dropped. we now just run two, spaced out by about a month. We put a BBQ on and get a wide range of people - from youths coming straight from school all the way to workers (like me) getting there at 7pm and riding till dusk (then take the markers down!). Really depends upon your riders in your neck of the woods - good luck!

We will probably space each trial out by a month or so, gives us time to set out some new sections and do some cutting out. We really want to make the best sections we can and do something fresh for every trial. Maybe leaving a board at each section and asking people to take turns as observer would be good, maybe some riders would see a different side to the sport if they have never observed before. Thanks for your input.

 

7 hours ago, bilks said:

Barnsly's Evening series is run every fortnight.that way any who works shiftwork is still able to have a ride.Entry fee normally £12 but the Evening Series only £10

 

Thanks, we will probably charge £10 an entry too. We are a bit out of the way where we are, so one trial a month would probably be our best bet.

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If you can do it a group check format can be helpful in this type of trial.  Where you have small groups of 4 or 5 riders of the same class or close ride and check ech other.  

My experiance with short trials was good this way.  

Best of luck.  

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Breakheart have a system of self-observing when there are no observers available. Each rider has a punchcard; there's a punch-gun at the end of each section and riders mark themselves. Yes, they could cheat of course, but they'd be only be kidding themselves. Seems a good system to me for a low-key evening trial.

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Well, these trials won't be championship rounds, self marking or groups will be the way to go. There are no trophies involved, so people will only cheat themselves by cheating. The idea is to keep us laying out sections in the summer so we are not out of practice doing it by the time our championship rounds come up again in September and for people to have an evening of fun. We have a really good group of observers, just want to give them a break over the summer.

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