at my club in the east midlands we've most of what has been said on this thread ,some worked well & some failed miserably. It seems to me that you can never judge the observer turnout as on the last to trials we held, 1 prior to the world cup, we had 18 observers for 10 sections & the last trial we held, after the world cup we had only 6 observers for 10 sections. My own opinion is that there is some very reliable observers who come to events week in week out & some that not observe at all,& as riders we should thank them for giving their day up.The biggest problem that we have had is when we've run a round of the youth championship. The same excuse that is turned out over & over again is 'i want to watch my lad ride'. ok haven't a problem with that when all the sections are taken but at 1 youth event there was over 50 parents walkin round & only 6 manned sections. Maybe in situations like that you don't start the event until all sections are manned.