Having ridden in the Costa Brava 2 day trial again this year, a great event, I was very impressed with the results system. Each bike had a "transponder" and score was entered at the end of the section, much the same as punch cards.

This was then sent to central score system.

Instant results!

I too am very impressed by such systems but am also a little concerned about the current obsession with instant results. As many of you know I do the results for the Lakes 2 Day and am really proud that myself and a couple of helpers can produce results for 180 riders over 2 days and 80 sections within a few minutes of the last card being handed in.The problem is when we get to club and regional level when one club official has spent all day taking the entries, possibly even helped to mark out and then they are expected to magically produce results before tea time and if they don't they are then subject to dogs abuse on social media, this is not good.

Riders are very keen to praise these electronic systems which I repeat are absolutely brilliant but they come at a cost. They are also happy to praise continental federations and organisers for using such systems but would be quick to berate the ACU or clubs if the entries went up by a couple of quid to pay for such like, it's a question of balance

I think in general people are OK with waiting a day or two for results to appear, but that may be shifting as part of the current trend for the "customer" to demand instant service regardless of whether those providing it are part-time volunteers.

I recall as a club secretary in the 80s there was an unspoken general expectation that results would be available on the Sunday evening after a trial, though of course posting them out meant most wouldn't see them until Tuesday at the earliest. I recall the indignation of the Motor Cycle News local correspondent who phoned me on a Sunday evening when I told her I was going out that evening and the results wouldn't be available until Monday.

Edited November 19, 20196 yr by cleanorbust

Most clubs i know have the results very soon after the end of the trial (which is great) what i hate is the total delay in making them available to everyone. They are like a closely guarded secret. A couple of pics and an upload to FB takes 2 minutes.

Back in the day you could have got the results in a saturday night paper or heard them on the radio on the way home. Waiting to monday for results that were completed shortly after the trial is not acceptable. I don't know whether its because the person who has been counting is totally sick of looking at them come 5 o'clock, but the amount of times ive said can i take a pic of these and share them around only to get a confused look. 

Edited November 19, 20196 yr by faussy

I was at the trial (well for 2 sections till my Swm lost spark !!) my son was riding as well and was good to see his scores as  he went round, and know when he would be towards the finish.

obviously won’t make it to club trials - clubs struggle to get observers with pencil and paper never mind scanners !! but got to say it was good.

 

cheers

john

Edited November 19, 20196 yr by John barnett

You need to do the following when running a trial, this will take a lot of effort and numerous visits to the area.

Find suitable land for a trial

Arrange a date trying not to clash with much else

Contact ACU or AMCA for event insurance

Publicise your forthcoming trial

Check the ground for a suitable route as well as the sections

Clear any vegetation or debris

Signs to the event

Lay out route markings and section markers

Collect all entries, get everyone signed on, look after the monies

Find observers

See that everything is running smoothly

Gather up all markers, litter, make good anything needed, secure the area as requested by owner

Pay for use of site

Pay insurance

Tally up scores each class separately then forward to riders

Another job is get rider numbers prior to the event or have bibs ready, after the trial wash bibs if covered in ##@# then sort numerically ready for next time.

If you have not tried the above I suggest you do so as there is also a lot of pleasure gained from organising a trial but at least it gives an insight as to why the results come last on the list of things to do.

The electronic scoring is probably a nice thing if the club is well financed but if there is a programme of trial entrants numbers would still be needed but at least there would be no more rain drenched score sheets to try and decipher, unless water got into the electrics or someone lost their transponder or the scanner played up!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 20196 yr by trialsrfun

Suggest who does so ?

When I first started doing results as a Trials Secretary I used to make a stencil which I fixed to a drum on a Gestetner machine full of horrible purple ink and I too had Eric Adcock on the phone wanting a report for MCN so things have come a long way.  Anyone who doesn't know what a Gestetner machine was it came just after carving in stone 

But the smell of that ink was intoxicating. I remember in grade school, everyone was smelling the freshly printed tests.

Gestetner, invented by an Hungarian bloke sometime between the Bronze and Iron age!

Yea trials in Spain/France are different to over here. Generally speaking the events are fewer and far between and just simply a bigger event. More expensive to enter which therefore covers sausages and red wine at the half way point, tape to mark sections out and now that trialgo software that the Comas uses (and other stuff obvs)

Be good to see trialgo being used a big events over here like Richmond 3 day, S3 rounds... etc.

On 11/19/2019 at 9:36 AM, mickwren said:

I too am very impressed by such systems but am also a little concerned about the current obsession with instant results. As many of you know I do the results for the Lakes 2 Day and am really proud that myself and a couple of helpers can produce results for 180 riders over 2 days and 80 sections within a few minutes of the last card being handed in.The problem is when we get to club and regional level when one club official has spent all day taking the entries, possibly even helped to mark out and then they are expected to magically produce results before tea time and if they don't they are then subject to dogs abuse on social media, this is not good.

Riders are very keen to praise these electronic systems which I repeat are absolutely brilliant but they come at a cost. They are also happy to praise continental federations and organisers for using such systems but would be quick to berate the ACU or clubs if the entries went up by a couple of quid to pay for such like, it's a question of balance

It was the simplisity (sp?) of the system and the efficient way it worked that would be ideal for BTC or WTC i was in no way advocating its widespread usage at ACU events.

In clarification its a great system that probably needs a phone signal and would be an excellent alternative to punchcards and would once set up avoid extra work.

Personally i didnt look at the results instantly as i had lost so many marks it was the system that seemed to offer a fair alternative, nothing more. I actually used it to locate a mates location behind me on the lap.

If entries went up a few quid i wouldnt complain and am a supporter of the ACU 100%. It should be noted that i also support a rise in Trial registration fees so the acu can compete with contintental federations possibly in this way and any others we should be.

 

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by nigel dabster

4 hours ago, nigel dabster said:

It was the simplisity (sp?) of the system and the efficient way it worked that would be ideal for BTC or WTC i was in no way advocating its widespread usage at ACU events.

In clarification its a great system that probably needs a phone signal and would be an excellent alternative to punchcards and would once set up avoid extra work.

Personally i didnt look at the results instantly as i had lost so many marks it was the system that seemed to offer a fair alternative, nothing more. I actually used it to locate a mates location behind me on the lap.

If entries went up a few quid i wouldnt complain and am a supporter of the ACU 100%. It should be noted that i also support a rise in Trial registration fees so the acu can compete with contintental federations possibly in this way and any others we should be.

 

Anything that does away with punch cards gets my vote. Always a cause of trouble when a disgruntled rider gets punched a 5 for  what he thought was a clean?

And punch cards really slow down trials unless there is a dedicated puncher. 

Then there is always someone who loses it. Usually Barry Roads ???

And some cards damaged.

 

On 11/23/2019 at 5:45 AM, brownee said:

Yea trials in Spain/France are different to over here. Generally speaking the events are fewer and far between and just simply a bigger event. More expensive to enter which therefore covers sausages and red wine at the half way point, tape to mark sections out and now that trialgo software that the Comas uses (and other stuff obvs)

Be good to see trialgo being used a big events over here like Richmond 3 day, S3 rounds... etc.

I think signal may be a problem with 3 day, possibly s3 too.