As a rider i have been on observer duty due to injury .. It opened my eyes to why observers are a rare and people just dont want to do it 

this is what i took away from the  experience 

 1 first you got to find your section ----- go to them trees its on the left    (im in a wood !) lol

2 then spend 1/2 hour to sort out were the section goes (,on the 4 courses in a sea of flags ! ) (hard ,clubman A,B , easy ,youth /beginner 

3  have to tell the riders were they are going  ----over and over lol

4,make calls on no-stop   when the section is marked out far to tight to ride it non-stop 

5 trying to make out riding numbers because riders dont have number boards but tape the number to the small head light for it  only to be coved in mud and wet 

6 stand around waiting for the few experts that have to hang back  all day !! 

7 pick riders up after they fail a section  as some dont do anything apart from look around to see whos going to help them !

8 if you think you need it take it with as you just can not pop back to the car for it  such a novice mistake !!!!!! 

9 pick which rider goes when theres more than 1  group ( due to how the section  is flagged after the begins cards some go right some go left )

So a very big thank you to all observers  for putting up with this week in week out  in all weathers you are true heroes , 

lol and that's just checking!  Wait until you try to build the entire trials competition event from scratch.

I have several hats and I take each one off to all who observe.

I haven't observed for a few years but intend to do so this year so I can appreciate how hard it is.

As a rider I'm a particularly generous observer, because its "just a bit of fun"

 

Re number boards totally agree, £8k bike and you can't afford a number board, shame on you, sort it out, you know who you are.

 

5 hours ago, theluckyone said:

Re number boards totally agree, £8k bike and you can't afford a number board, shame on you, sort it out, you know who you are.

 

Contemplating the purchase of rider number bibs and transfer that cost onto the rider entry fee, might be the best solution for my venue, the only riders that won't like the idea are the ones with number plates.  Thought was to make different colour bibs for each rider class, that way the checkers will be clear on what line the rider is attempting without even asking.

3 hours ago, lemur said:

Contemplating the purchase of rider number bibs and transfer that cost onto the rider entry fee, might be the best solution for my venue, the only riders that won't like the idea are the ones with number plates.  Thought was to make different colour bibs for each rider class, that way the checkers will be clear on what line the rider is attempting without even asking.

Good solution, at a price! If you think you might get 100 riders, you'll probably need about 200 bibs so you can overlap the numbers and cover varying entries on each route. If the bibs are a fiver each, that's £1000!

Re the numbers, it helps a lot if clubs provide a second number to go on the back of the helmet. The last few times I've observed I've used the Trial Observer app. Assuming I have a decent view of the front of the bike as it enters the section I tap it in immediately so I don't have to carry the number in my head.

30 minutes ago, trapezeartist said:

Good solution, at a price! If you think you might get 100 riders, you'll probably need about 200 bibs so you can overlap the numbers and cover varying entries on each route. If the bibs are a fiver each, that's £1000!

One of my new local area rider friends owns a screen print business, I plan to be using his services wherever possible 👍 bibs show on front and back, plan is to get the background colours and number colours to match the number plate class description in the rule book.  Plus I need a bunch of special bibs for officials and minders possibly even checkers.   We already have access to one live laps bar code timing system if we want to use it, but might only use that for a Scott Trial event.