August 16/07 3:49 am - Ontario Provincials High Entry Fees

Posted by Editor on 08/16/07
 

Ontario Provincials High Entry Fees - The Reason

There has been a lot of discussion over the past few days on our Forums about the entry fees for the Ontario Provincial Road Championships (August 26th at Rattlesnake Point), with Senior and Masters riders having to pay $62.85 to enter.

We contacted race organizer Craig Fagan of the Midweek Club to find out more details about the higher than usual entry fees, and learned that it basically comes down to a shortage of staff to run the event.

The real issue is that we've had to set aside $4,000 to pay for race day staff if we don't get enough volunteers. And we are coming up short. Once we pay one person, ethically we have to treat everyone equally and pay all volunteers.

We basically need 32 people marshalling and doing other race associated duties every hour of the 11 race hours. But, as you know, they need not be the same 32 people.

So, if any U23 want to save money all they have to do is volunteer. We don't mind having the U23 race for free if they give us enough volunteer hours in the morning, the day before or after their race (1 hour of volunteer = $9 off their entry fee), but we need to balance when they do it and it must be at least a 3 hour race time slot. We are particularly short staffed for the first races of the day which is perfect for the U23. There's not too much stress sitting and marshalling on Bell School or watching over sign-in. (By the way, a friend or family member can do the time and give the pay to the kid.)

So there you have it, folks. How many are willing to give up a few hours to volunteer, or have a friend or family member who will help out for a few hours?