Imho

Sponsoring Member
Mar 6, 2002
152
0
G'day All,

My local club has a problem and, as usual, I have come to the source of all things dirt bike in the hope someone might have a solution (or options).

As a club, we require (ask) riders to bring a flag marshal to race days. We need about 7 flaggies for the track and we run three rounds per day, rotating the flaggies each round (requiring 21 flaggies in total). Lately, we have been struggling to come up with the required number of flag marshals for the day and some have flagged twice so we can complete the races. We have even had people turn up and race two rounds then take off when their nominated flag marshal is asked to flag.

We are currently considering getting tougher on the requirement (i.e. no flag marshal, no race) or possibly charging riders extra if they don't supply a flag marshal, then paying some enterprising souls to flag for them.

The latter suggestion presents some problems in that many riders would be quite happy to pay the money but we may not be able to come up with the number of flag marshals this would require.

We are a small club and have about 70-80 riders turn up to a race day and you would think it would be easy to come up with 21 flag marshals but after you allow for the fact that most family's provide one flag marshal for 1-3 riders and sometimes riders have legitimate reasons for not bringing a flag marshal, then you take officials, starters, scorers, canteen staff etc. out of the equation, it's surprising how few volunteers you have left.

Does anyone out there suffer from the same problem?

Does anyone have any suggestions of ways to improve the situation? Maybe you've found something that works at your local club or track.

Any help would be appreciated.
 

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
0
My local club has the system where each working member is assigned duties in order to maintain the next years membership. We have 2 member types
1)country club- pay $300 for a 1 year membership and get to practice on any non race day for free. They pay to get on the grounds on race day and pay to enter races
2)working members- 1st year pay $300 but after working 7 five hour shifts(on race prep or race day) on their assigned duties get a refund of $200. They also have the next year for free (but must work at least 7 five hour shifts to be invited back the following year. They do not pay to get on the grounds on race days and practice free (after getting 24 hours in). If they work 50 hours they get 1 free race day event free (and 1 more for each 25 hours after this). There are also other bonuses for working. If they do not meet the minimum required hours they WILL NOT be invited back the following season even as a country clubber.
We get a few that drop out after a season or 2 dure to lack of interest or commitment but the core group :worship: gets the work done.

When they are working racedays someone makes sure they get relieved long enough to compete.
 

DanAKAL

Member
May 3, 2003
116
0
At our club, which is staffed and funded by all volunteers, this used to come up often as well. I do a great deal of Flag Marshall for MX since I am an offroad racer and do not race MX. That is start, stop, the race, keep the timer for each moto and stay at the finish line with all of the other flags. We have been using youth groups as corner flaggers. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Military ROTC, local sports teams, etc. Not sure what you have down under but I bet you have some of the same organizations. Since the overall condition of the race is my responsibility I was skepticle at first about using teenagers for this important role. However, I must admit that working with them is often better than some adults. Beore the race I'll put on about a 15 minute flagging class on how and when to do it and so far it has been very good. They take their responsibility seriously and if anyhing they may be a little quick with the yellow flag. But in the interest of safety I would rather them be a little quick than a little late. We schedule them in advance so they know at least a month ahead of time when they need to be there and they always look forward to it. We require that they have an adult with the group and this adult also serves as a roving relief for each of them. This works really well for us and it seems we almost always have an abundance of flaggers.
 

YZ165

YZabian
May 4, 2004
2,431
0
At my local track, they give every flagger(on race day) a coupon good for one free practice. It gets riders like me, to convince wives like mine,(or brothers,mothers,whatever) to go flag, so I can practice for free. :p :laugh:
 

Michelle

Sponsoring Member
Oct 26, 1999
1,245
0
What I've seen/heard of (don't race mx) is not scoring anyone who doesn't provide a flagger or do a shift, having entries put into a hat & pulled out if required - they get their money refunded but don't get to race. The 2nd option would either motivate folk to provide a flagger or turn people away. It has happened where one of the top racers couldn't race on the day because his name was pulled out, but that was just tough. I'd guess in that case (or other racers) they'd get an average result if it's a series rather than no points, but again, I don't know.

I do recall the first enduro I ever went to, they refused to start the race until they had enough people to work the checks, which I thought was fair enough, even though it meant that I didn't get to just sit around and do nothing. Then again, it's meant I've worked a check or done something at just about every enduro I've been to.

If you've got to start getting tough, get tough. Instead of this being your problem, this should be the racers' problem and you have to put the ball into their court so they can sort their **** out.

Oh, another thing I've heard of is refusing entry to people who either don't front up for their turn of supplying a flagger or being a flagger.

Again, I'm not sure how it works, but it's an option (no, none of them are nice but until people realise that it's a real dilemma for the club, they're going to sit on their butts & ignore you, when you start hitting back at them, they'll start thinking or heading for the hills).

Good luck & hope it works out (something).
 

Imho

Sponsoring Member
Mar 6, 2002
152
0
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

It looks like we aren't the only club with this problem. I find it disappointing that some riders take advantage of a few dedicated members who always seem to pick up the slack.

Someone else suggested that each rider must only compete in something like 5 of 6 rounds, which enables them to flag one round without affecting their series standings. If they don't flag once during the series, they are excluded from the results.

I'll take these suggestions to our committee and see what we can come up with.

Thanks again.
 
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