Trials Australia Forums

Well said Samy. As i have said before, it is my belief that it is the riders that benefit from having observers and as such it should be their responsibility to provide them.

I resumed riding in 1998 so just missed the ballot system you described and can only imagine the tension it created. It was me who introduced the Working Bee and Observer Roster Systems into Logan River some years later as a way of trying to change the culture in the club and more importantly prolong the life of the club executive members who were always called upon to do the hard yards, event after event and never seemed to last longer than one term because of it, and my attitude was that if you couldn't put aside two days a year to help setup then maybe you should have considered being a member of another club that tolerated it.

As for Observing, an earlier president had tried to introduce a rotation system that never really got off the ground so i tweaked it to the buddy style system, that i have commented on earlier, and yes i believe that it has had an effect in changing the riders mindset over these past 4 or so years.

Since then SQTA has come into existence and we have tweaked it a little further, not that we have needed to thanks to an over abundance of volunteers so far, by leaving it up to the riders to decide on how long they need to hang around a section marking before tag teaming the next available rider to take over for the next 10 or 15 minutes. As said, it is a mindset adjustment and all our members know that if they get to a section that is either vacated for one reason or another or has a rider hot to trot to make up some lost time then they take over from them for as long as time permits. It all evens itself out at the end of the day. To streamline things even further, we don't even use clickers anymore just score sheets on clipboards, so you can settle under a shady tree anywhere in or out of the section and observe from the comfort of your easy chair never needing to move at all.

As for "mark your own card", I'm an avid golfer and don't have a problem with the concept except to say that every "mark your own card" event, that requires you to ride in groups of two or more, that I have entered in the past has always had at least half a dozen riders marking themselves by the end of the day, a situation that's not even tollerated in golf!

In my opinion, if the riders get the benefit then make the riders more responsible! It's not a lot to ask.

Okay, one quick final post from me on this one because there's too many people missing the point of the statement.

Golf has officials going around with the groups as a secondary marker at the Majors; add to that, it's televised and would be rather difficult to get away with a sly stroke. That, and there's professional licence arrangements to lose if caught cheating. Nothing like the threat of losing your source of income to keep you clean.

There is nothing wrong at all about riders marking each other, it works very well and lessens the burden on organisers.
[b]But not at a national championship event[/b].
Again, I'm one of those who will be missing out for the next 9 years without a grade to ride in as I'm not good enough for Open Solo. Surely others in the same boat can take one weekend out to observe and assist in deciding the national champions; it's only in your state once every 4-5 years and the riders appreciate the fairness brought by knowledgeable observers.

Golf has officials going around with the groups as a secondary marker at the Majors; add to that, it's televised and would be rather difficult to get away with a sly stroke. That, and there's professional licence arrangements to lose if caught cheating. Nothing like the threat of losing your source of income to keep you clean.

So it would be easy to do in a sport that had no monetary rewards, and a set of rules that could be directly copied from Golf where it has worked for decades.
If you get caught fudging your out like Seve Ballasteros found out to his detriment.
I think Observers are an important factor in our "majors", but in our constant battle for officials it is worth some contemplation for lesser events. Ride with someone else marking your card, or ride for no trophy. Try it for a season at club events, if it works, State Rounds and so on. Are Trials riders more stupid than golfers, are they more likely to cheat? Don't think so.

It's a lot to take in but for a lot of older guys they just want somewhere to ride, no trophy required

For the average trial where sheep stations arn't an issue, "well thats what everyone says after the trial" a buddy system of observing works to a degree, however riders seem to split up and start riding solo after lunch and curiously their scores improve apart from the one or two sections that have observers

An event like the Nats can't be run the same way every section needs to be observed by a competent official who knows the rules and can cope with any dodgy dabs or fives. Unfortunatly any unfair calls due to lack of experience by an observer will marr an otherwise fine event in which the dedicated 10 or so organisers have dedicated their last few months too.

I think there are two issues with trials at the moment in WA im not sure if its a problem anywhere else.. One is attracting younger people into the sport and then encouraging them to help out in organising events and generally running a trials club, I think the age of club members is getting older as far as the people who turn up to help set events and goto club meetings, there just isnt enough people who are prepared to take on small roles in running a club and letting the older people who have been doing it for years have a break and just enjoy riding. Some how trials has to attract more numbers in the younger crowd so in 10 years trials is still running strong. The second issue is attracting more than just one family member into the sport so that other members in that family can come to the events and either ride or possibly help out, the majority of clubs are run by a few familys that have been doing it for years, what happens when these key familys move away from trials eventually, I think this is also why we are loosing observers because these family groups arent as promenant at events like they used to be and its now just a group of blokes that all want to ride which I cant blame them but a pair or small groups of riders that observe each other is the way to go, it works for us in WA at the moment.

cheers