Safety Matters

[alwaysinjured]

AI has responded to my request for his version of the rules. Except that he has responded privately, so clearly doesn't want any of you to see what he has written.

Also, they are nothing like complete and would probably run to at least as long as the FRA documents, and that is before any of the (unwritten) templates are filled in.

A simple race would have a plan of 10 pages, he reckons Three Peaks would be around 100 pages.

All of this is to make it clear that the Runners are taking responsibility for themselves.

Personally, I think that the FRA rules could be better, by being shorter; more clearly set out and allowing more flexibility for the Race Organiser.

If you believe that the FRA's rules are putting off RO, then AI's reams of paperwork would put me off.

And there of course is the problem. A wholesale misrepresentation based on a refusal to even read what is written and a heap of erroneous assumptions. And also a breach of the basic protocol that what is said privately should remain private.

I listed the documents needed. And the role that each one has in the mix. How they fit together and how that is different from FRA rules base..

If there are 50 marshalls on 3 peaks race, I am guessing , probably more - that is 50 pieces of paper already. One to give to each, to explain as a bulleted list exactly what that persons job is. When to be there, what to do, how to do, what with, when to leave, what to do on leaving. If each group of three have checking sheets, that is another 15 pages on top of those. These are the things that were missing at sailbeck or something would not have slipped down a crack. -

If they had had such instruction sheets the marshalls would not have been made to look like morons by the very solicitor purportedly acting for UKA but with the complicity of FRA, and with friends like him you do not need enemies. Had the marshalls had such a sheet, on hostile questioning from UKA (which should never have happened) they could have simply said "I did this" handing over the sheet. And if they had had such instruction, the inconsistencies noted in marshalling would never have happened. Nor the inconsistencies at start finish which caused the miscount to prevail.

Since there are a lot of tasks in preparing such a course, that means there are a lot of bits of paper related to a schedule of equipment specific to the race, needed to ensure it is available for preparation of the course, instruction sheets for preparing road crossings, the car parks, the start finish registration and so on. Just a list of things that people have to do. Good RO do this anyway and instinctively, but it needs better formalization to make sure all the things that need to be considered are contained in the plan.

So 100 pages for the threepeaks is not what it sounds. It is a proper guess at a race plan on the basis of 50 people to coordinate.

And preparation for an emergency.
A post race review sheet.

A professional project plan, based on safe working practice.
That is how a professional would do it.

A race plan up and down one hill involving only three or four officials could be only 10 pages long. It is as long as the number of people involved. Everyone needs a bit of paper. Verbal instruction cannot be relied, that is the resounding experience of safety people. That is when misunderstandings creep in about whose job something is.

So I took the trouble to speak to Lecky in the hope of opening up a cordial dialogue.

I might even have sent him a couple of documents, having explained the context of them briefly, but we never got that far.

So now you see why I cannot be bothered.