Debate!
Don't think I am sounding negatitive with this question but,,, are slalom events good value for money compared with other disiplines? (which I am sure they are)
For the sake of argument a double div 3 (junior) entry cost £10.00 for approx 10 minutes on the water i.e. £1.00 per minute when you get to Div 1/Prem it works out about £4.00 per minute. In comparison a canoe polo weekend event cost on average £7.50 per paddler for 2.66 hours (160 minutes) on the water £0.21 pence per minute.
Organisers of polo events have to pay for hire of the facilities as you would at a slalom event, so why is there such a cost differential in entry fees??
I am sure that for marathon, sprint and downriver racing etc. and all the other events that are held incurr costs as well, perhaps someone could give some comparitive figures on these events??
An open question
Paddle fast,,,Paddle safe Yorkshire Canoe Coaching
My son gets 4 swimming sessions a week plus pays no entry fees to galas of which he swims 1 or 2 a month all for £14 per month.He pays £1,50 for football training/matches and for £35 he gets to go to lifesaving club once a week. With all these cheap sports on offer to the youth of today, its no wonder slalom looks expencive at £10 entry fees plus travel and equipement costs.Slalom needs to take a long look at its self and rebuild the base of the pyramid but how to attchive this and try and be affordable is anyones guess?
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Dave Royle
- Posts: 178
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 11:02 pm
I don't know how much it costs to enter an athletics event, but if you run 100m in less than 10 seconds it must be really expensive. If you could get it below 9 seconds it would be even more expensive per second.
Get things in proportion. Competitors don't pay for time on the water. If they did they would go really slow in order to get maximum water per pound.
No, we train hard, we suffer the agony of deciding how we are going to tackle the course and we try to reduce our time on the race course to the absolute minimum in order to do the best we can. If the price per second goes up you're on a winning strategy. Petrol/diesel for training and racing is by far the over-riding cost. The cost of entries is there to cover the expenses of having a venue and volunteers there, to test the effects of all the effort you have made to get better.
Enjoy:D
Get things in proportion. Competitors don't pay for time on the water. If they did they would go really slow in order to get maximum water per pound.
No, we train hard, we suffer the agony of deciding how we are going to tackle the course and we try to reduce our time on the race course to the absolute minimum in order to do the best we can. If the price per second goes up you're on a winning strategy. Petrol/diesel for training and racing is by far the over-riding cost. The cost of entries is there to cover the expenses of having a venue and volunteers there, to test the effects of all the effort you have made to get better.
Enjoy:D
Dave Royle wrote:,,,, Petrol/diesel for training and racing is by far the over-riding cost. The cost of entries is there to cover the expenses of having a venue and volunteers there, to test the effects of all the effort you have made to get better.
Enjoy:D
The last athletics event one of my daughters entered cost about £2.50 I seem to remember!
Certainly agree with the fuel cost's, curious on your statement regarding expenses for volunteers though??
If the venue cost is so high say for HPP, why can you enter the Peak Freestyle challenge for £25.00 which gives you free camping, free party, free T shirt, free goodie bag, entry into 4 events over the weekend for the same money as a slalom event at the same venue?? You still have volunteers there to help run things and the cost of hiring the venue with the additional cost added of the free camping and other freebies!
Surely a natural river does not cost anything for access and as in most cases there are little or no facilities to pay hire for as well. So could there not be a differance in entry fees for a natural river and a man made or dam release one?
Paddle fast,,,Paddle safe Yorkshire Canoe Coaching
Slalom is slalom and polo is polo. I certainly wouldn't want 160 minutes race time on a slalom - I'd never be able to get out of bed come Monday! I like the idea of increasing race time therefore experience for the lower divisions by perhaps going to best 2 runs from 3 but esentially we do slalom because it is what it is. What you're really asking is is slalom too expensive?
Competing in slalom will never be as cheap as swimming or football at a local level - however it's not like for like. I do slalom with gates, moving water and floodlights at least once every week for just £20 a year club membership (ok I concede that I'm "lucky" where I live to get such facilities). It's not slalom in a national ranking race - which surely one would expect to cost more than a local swimming gala?
As Dave says fuel is always the overiding factor. Even for Washburn this weekend which is relatively close to me fuel was still more than the double div 1 fee. Tully is a long way away but I'll still go.
I'm sure the slalom committee spends the levy money wisely and those clubs that do make profit (many don't of course) plough money back into development. I'm happy with that.
Competing in slalom will never be as cheap as swimming or football at a local level - however it's not like for like. I do slalom with gates, moving water and floodlights at least once every week for just £20 a year club membership (ok I concede that I'm "lucky" where I live to get such facilities). It's not slalom in a national ranking race - which surely one would expect to cost more than a local swimming gala?
As Dave says fuel is always the overiding factor. Even for Washburn this weekend which is relatively close to me fuel was still more than the double div 1 fee. Tully is a long way away but I'll still go.
I'm sure the slalom committee spends the levy money wisely and those clubs that do make profit (many don't of course) plough money back into development. I'm happy with that.
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Pingu
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 12:42 am
- Location: I'm everywhere and nowhere (baby)
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I've read the comments here and on other threads which also discussed the costs of entry and discounts for juniors.
I don't know the comparitive figures for other sports but can contribute a couple of comments and observations:
Firstly, at one of the first Slalom Committee AGM's that I attended there was a motion to automatically increase the enty fees each year by inflation. I believe that adopting this procedure has served the sport well. It has ensured that the event income for Clubs and the Committee has kept pace with rising prices.
It has resulted in the Junior Div. 3 double entry fee quoted, increasing by just £1.00, from £9.00 in 1997 to £10 in 2006. All other fees have increased by the same proportion.
Secondly about half of the entry fee is retained by the organising Club and the other half goes to their national association. (English clubs pay their half directly to the Slalom Committee). In the case of the WCA and SCA about half of their share is also paid to the Slalom Committee.
The Clubs use their share to fund the event expenses, mainly water costs and prizes. Water costs will vary enormously, from Clubs who have "free" water to those who have to pay substantial amounts. Whilst their expenditure will vary, having a standard entry fee is preferable to allowing each club to set their own fee depending upon their local circumstances.
The Slalom Committee (and the SCA/WCA) use their share to fund the running costs of the sport. These include salary costs for the Slalom Administrator, expenses for section judges, the timing team and for volunteer members to attend meetings and to meet any team costs that are not funded by World Class. The Committee also assists with the water costs at events when approached by cubs. The Committee also receives an annual grant from the BCU.
I believe that the current entry fee structure is broadly sound. The only areas that I feel might be reviewed are the costs for Juniors at Premier and Division 1 (Back in the 1990's these divisions had a much lower percentage of junior paddlers than we currently have) and addressing the issue of families with more than one paddler or paddlers entering more than one class.
I don't know the comparitive figures for other sports but can contribute a couple of comments and observations:
Firstly, at one of the first Slalom Committee AGM's that I attended there was a motion to automatically increase the enty fees each year by inflation. I believe that adopting this procedure has served the sport well. It has ensured that the event income for Clubs and the Committee has kept pace with rising prices.
It has resulted in the Junior Div. 3 double entry fee quoted, increasing by just £1.00, from £9.00 in 1997 to £10 in 2006. All other fees have increased by the same proportion.
Secondly about half of the entry fee is retained by the organising Club and the other half goes to their national association. (English clubs pay their half directly to the Slalom Committee). In the case of the WCA and SCA about half of their share is also paid to the Slalom Committee.
The Clubs use their share to fund the event expenses, mainly water costs and prizes. Water costs will vary enormously, from Clubs who have "free" water to those who have to pay substantial amounts. Whilst their expenditure will vary, having a standard entry fee is preferable to allowing each club to set their own fee depending upon their local circumstances.
The Slalom Committee (and the SCA/WCA) use their share to fund the running costs of the sport. These include salary costs for the Slalom Administrator, expenses for section judges, the timing team and for volunteer members to attend meetings and to meet any team costs that are not funded by World Class. The Committee also assists with the water costs at events when approached by cubs. The Committee also receives an annual grant from the BCU.
I believe that the current entry fee structure is broadly sound. The only areas that I feel might be reviewed are the costs for Juniors at Premier and Division 1 (Back in the 1990's these divisions had a much lower percentage of junior paddlers than we currently have) and addressing the issue of families with more than one paddler or paddlers entering more than one class.
Out of Darkness cometh Light
In answer to your query about costs in Marathon - a normal divisional race costs about four to five pounds.
Check in by 11:30, start racing about 12:00, lower divisions about an hour on the water, off the water and presentations finished by 14:30.
Hope this helps - mind you I pay for three family entries in both slalom and marathon as well as polo.
Check in by 11:30, start racing about 12:00, lower divisions about an hour on the water, off the water and presentations finished by 14:30.
Hope this helps - mind you I pay for three family entries in both slalom and marathon as well as polo.
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Yester Years Kayak
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:42 pm
- Location: Egham
From the WWR web site, entry fees are:
DIV A ENTRY FEES
Senior / Veteran £10 per Paddler £15 if Late
Under 23 £8 per Paddler £12 if Late
Under 18 £5 per Paddler £7.50 if Late
DIV B & OPEN ENTRY FEES
Sen , Vet & U23 £5 per paddler
Under 18 £3 per paddler
25% reduction if “Double” events entered 2 or more weeks before the events
DIV A ENTRY FEES
Senior / Veteran £10 per Paddler £15 if Late
Under 23 £8 per Paddler £12 if Late
Under 18 £5 per Paddler £7.50 if Late
DIV B & OPEN ENTRY FEES
Sen , Vet & U23 £5 per paddler
Under 18 £3 per paddler
25% reduction if “Double” events entered 2 or more weeks before the events
surely it has nothing to do with water time. you are paying to race. if you want water time then dont go to a race. buy a pass for the slalom course and you can have as much time on the water as you want. enter and pay for one race and you get two timed runs against other people....
take it or leave it.
its not rocket science
take it or leave it.
its not rocket science