Abandoning the season?....

General slalom chatter...rant about the bad, rave about the good
James Hastings
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Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:43 pm

Abandoning the season?....

Post by James Hastings » Fri Jun 05, 2020 2:11 pm

Given that more than half the season has now been cancelled, is it time to consider biting the bullet and abandoning the season altogether? That doesn't mean that localised races couldn't be run, just that they would no longer be ranking events. This would provide clarity and allow officials, organisers, volunteers, clubs and competitors to focus on addressing the challenges we will continue to face, at least until an effective vaccine is widely available, for the 2021 season.

Any thoughts out there?

James

Dee
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Dee » Fri Jun 05, 2020 2:21 pm

I believe some plans will be announced shortly, but it is fair to say that this season has been like none other. Hopefully 2021 will be better!
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Mike Mitchell
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Mike Mitchell » Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:41 pm

Thoughts

Good question James.

I think that Prem has had it for the Year, They haven't raced yet and Its going to probably be impossible to run an event safely and then get enough races to have a ranking list. An Open event would be nice.

Div 1. Their have been 4 races. There has been one promotion and at least another 3 close to being promoted.
If just 2 races could be run, or one Double then possibly a ranking list could be approved.
A small number promoted.

Div 2. Could this be run on restricted number and stop watches, with Judges running along the Bank.
No Protests and only Online results after the event has finished and everyone is at home.

Div 3 and 4 As Div2 but much easier to run as numbers would probably be much lower.
We would first need the all clear to have a gathering of around 50 people.

But I also think none of the above will go ahead and the season is over. Its just wishful thinking. :lol:

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Jeff
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Jeff » Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:59 am

Would it be possible to just have a two year season?

Dee
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Dee » Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:51 am

The following has now been posted on www.canoeslalom.co.uk

2020 Ranking Season

Following careful consideration of the impact of Covid-19 on the 2020 racing season, the slalom committee has made the decision that no further ranking races will be held in 2020.

This has not been an easy decision but as we all know Covid-19 has significantly impacted on normal life over the past 3 months, and will continue to do so for some time. We don’t know when it will be safe for everyone to resume paddling, nor when people will have access to their local training facilities both on and off the water. What we do know is that the impact will differ depending on where you live.

We do not believe that continuing to run ranking races against this backdrop is the right thing to do. As a competitive sport, people are rightly proud of what they achieve in their racing, and their overall ranking is reflective of this. Covid-19 has meant that we cannot have a meaningful racing season – by the end of July we will have lost over 60% of the 2020 races; and for the rest of the season people will continue to be impacted in different ways. On balance, this means that any racing and therefore ranking would not be based on a level playing field.

We believe that it is better to act early in making this decision. We know that British Canoeing have cancelled all events until the end of July to-date. We also know that people will require a number of weeks once training again, to get race ready and avoid injury in returning to our sport. In the best scenario, it would be September before racing could re-commence, and it is more likely to be October or November.

Taking an early decision on all ranking races gives organisers time to determine what should happen to their event. We recognise that in most cases, races will be cancelled. However, for events due to be held later in the year, we hope that some racing, possibly on a more regional basis, will be possible. Whilst these would not be ranking, organisers may be able to hold open or club races, if they are able to do so safely. We are organising a call for interested clubs and organisers to consider this further. This has provisionally been arranged for 12 June. Please see the FAQs for full details

What this means is that the 2020 start of season rankings are frozen, with bib numbers unchanged for 2021 with the exception of where promotions have already taken place.

We know that this decision will raise lots of questions, and we have developed FAQs to start responding to these. These will be added to as new questions arise and the situation becomes clearer.

So, if you have a point that you would like to make, or a question that you would like to ask, please email Dave Spencer on slalom.chair@vol.britishcanoing.org.uk or Deborah Catty at: slalom.secretary@vol.britishcanoeing.org.uk

Keep safe
The Slalom Committee

Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Mike Mitchell
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Mike Mitchell » Sun Jun 14, 2020 6:25 pm

Could we consider running a Duck Race at each Slalom site and charging £2.00 to enter.
Everyone keeps there bib number and the rankings are done from the results.
Something like the first 3 get promoted.

On a more serious note and hopefully when racing starts next year.
Could it be a consideration to think about a fast track promotion system for the first part of next year.
Their's probably going to be a lot of young paddlers that have trained hard and improved a lot. Then there will be those that have not been in a boat or given up.
So it could be a consideration to bring in a promotion and possibly demotion system for the first part of the season.
I have some ideas but going to see what people think first.

JimW
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by JimW » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:29 pm

Mike Mitchell wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 6:25 pm

On a more serious note and hopefully when racing starts next year.
Could it be a consideration to think about a fast track promotion system for the first part of next year.
Their's probably going to be a lot of young paddlers that have trained hard and improved a lot. Then there will be those that have not been in a boat or given up.
So it could be a consideration to bring in a promotion and possibly demotion system for the first part of the season.
I have some ideas but going to see what people think first.
I'd be against that Mike. I think we are all concerned about how many paddlers might drop out - the ones most likely to not come back are the lower divisions, so if we have more accelerated promotion we will end up stripping out the lower divisions and weakening them.

It is going to be difficult since physical distancing means the last paddlers we can get on the water are going to be the beginners, but I think we are all going to need to focus on building the grass roots which was already challenging before this.

James Hastings
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by James Hastings » Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:54 pm

I agree Jim. Any decent youngster who has continued to train so far this year and continues to do so will very likely get promoted pretty quickly in the early part of next season anyway.

Much more critical will be the lower end of the sport. Entry level participation has been on a falling trend since at least 2011. If the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it becomes even harder to attract new entrants, and a significantly higher proportion than usual of Division 2 & 3 paddlers do not return to the sport next year, that spells trouble with a capital T.

Hopefully the Slalom Committee will be able to develop some strategies to mitigate these potential impacts.

James

Dee
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Dee » Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:04 pm

James Hastings wrote:
Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:54 pm

Hopefully the Slalom Committee will be able to develop some strategies to mitigate these potential impacts.
You do know the slalom committee consists of normal (well normalish) human beings - not a superman cape in existence that I'm aware of. :D :lol: :lol:
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

James Hastings
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Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:43 pm

Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by James Hastings » Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:09 pm

You disappoint me Dee. I've always believed that Captain Marvel was in the Chair, ably assisted by his sidekicks Batman and Robin!

Dee
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Dee » Tue Jun 16, 2020 9:12 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

harratts
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by harratts » Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:31 am

Perhaps if we allowed all Division 2 and 3 paddlers to roll over the ranking points they have secured in the 2020 season to the start of the 2021 season then a few more may be motivated to 'give it another year' at least. Well it won't put anyone off doing so anyway.

Everyone was able to race before lockdown was introduced and no ranking races will be completed until the star of the 2021 season anyway so it would be fully fair to do so as everyone had an equal chance to secure ranking points during the now shortened 2020 season.

After all, any Paddler who secured promotion during the few ranking races that did take place during the 2020 season have been allowed to keep their promotion but any Paddler who did not quite make it is not currently able to retain their ranking points. This does not appear fair to me.

I can't think of any negatives associated with this suggestion but will await any further comments with interest. If others do agree with my suggestion then I would be willing to take this matter forward via an ACM motion but not sure if that is the best way to proceed.

Steve

paddlerparent
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by paddlerparent » Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:01 pm

Sounds like a good idea to me Steve, may even take this further to include div1 points too - why not!

Dee
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Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by Dee » Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:37 pm

Just to remove any doubt here - I am posting as an individual and not, in any way as a member of the committee ...

That bit out of the way, if you did bring an ACM motion, I think my main concern would be the unintended consequences. Eg:
We get too many promotions too early in the season, substantially weakening the lower divisions and potentially resulting in mid-season promotions of paddlers who were not ready. We could then end up seeing more demotions at the end of the season to keep the numbers in the higher divisions anything like reasonable. If the weaker mid-season promotees are short-season protected then a lot of those demotions will be of stronger paddlers (including, potentially those promoted early in the season). This could then have a knock on effect to the following year.

Other concerns:
- competitions tend to happen in a similar order each year, if we allowed carrying forward of some or all points would this benefit those whose home water is used at the season start?
- I think one of the reasons with allowing promotion on 3-wins (rather than the old 2) was to avoid circumstances of a paddler being promoted with only having good performance at one venue. This might not work if we carried results forward.

If you did manage to formulate a new rule to resolve this lot, would this be a one off or repeated every year? What about those years where there are several cancellations towards end of season through water issues of one sort or another?


The unintended consequences of this type of approach could be significant
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

JimW
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Location: Pinkston

Re: Abandoning the season?....

Post by JimW » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:18 am

harratts wrote:
Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:31 am
Everyone was able to race before lockdown was introduced
Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with that!

Stone (which is north Midlands), is the furthest north any race was held in 2020 (div 3/4)

The only div 2 races were at Shepperton.

Rule 19.1.1 implies that below div 1 a competition's catchment area is around 1-1.5 hours drive. Now I know I have made much longer trips for div 2 (Lee Valley for example, or Llandysul) but most don't and it is not fair to assume that everyone in div 2 had an equal chance to race at Shepperton, or that everyone in div 3 had an equal chance to race at Stone.

Div 1 is a different argument because the catchment is assumed to be national.

Whether rolling points over would help retain the 24 div 2 paddlers who raced at shepperton div 2 or the 19 others who presumably got PUs, and whether or not it is a good idea I really don't know and I don't really have a view, I just don't believe the claim about everyone having been able to race is a valid argument in support of it...

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