Common Route Marking Colours For All Trials.

[big john]

2. If the ACU centres can't agree on what system to use, how did the SACU come by their decision?

Quite simple really, we agreed there was a problem, no-one could agree as to which colours to use for what route so the decision was left unsolved, the problem wouldn't resolve itself so it called for a decision to be made and this is what we have now!

Having seen the Spanish system in operation and having the requirement to cater for a variety of classes, it seemed quite easy to copy "A-B-C-D" or "Very Hard - Not So Hard - Easier - Simple" (whatever it is called) to a simple colour system: Red-Blue-Green-Yellow. Any more than 4 routes and the Clerk of the Course is struggling anyway.

There is still scope for a club who isn't running a particular class on the day to drop a colour for an event e.g. Red;Green & Yellow when the Blue route isn't needed at say a club trial for instance, but the severity mapping still holds! If they only cater for three routes, they only use three colours that event.

Up in Scotland some clubs run a Masters and a separate Non-experts route, now all they need to do is run the masters on the Blue route and the Non-experts on the green. Both types of rider get a day out and go home happy with their score, more riders out on a Sunday maybe?

Sometimes the simple solution can be the best solution.

I agree final instructions are important but if a universal system is used, people get used to it like Blue cards on the left; red on the right which was absolutely fine in the days when we all rode the same route.

To make it easy for the observer, the punch card of the rider should match the route they ride, i.e. Red punch card = Red Route.

Big John

[perce]

When I rode in Spain the cards went Black - Red - Blue, so do they have a standard system or did you you just base it on what you saw?

Anyway we don't use cards,we have flags, red on the right, blue the left, deviations marked in yellow, we only ever run 2 courses.

[woody]

Personally, I don't have any problem with what is happening at the moment. I get up and down the country a fair bit following events and the use of different colours by different centres has never caused me a problem, so it wouldn't bother me if things stay the way they are. The way some are marked out has, but that's another issue.

What could be an issue is if a club, or centre, has just recently invested in a nice new stock of laminated (or whatever) section markers in the colours that they have used for years. If colours are standardised and they aren't the colours used by those clubs/centre, I'd guess that they wouldn't be too willing to junk most of them in order to comply with standardisation and spend further money buying more.

I think it is more important that the markers used are big and clear, no matter what their colour, in order that the routes are marked as clearly as possible. Nothing worse than a green or a yellow marker which is a painted stick the size of a witch's tit hiding in yellow/green foilage or undergrowth.

Ultimately, it's the riders responsibility to sort out their route at the start and to look at the section properly before riding it, but many still choose to stand at the begins cards and ask anyone who is listening where it goes. I'd put money on the fact that even if sections had a painted line in the colour of each route from the start to the ends cards, you would still get that most irritating of questions to an observer - 'where's it go mate?'...

[slapshot 3]

When I rode in Spain the cards went Black - Red - Blue, so do they have a standard system or did you you just base it on what you saw?

Anyway we don't use cards,we have flags, red on the right, blue the left, deviations marked in yellow, we only ever run 2 courses.

Initial shout actually came from Bon Accord Perce, not John, and if folk want to point fingers I suggested that we check that the SACU didn't have something up their sleeves before we went on a had the first championship round of the year and laid out a lot of money that we'd then have to pay out again if the system was different. Yeah, Bon Accord has hundreds of cards of various colours and yeah maybe it's pointless to change it all but pulling all classes together is a new concept that needs a straightforward method of marking.

Entries are dwindling for everyone therefore to hold a championship meeting that's worthwhile we have to pull all classes together and hope that works. To do that we need clarity on the routes and the only way to do that is specific colours per class or group of classes. The same concept works on the continent and if you look at the SPEA markers in WTC they have the similar concept.

The concept is essentially simple and it also makes it more straightforward for observers

Edited February 9, 2009 by Slapshot 3

[pete_scorpa3]

I really believe that we should have a common standard for marking four routes.

We can call them what we like- Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink or 1,2,3,4 or a,b,c,d or Expert, Intermediate, Clubman, Beginer or Championship, Support, Wobbler and 1st event.

Use one, two, three or all four but what on earth is wrong with having them laid down?

The ACU are our governing body, we have little real say in many of the decisions that are made.

Just tell us what the system is and when it comes into force.

[grahamjayzee]

I'm returning after a number of years out and have brought in a couple of newbies with me. I'm not having too much trouble sorting out where to ride, but for both of my mates it is a genuine problem. Now, this will ease for both guys and most of the issue is learning how to only regard the markers relevant to their particular route, but the system would certainly be clearer if there was some standardisation. I understand that for some this will mean changing from a system that works for them, but as in a point made earlier, if you ride for different clubs and regions, every rider will be used to working to many different systems.

For the newbies, we want them to get into the sport quickly and not waste learning time getting familiar with which markers to follow. A common system has the disadvantages mentioned above, particularly the inconvenience for clubs who have a large collection of markers, but will make things loads easier.

At Cambridge Matchless (as far as I remember) the hard route has white markers with red/ green tops, the clubman route has yellow markers with red/ green tops and the easy route has orange markers. If this changed, it won't upset me, but would be so much easier when I ride in Thames MC trials and it's all the same.

Graham

[john collins]

Re

[pete_scorpa3]

John, Thanks for giving it a go, as you say it's not an easy thing to impliment..... without being dictatorial.

I resisted the chance to suggest a system as it was my opening post and I wanted others to put over their views.

I'm not really worried what system we use, providing we all use the same system, however the main view that seems to have come across is that most people are happy with how things are now... so why change?

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Pete

[dan williams]

Sounds like a great idea to me. For years in New England we had debate about standard difficulty in section design and that has proved impossible to quantify but standard marking is easy to implement. Parallel to that was the idea of how do observers know what line each rider is supposd to ride. Currently, on our plates, we are supposed to have an A, B or C after the riding number. One suggestion to make it easier on the observer was to make plate color match the line to be ridden. The suggestion never passed at our rules meeting but it could work very well with the color marking scheme the SACU has instituted. Hmmm, maybe next year I'll bring this up at our annual meeting.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Dan Williams