Hello Mike
I see from your site today that one of our potential LE marshals is querying the MCC video.
Yes, there are copies available but I suggest that as far as restarts are concerned he takes special notice of the marshals final instructions which are being issued for this event and which deal very specifically with restarts following the Exeter problems. The same applies to competitors.
We seem to have had some interesting discussions on your site lately - well done.
John
Interesting comment from John. Now as a mere competitor and a sometime marshal and organisor I would like to throw in my thoughts. The key to good marshaling, in my opinion, is consistency of decision. Make sure you use the same judgement/decisions for all competitors. Then there can be few arguments about your marshaling. Do not be tempted to vary your decisions as an event progresses. Whatever happens we must always thank the marshals for turning out and helping. Stuart Harrold
ReplyDeleteMy apologies but I can't resist contributing to the marshalling debate which follows on from the MCC's decision to cancel all the failures on the Slippery Sam restart. Of course we do not know, as yet, what the Lands End final instructions are going to say but I have a sneaking suspicion that this particular issue is not going to go away. In my opinion, 'Run Backs' and 'Jumped Flags' are very different from most other reasons for failing a section, most particularly that the competitor is generally unaware of the failure until the printed results arrive. This always generates ill-will and is one of the most common reasons for questioning the 'quality' of the marshalling. For most other types of failure the competitor could, if he or she wished, park-up after the section ends, then walk back and ask the marshal what score they had been given. I agree that this might seem a bit excessive but it is at least possible. I also believe that, for Run Backs in particular, it is virtually impossible to ensure consistency across all competitors through a long event. I have marshalled restarts on Stroud's Ebworth Trial and I know just how difficult it is to assess whether a competitor has 'run back' or not (using the much-discussed 'crushed matchbox rule'), and that's over maybe no more than 120 to 150 competitors (three goes at each section for 40 to 50 competitors). I believe that no one can guarantee consistency on this aspect of marshalling through the 350+ competitors of an MCC trial. I would like to see the 'rule' changed to cover wheel rotation so that, for example, 'running-back' might be defined as a (front?) wheel rotation of 'x' degrees. I'm sure that a small group of experienced triallers could get together and do some tests to determine what 'x' should be based on what is immediately apparent to the competitor - we all know when we've really run back. It would then be possible to put a quick chalk mark on a front tyre when the vehicle is stopped at the restart and use this as the marker for determining running-back - I am serious! Views? Andrew
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