Yes, I think we have had some tries in the past to set up a guide line for how to run a slalom event. A guide line that is flexible and that takes into account all the knowledge we have. Because we a have a lot of knowledge with all the event that has been done out there. It's also good for racers and organizers to have this done about the same on the big events so you know what to expect on race day. Same as for rules. It's easy to get confused when rules and race day organisation is different on every event. That is why rules are needed. And maybe why a "event race day guide line" would help to.
It's only a problem with bigger events with a large field of racer and classes. And it does not have to be one single guide line. It could be a couple of different ones depending on the situation and type of event. But all well thought through and tested.
Unfortunately slalom events have not the reputation of being able to follow specific times that are setup before hand. But this is really important if we want to invite audience/press or a webcast where we want to show off the best racing. At the Flatland Freestyle World Champs in Sweden this year that was the case. The webcast was officially announced and you just had to be ready to go with the event at a precise time. And you had to make sure it was finished before the end of the setup time.
In another similar topic just recently this was brought up again. There I had this idea of a compressed two-hour "audience/media" spectacle.
Hans Koraeus wrote:I tend to agree that events are too long and can be made shorter. And so also the courses. ;-) Max 40-50 cones. You want the audience to be able to easily follow the whole run. And it takes too much time with long courses and more complex cone admin.
But I don't see the problem for the audience because they should only be invited for the finishing main spectable anyway. And the main spectacle should be max 2 hours long including price cermoney.
Example counting 3 min/race including dead time...
Top 4 Am head to head (8 races=24 min) (Semi, 3:rd place, Final)
Final Jun (2 races=6 min)
Final Wom (2 races=6 min)
Top 8 Pro head to head (16 races=48 min) (Quarter, Semi, 3:rd place, Final)
Top 3 Price cermony Jun, Am, Wom, Pro (4x6=24 min)
_________________________
Total 108 min + 12 min extra dead time included
A two hour spectacle. One could push in the Am, Jun and Women finals in between the Pro final races. All the "boring" qualifications done in the morning. Am show up early 9:00. Then Jun and women 12:00. Pro show up for qualification at 13:00.
Then 15:00-17:00 the main spectable for the audience with all the finals (as above). Neatly put inbetween lunch and dinner. ;-)
Would this ever be possible? With an efficiant event organisation maybe it could one day... and if this is what poeple want. I think an audience sure would like it like that. But maybe racers want more racing for the buck and time spent to come to an event. But looking at other sports this is how it works. Most just would get 2 runs per day and they are done. And happy. I would be. But maybe that is because I'm old and 4 practice runs and 2 event runs is just what a doctor would order for a racer of my age. :-D
So everything is setup around the published time for Audience and Press. In this case 15:00-17:00. It could be 16:00-18:00 also or whatever you think is the prime time.
You just have to be able to run qualification to have...
Top 4 AM
Top 2 Jun
Top 2 Wom
Top 8 Pro
...ready for the main spectacle.
The problem in general is that the AM group can be very big. In this case you could run the AM's according to ranking as many as you may fit into the time frame you have. If you have too many AM riders you will not have time to run all the head to head from the start to be ready in time. So I can see two options here.
1. You just take the top AM riders from the top of qualification directly into the finals.
The rest will continue after the main event. Finish the rest of the qualifications. And finish the head to head "semi finals" for AM place 5- and up.
2. You try and finish top 8 or top 16 from the top of qualification and run head to head until you have your top 4 AMs.
You then take them directly into the Main event AM finals.
The rest will continue after the main event. Finish the rest of the qualifications. And finish the head to head "semi finals" for AM place 5- and up.