Howdy,
On Fri, 23 Jun 2000, Mari L Clements wrote:
> Second, and not to be overly harsh, no one is denying anyone (top-level
> or not) entry into Peru or any other National Event. They denied
> themselves by procrastinating. (And I've bitten this back 20 times
> already and can't do it anymore) I warned you all in mid-May when I was
> wait-listed at the Peru Pro that the National office said that events
> were filling up and to send in your applications for all events
> (including Nationals) now. It is not any novice, top driver, or anyone
> else's fault if you didn't listen. It's your own.
The fact that this time I was the one that procrastinated and didn't enter
early enough has no bearing on the problem itself. Entries are
(apparently) rising. With no penalty for entering early and cancelling,
the events will "fill up" sooner and sooner and sooner, with folks
cancelling a week before the event. We KNOW that we can't run more than
230 or so people in a day.
So what do we do?
In order of effectiveness:
1. Nothing. Enter earlier and demand won't increase to the point where
people are hurt overall.
2. Require a national licence to compete. That is a minimal cost and
helps ensure that registrants are serious about coming.
3. Run 2 courses / split the event across multiple weekends.
4. Raise cost / require qualifying / other "culling" methods.
If you make the assumption that demand will continue to increase, I
believe you better start figuring out how to do #2 and maybe #3 now.
MHO.
Mark
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