Cancelled - November 15th CDC AutoX Bowie, MD

[etherpool]

I like the idea but on the few occasions that I've run in bad weather it was at least warm outside most of the time. Running in rain in the cold does equal a tough situation for everyone working the course not to mention the people keeping time since they are outside all the time. Everyone ends up staying in their car to stay warm and no one socializes so with the exception of the few minutes you actually spend driving, it's not much fun. If it's an hour away like Frederick is for me it's a tough call. So I think not canceling and running with stopwatches during the regular season is a great idea. Come Nov/Dec, not so much.

All that being said, if we can squeeze in a "fun run" day and it's decent outside, I'm in.

[ButtDyno]

I think prepay should be considered independently of the weather situation.

Prepay is attractive IMHO, if for no other reason than fairness. Right now, someone does not have any disincentive to sign up for an event, sleep through their alarm, and take up a spot that a willing competitor could have taken up. At least if they prepaid the club gets the $$ and they are somewhat penalized.

It just sucks to not get in to an event that's "full" and then it turns out a bunch of people didn't show up.

[JoeTR6]

I was talking to Ed last night, and I think we will bring the timing equipment. I'd rather haul it up there in my Miata and do the setup/teardown than worry about working a stopwatch all day. The timing equipment held up pretty well in the last Bowie downpour except for when the sensors got flooded. A shield around the reflectors would take care of part of that problem. There's another issue in Frederick with RF interference. I noticed last time (with a spare receiver) much interference we're getting there. After moving the start transmitter around, we found the sweet spot and only had a few failures. I think that explains the flaky nature of the timing at that lot.

As for prepaying, I was thinking we could let someone preregister and not show up 1-3 times during a season, but make them pay *before* the event after that. That wouldn't punish someone for getting sick, having a car break, etc. and would discourage the habitual no-shower. Then again, that's a lot more work for Ed.

[woodrowstar]

I look forward to rain events.

[etherpool]

I look forward to rain events.

Yea, I need a rain event so I can finally get to see that cabby run!!

[wrathe74]

As for prepaying, I was thinking we could let someone preregister and not show up 1-3 times during a season, but make them pay *before* the event after that. That wouldn't punish someone for getting sick, having a car break, etc. and would discourage the habitual no-shower. Then again, that's a lot more work for Ed.

A online web application system could be developed/implemented that would alleviate a lot of the administrative overhead for this. Allow online registration/payment, store your car(s) profile(s), and keep track of your no-shows etc. and could expand with season stats, and whole bunch of other features; even automatic temporary and permanent car number assignments.

I (and I'm sure others here) build these types of systems -- with the large amount of members now, it may be time to look this direction. If this is something already in the works...cool! (I'm only suggesting, and I'm definately not trying to overstep anyone...my personality is a visionary type, so I am always seeing areas to improve in everything I do)

[kyle.bowker]

Jason - I could always use a hand with the website programming. Let's talk privately about how you may be able to help us improve the system.

[ButtDyno]

<- web application programmer too. I do most of my stuff in Java but I am still pretty decent with PHP.