Marshalling - Is it right that we insist?

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

[quote="Brian Robinson"]

I've done my fair share of marshalling when I was a regular. But if get out on 1 or 2 club runs this summer I want to enjoy the club run and not be worrying about whether I've hit my marshalling annual target!

Brian

[Tony]

I must be a libertarian anarchist...as I don't see why anyone who wishes to pitch up on the club run and ride on the public highway with a group of fellow cyclists should be under any obligation to give up spare time to help organise cycling events. The purpose of the club is to be a fun, relaxed place to do cycling stuff with like-minded riders. It should endeavour to stay that way and not risk becoming a playground for wanabee manager-types to practice implementing potentially unnecessary / unwelcomed controls.

Of course, if members want to take part in organised events, then there has to be some 'giveback'. From what I've seen, most involved in such events recognise that. If there are issues fulfilling marshalling duties - why not offer some incentives/recognition for marshalls? Carrot is always better than stick. Could be prize / cash-awards /free raffle tickets etc. for draw at club dinner?

P.S. Apologies if this adds nothing - I've not followed this thread all the way through!

P.P.S. This thread also reminds me of the rather funny....[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CJXvWXkK8[/url]

[Grahame]

[quote="Toks"]I don't think we should insist Snoop. We should definitley incentivize (is that a word?) £5 off your membership if you Marshal once; Membership is free if you Marshal more than 8-10 hours in total). It's gotta be the "carrot" rather than the "stick" for me every time. Why not just put the membership up to £25 for those who don't wanna marshall I'm sure most people that didn't want to marshall would happily pay that. There was big thread on the Dulwich Paragon [url=http://dulwichparagon.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=3658]forum[/url] about this very same thing. Basically someone was advocated joining the club, getting the nice kit and only going on club run but not marshalling. This got quite a few members angry.As someone said early there are quite a few old style cycling clubs (usually the one's with a rubbish kit ) that are dead set in their ways and don't have a thriving membership like we do. Anyone heard of Islington CC,? a 2nd claim club I rode with when I first join ACC. Well they literally died a about three years ago. I wonder if some of their written and unwritten rules - two rides and you must join, wear club kit, don't ride ahead on the hills, keep thing clichy and don't associate with newbies, don't wait for newbies if they get dropped etc - contributed to their downfall.
Lets not introduce new rules just for the sake of it. Personally I still think we should look at our club runs and ensure they are being run smooth and orderely. Lots of crashes this year - a bit worrying!

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Tony"]I must be a libertarian anarchist...as I don't see why anyone who wishes to pitch up on the club run and ride on the public highway with a group of fellow cyclists should be under any obligation to give up spare time to help organise cycling events. The purpose of the club is to be a fun, relaxed place to do cycling stuff with like-minded riders. It should endeavour to stay that way and not risk becoming a playground for wanabee manager-types to practice implementing potentially unnecessary / unwelcomed controls.

Of course, if members want to take part in organised events, then there has to be some 'giveback'. From what I've seen, most involved in such events recognise that. If there are issues fulfilling marshalling duties - why not offer some incentives/recognition for marshalls? Carrot is always better than stick. Could be prize / cash-awards /free raffle tickets etc. for draw at club dinner?

P.S. Apologies if this adds nothing - I've not followed this thread all the way through!

P.P.S. This thread also reminds me of the rather funny....[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CJXvWXkK8[/url]

[quote="Tony"]...as I don't see why anyone who wishes to pitch up on the club run and ride on the public highway with a group of fellow cyclists should be under any obligation to give up spare time to help organise cycling events.

[kieran]

Maybe the £5 payment to Marshalls needs to be publicised a bit more? I wasn't aware of it, despite doing the min requirement 2 goes for those who race (or think about it).

I must admit I am not sure what people who only do the club run get out of the club that they couldn't do themselves or via LCC or CTC. Is it partly an image thing?

It has also got me questioning why I am still a member. I joined originally to keep cycling fit after changing from a long commute to a short one and needed people who knew the lanes around SE London. Any of the SE based clubs would have done but I joined ACC due to the pro active and friendly recruiting tactics of Marco on the old C+ forum. I know the lanes now and usually end up doing solo rides but I stay with ACC due to people like Marco, Aodan, Andrew G, EdO, Steve B, Toks and other great people in ACC. There are people like them in every club but these are the people I know and the club is my way of keeping in contact(and an odd post on this forum).

With regards to those who don't marshall, what pecentage of club members are we talking? Would the club run be reduced to a shadow of its current size? Would that be a good thing - easier to manage? Does the club need them ? - If the rule was enforced I guess people would end up leaving the club and what good would that do? It would have one effect of reducing income from membership fees - which is used for...?

[higg]

[quote]With regards to those who don't marshall, what pecentage of club members are we talking?

[kieran]

Great, send me the data and I'll do lots of pretty graphs, as a statistician I have the software at work!

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="kieran"]Great, send me the data and I'll do lots of pretty graphs, as a statistician I have the software at work!