Firstly, can I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and assistance during 2017 for the races you worked on as officials. Without your continued excellent work cycle sport would not be able to be run to the standards required.
During the course of the season it became clear that there were issues around commissairing in the Region. You may have guessed by the number of emails you had, that we were struggling to find commissaires to cover events, in fact some had to be cancelled. At some points during the year organisers were only having their commissaires confirmed 2-3 days before the race rather than 2-3 weeks as it should be. A number of you also felt that you were not receiving the support and assistance you needed.
Over the last few months our events officer, Eric Lejeune, has been updating the Region's commissaire list across all disciplines to ensure that those listed were still active as the number of commissaires listed was not a true reflection of how many we had to cover events. We have also been looking at ways to improve the support network for officials, not just for new and trainee commissiares, but for those who have been doing the role for a number of years. We have also looked at ways to improve the appointment process.
I would also like to hear from you with any input and ideas that you may have. For the future I would like us to have a more unified approach to commissairing in the region, so your feedback will be invaluable.
These have been used in other regions to good success, and I would like to implement it in the South East. I am looking for two volunteers:
1. One to help trainees / assistant commissaires and those who have qualified to regional level in the last year.
2. Another to help more established / experienced regional commissaire.
The roles would include offering support and advice on commissairing issues, and also some assistance in co-ordination to improve the recruitment process.
Weekend Events
I will be aiming to send out dates, by email, for events two months in advance. I would then like responses within 10 days of the email being sent out. Hopefully this would be enough time for you all to check you availability. If you feel that you would like to know dates further in advance, I can send out a whole of season calendar, but I have found that when people agree to dates further in advance that there availability changes and have to withdraw.
Weekday Events
For the weekday series events I would like to produce a rota for each series. Some only require 1 commissaire per event, others need 2. I will be asking you which evening events are best suited to you, we can then arrange and co-ordinate dates within those on the list for each series.
A separate email will follow this one with dates for the next two months, and details of the evening series for the whole season.
Should you feel that there are issues within the region, or a would like to make a complaint, and feel that it is not something you want to put to me, then it can be sent to the Chair of the South East Region Tabitha Rendall. This includes any complaints you may wish to make against myself. The Chair's email address is tabnet99@yahoo.co.uk
Equipment
On some occasions organisers have not had the correct equipment available on the day for the races to be run to a high standard. When liaising with organisers pre event, please ensure they will have everything you need on the day. Both the regions race leagues have all their own equipment, as does the region, so everything you may need should be available.
Administration
Please ensure that you completing all reports and forms as soon as possible after the event and return them to me, ideally by email. Some of you have been uncertain when incident report forms need to be completed, and clearer guidelines will be issued by British Cycling HQ shortly.
I have put together some folders that contain most of the documents you will need during the season, and will send them out in due course. In addition they will also be sent out with the event documents when appointments are confirmed with organisers.
Clothing
If you have qualified as a regional commissaire, you should have been sent the official commissaire clothing. If you do not have any you should contact the official’s education department at HQ. Assistant commissaires should all have bibs, if you have upgraded to regional commissaire, please can you arrange to return you bib to Eric lejeune
Please ensure that you are wearing your clothing / bib while on commissaire duty, as well as dressing in an appropriate manner.
Hopefully I will see some of you at the commissaire conference on Saturday. If not I am sure we will meet during the course of the season.
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