PROPOSED CHANGES TO Polly Lochore & Arthur Stevens Please Note: this poposal has been out for consultation and the responses are all with Arthur, who will be presenting the resulst and a redraft to the BEOA committee this month.
1 . BE puts in an Opening Date (as before). Reason: BE should control the date that entries open and this will be five to six weeks, depending on whether the event balloted in the previous year. 2 . Any Organiser who Balloted in previous year or is likely to Ballot will choose their Ballot date, which will be between 21 and 28 days before the start of the competition and will state in the schedule the number balloted in the class. 3. An Organiser who did not ballot in the previous will be required to choose a Ballot date, which will be between 21 and 15 days before the start of the competition and clearly state in their schedule 'Ballot 2007 None'. 4. TheOrganiser will coincide their Ballot date with 'Entry Surcharge Date'. After this date Organisers should charge an extra £10 per entry ( see Rule 27b para 2). Reason: We firmly believe that you, the Organiser should be in control of critical dates after the Date Entries Opened . If you balloted the previous year or you feel that there is a likelihood that you will be required to ballot, you can choose your ballot date. There are several organisers who have never balloted, which creates confusion to the competitor as to when they should enter. The long term intention is to reduce the balloting events as riders who want a run will enter the non balloting events. Balloting was introduced in the early years of eventing when demand far exceeded supply. Now there are more events coming into the calendar and in the course of time, all events should receive their full quota to be financially viable. We have used the words ‘ Entry Surcharge Date’ to signify to the competitors that after this date they will be charged an additional £10. This is a rule under 27b para 2 and you should not be afraid to charge it, however sympathetic you may feel to the late entry. It is to encourage entries to be made before this date and you choose it. You will notice in our proposal that we have removed all reference to ‘Closing Date’ because we are all open to receiving entries. Several events are known to take entries on the day. With the extra admin that this requires, you should not feel any guilt in asking for that extra £10 for the late entry. We have retained the ballot date for all events as it is known that due to unforeseen circumstances some events have had to ballot at the last moment. 5. All Organisers/Entries Secretaries (ES) will accept entries from the Opening Date until the competition is full. A Waitlist should then be kept. Reason: Organisers who do not state a ballot date will accept entries for all their nominated classes until they are full. We would propose to you to use the Waitlist system, which will ensure you have maximum numbers to run on the event day. The numbers held on the Waitlist is at your discretion. It is known in certain circles that some entry secretaries do not like the Waitlist system as they are paid by the ‘entry’ rather than the ‘section’. It does involve more work and more hassle from the competitor checking whether they have moved up the Waitlist and what their chances are of getting an entry. There is also the task of calling the Waitlist rider and dealing with the refunds for the withdrawn entry. We would propose to achieve a level playing field for our membership and believe the Waitlist system is fair and also another factor to make your event viable. 6. As soon as each Organiser/ES has accepted their optimum number in each section, they must inform Stoneleigh and the information that the Sections are full is immediately published on the Hotline and the BE Website Reason: At the moment the BE Hotline and Website is used to tell our members that our event is not full. This is very depressing for an organiser and extremely worrying. We believe it should be used as a positive information line to announce ‘you are full’, which will include your Waitlist. This avoids riders being disappointed by having their entry returned because they did not know you were full. This would also encourage riders to use the Schedule, Hotline and Website to enter events that have not declared that they are full. We are hopeful that the Internet Entry System will be more universally used, as this will speed up the entry process for your Entry Secretary. 7. It is in the Rule Book ( Rule 33a ) that 100% refund will be given if a withdrawal is received before Ballot date. Therefore, under the above proposals the competitor can request a 100% refund if they withdraw prior to your chosen Ballot date. Reason: The Entry Surcharge Date/Ballot Date is critical for a refund of a withdrawn entry. We know some of you take the view that once entered, no refund at any time. We believe that the high level of entry fees now being charged, it is extremely unfair, especially for the non‑sponsored competitor. Again, we want to achieve a level playing field for organisers and competitors and appreciate it is another hassle factor, but the competitor will thank you. 8. It is in the Rule Book ( Rule 33a ) that a refund will be given to a withdrawing competitor replaced off a waitlist for the same class. This must be refunded in full less a £10 fee. We propose this is applied at anytime. 9 . We propose that sections are limited to 42 and thereafter entries, if annotated on the entry form would go on the waitlist. Organisers requiring to run sections greater than 42 should seek permission from their RD. This does not apply to International Sections. Reason: We are recommending the maximum number of entries that should be accepted in a section should be 42. It will not be acceptable for Entry Secretaries to accept 54 entries in a section and only then give refunds when the withdrawals drop below 40 – known as the ‘buffer zone’. This is another ambiguity in our entry system when the competitor does not know whether they should have received a refund or not. Another reason for proposing the use of the Waitlist system. 10. T he Organiser’s refund policy after the Entry Surcharge Date/Ballot Date will be stated in the schedule Your refund policy for the period after the Entry Surcharge/Ballot Date when the entry is withdrawn and not replaced from the Waitlist to the withdrawal times should be stated in your schedule. If you have used up your Waitlist, then you may consider giving between 20% and 50% refund for withdrawal prior to the deadline for withdrawals. This is another area where we would like to achieve a level playing field across all organisers for a realistic refund back to event riders, especially the non-sponsored ones. After times have been published, it is entirely at your discretion.
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