District Race

General race coordinator discussions.
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dascomp51
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District Race

Post by dascomp51 »

I am new to the forum, so here goes. :D

I keep reading posts from everyone about how the District race went. I have done some basic checking here in Carrollton, TX and can't find anyone that knows anything about a district race. Is this just something that evolved over time in different places?

I am very open to the concept of coordinating a district level race, but would like suggestions on where to start. I have fielded the idea with my pack and had brief discussions at last months roundtable, but where do I go from here?

One question is where do most district races get their budget? Does every pack kick in, or do we look to the district for some help.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

David
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Re: District Race

Post by ExtremePWD »

Our district has an early entry fee of $7 and a late registration fee of $8. With several hundred boys attending, it easily covers trophies and participation patches. Tracks are loaned by local packs. I am not sure if the venues we use charge a rental fee and what other expenses are incurred. I would be interested in knowing the rest of the details. I would hope that most of the fees are for the event expenses but it is not obvious. Our district race has been in place for several years which makes it easier to budget. I'm sure a new event would be much less predictable and a low turnout puts risk on the income side of the ledger. Business sponsorship to cover the cost of the awards would help mitigate the income risk.
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Re: District Race

Post by Stephen's Dad »

Our Pack hosted the District race last year & I organized it. Hopefully this will be useful to you.

If no one has ever hosted a District race in the past then the first place I would turn is your District Executive at your Council Office. Your DE can provide you a list of Cubmasters (if nothing else) but you would prefer a more comprehensive list that specified the Pinewood Derby Chair for each Pack. Some DEs don't place much emphasis on such things. Also DEs tend to turn over pretty quickly in some areas so lists get lost or thrown away sometimes. Take whatever you can get. Some Councils & even some Districts keep all this information current on a website.

Once you have made the contacts & established interest you'll need to plan how many attendees are expected & the space you'll need for them. We have a better turn out for our District Race than we do for the Council or Pack races. Last year was the first time in many years that EVERY Pack in our District was invited. I contacted each Cubmaster or PWD Chair either by email or (if no email) by telephone. We had good participation with over 75 entries. Each Pack can send their top 3 finishers if less that 50 Boys are chartered. Packs with more than 50 chartered Boys could send their top 4 finishers.

We charged each Pack $25.00 regardless of how many Boys they sent. I can only speak for us, but our Pack pays the $25 out of budget so there is no cost to the Boys we send. I think that some Packs collect the registration fee from the attending boy but that isn't really your call as the organizer. Offer them whatever guidance you feel comfortable with if a Pack Leader does inquire.

Location: Our Charter Org. School would normally charge us $50 per event. So we use the Middle School right next store for free (local political issue). Rather than the small cafeteria we use for our Pack Meetings & regular Pack Derbies, we used a full size gymnasium for the District Races. We roped off the entire track & pit area with stancions & streamers & the viewers sat in the bleachers. Boys sat on the floor or on folding chairs depending on whether racing or watching a set of heats.

We chose to sell food in our cafeteria down the hall. We borrowed a large Popcorn machine from the Council Office & sold bags for about $1.00. We also sold Pizza, waters, lemonade, etc. No food was allowed in the gym at the request of the custodial staff which suited us just fine.

All of the food was donated or if we did have to buy something (sugar for the fresh squeezed lemonage, cups & paper towels I think) then our Pack paid for those items.

The only other expenses were the awards & since the revenue was strong, I purchased a lot of tropies making sure they were larger than the normal Pack style we award.

24 Packs registered at $25 so we had $600 to spend.

I spent about $170 on tropies but we had about $100 in donations to offset part of that expense. Never be afraid to ask local business Leaders for cash donations & support. Just be sure to recognize their support with plaques & pictures.

If your Pack has a Publicity Chair, then make sure to recognize the donations in print in a local newspaper. Another angle is to have your Cash donors supply you with a banner (auto dealers & parts stores) & make sure the boys, track & banner all make it into the local paper. Some Packs even get local TV coverage of these events.

We hadn't intended to but the District Race made a $530 profit. Our District Executive had made an amazingly detailed 17 color patch for the event. So we paid for 50% of that cost (about $150) & the remaining $380 we donated to FOS (Friends of Scouting).

Our Pack Committee had decided it would be in poor taste to keep any revenue that we profitted & I agreed entirely so long as most of the expenses were covered which they were. I've heard that some Packs pocket the profits if there are any but with a good budget you could make sure to spend all of the money on the winners which is what I will try to do the next time we host a District PWD.

I hope this helps.

Steve
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Stan Pope
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Re: District Race

Post by Stan Pope »

PWD racing is a local phenomena. In some areas, it is a district event, in some it is a council event. Sometimes there is neither and sometimes (rarely, I think) there are both. In our past, our district race has served to increase interest in the pack races, because racers qualify to district races in their pack races.

BSA event budgets are set (around here, at least) to barely "break even," though they usually include a small "contingency" to buffer underparticipation risks. A small excess of receipts over costs is ideal, in my opinion.

Facilities costs depend on a lot of factors. For many years, our event was held at a local mall. Space was free and the mall chipped in on trophies. It was their high traffic day for the year. The downside was that visibility for parents was poor. We have also used a local sports facility that included bleacher seating and allowed all of the tracks to be located together. This cost about $300 for the day but I think it was a much better experience for all concerned. If the committee is formed in time and is on its toes, such facilities are not hard to schedule.

To get one started ... that may be more difficult. Here is what is needed in most cases:

First, about a year (or more) in advance, sell the idea to the district committee and get it on the district's calendar. (Calendar items may require council committee or board approval.) You may have to work through the district's Program Committee or Cub Scout Program Committee. You will need to have an outline of how the program will operate and why. The Program Chairman will probably appoint an event committee to govern the event.

Around 9 to 12 months in advance, the commettee needs to "lock down" a facility.

Around 6 months in advance, the committee needs to start promoting the event to pack leaders, including car specifications and participation criteria. Note that race participation criteria affect how many boys can/will participate. If anyone can race at district races, then you are not helping create excitement for the pack races and district race participation suffers. If only the top few from each pack can race at district races, then you have a built-in limit to participation. The secret is to find a happy medium. From a national survey that I did about 10 years ago, those who have qualification criteria that aren't too selective have the best participation. Somewhere in the range of three to five racers from each age group from each pack seemed to max out district race participation.

During the next few months, secure and train volunteers to run the event.

Give a lot of thought as to how the competition will be conducted. Consider probable numbers of participants. Race by age group? Or all in one big bunch? What makes the best experience for the Cubs? For the parents? How can you get enough racing in for each boy? How much is too much? How can you keep the pace of activities rolling briskly? How can you keep parents apprised of the status? (Each parent wants to know how his Cub is doing.) How can you serve (directly and indirectly) the most boys from your district?

Come on back as you formulate your event parameters and we'll try to help more.
Stan
"If it's not for the boys, it's for the birds!"
dascomp51
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Re: District Race

Post by dascomp51 »

Thanks for all the ideas and experience. I am looking foward any more info and will let you all know how it turns out. I may just start with a Multi Pack Invitational event and try to work my way up from there.

Thanks again

David
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Stan Pope
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Re: District Race

Post by Stan Pope »

dascomp51 wrote:a Multi Pack Invitational event
Check with your district executive on details / restrictions. There will likely be some if multiple units are involved under auspices of Scouting.
Stan
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