2014 open calendar-will it effect clubs?

[Garry Comber]

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[SIZE=20pt]Oh dear it looks like the two free weekends have filled up now! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=20pt]I'm worried that the clubs will suffer with this number of opens!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=20pt]2014 Opens according to me (unofficial)[/SIZE]

March 22nd Whippet Club agm 11am Horspath

April 6th J.R. Whippet Charity open at West Somerset

April 13th 1st WCRA Championships 180 yard straight & Veteran Crown Races

April 20th Easter Charity Open (Scruples) 150 yard straight at Andover
April 27th 1st NPWRA Championships 150 yard straight at Andover.

May 4th Northern Open 165 yard straight Northern PWRC

May 11th Independent

May 18th Honeyhills (straight)

May 25th Andover

June 1st Wheal Lovell, Helston

June 1st 2nd NPWRA Championships 170 yard (straight) Northern PWRC

June 8th Gloucester at Gloucester WRC.

June 15th 2nd WCRA Championships 240 yard bends

June 22nd Harvel (straight)

June 29th Scottish Thistle Scottish Derby

July 6th Charity Open in Aid of Macmillan and Cancer Research Northern PWRC

July 13th Gloucester at Gloucester WRC.
July 20th The Scottish Pedigree Whippet Racing Championships

July 27th West Somerset Open

August 3rd 3rd NPWRA Championships 150 yard straight at Gloucester WRC.

August 10th 3rd WCRA Championships 150 yard straight & Veteran Crown Races

August 17th North West Championships 175 yard straight Northern PWRC

August 24th West Cornwall charity open - Helston

August 31st West Cornwall open - Helston

Sept 7th Independent

Sept 14th Andover

Sept 21st Honeyhills Bend
Sept 28th Heart of England (bend) & Veteran Races

Oct 5th 4th WCRA Championships 260 yard bends

Oct 12th 4th NPWRA Championships 185 yard straight at Andover

Oct 19th -

Oct 26th -

 

[maggiwing]

Thanks for all the dates Gary.

There are certainly a lot more Opens this year. Nice to have plenty of choice :thumbsup:

 

[springfield]

Sorry all west Cornwall open 24th august. No open on 31st

 

[Mike H]

Gary....A question, we should all have addressed a couple of years ago. Two Associations each holding 4 Champs per season have implications for the calender - we should have forseen the likely effect upon the grass roots of the sport ; the Clubs. The ensuing reduction of entrants for club events has a financial consequence. To function each club needs if not a healthy budget a survivsl income. Have the clubs responded here by putting on more 'Opens'? Most clubs seem at the moment to run more than one Open a year. These Opens might not attract more than 70 entrants a number that 5 years ago might have been seen at regular club meetings. With 8 Champs, and an ever increasing number of 'Opens' it is not fanciful to describe the 'Open' as the new Club Racing'.

Is it in our interests both as a racing community and this breed of working dogs to leave the Clubs to hang out to dry ? If at least we can agree that the economics of Club racing is severely effected by the congested Open and Championship calender, we might also consider how the calender currently impacts upon those who regulalry attend local rather than Open meetings. The experience is that trials predominate and what races that do take place concern whippets well known to one another with outcomes entirely predictable. This is dispiriting not just for racers but particularly for those who prepare the field and manage the event. Can we expect our fellow racers and friends to continue against such a background?

We either sleepwalk into oblivion or collectively find solutions. Many racers now cross dress -if racers can do it so too can the leaders of the respective Associations. Why should not the two Associations meet together at the close of the upcoming season, and work toward this agenda. (1) To agree that each Association would restrict itself to 2 Champs in 2015. (2) That each Association, where it cannot control, would instead encourage each Club to hold a single Open in 2015. Essentially this is a proposal to introduce a system of quotas - Champs / Opens / Clubs. Such a proposal would initially have financial implications for everyone and it is suspected, that whippet racing people do not take kindly to being told what to do. However racing people are also sensible and practical. No grass roots = No sustainability. All of us want to conserve this wonderful sport ; to do so might require actions rather than the constant wringing of hands, and the ever harking back to the past. Nothing stands still!

Mike h

 

[Markamys]

Spot on Mike, something needs to be done and quickly. A club like Honeyhills who needs to make at £500 a year just to keep the ground will suffer, not many racers will travel to places like ours if they can attend opens and get their points in their local areas.

I still consider myself a newbie and as such always seem to hit walls when suggesting new ideas at my local clubs. Being told "we have never done it that way", "that won't work" etc, and a lack of flexibility when ideas mean a change of date or break in tradition. If we don't think out of the box the sport will be in even more trouble.

 

[southlodge]

At the east Ayrshire club we have our race meetings on a Wednesday evening this is to enable all members an opportunity to keep their dogs fit and get in any schooling of pups, this also allows members to attend any open race meetings anywhere they wish as an entrant or spectator and the club is not affected it works very well for us and anyone who turns up on a Wednesday from any club in Britain will be catered for

 

[Rob Rixon]

Lots of Pedigree Whippet Racing Opens have been organised since the Superstars was founded in 1981. Prior to this there were few Pedigree Opens and those that were organised, the Controller/compiler of The Whippet News Top Ten points system agreed their dates. This is a very old problem with some clubs agreeing to run only a single open because of the date congestion, while others would not run any Open.

The problems of multiple Championships has also been with us for a great number of years as there used to be the Federation Championships and the UK Fed of Pedigree Whippet racing who both held their version of a Championships in the past. It has been recorded that Dave Morris from Newmarket with his dog Major Morris became a Racing Champion with all three organisations within a year – or at the very least 18 months..

The Superstars Open season was always from January through to December. With the Whippet News Top Ten season having similar limits. One way of getting round this is to run the Season from January to December.

A quick look down the dates I can’t see any Opens listed at Stanborough, East Anglia or Yorkshire clubs. While Harvel, Wheal Lovell, Independent and Heart of England have a single Open. Not sure about the two Opens in Scotland if they are run by the two clubs or not.

The idea was not that the club with the fastest Secretary should be given all the dates they requested, all clubs should have their first pick of a date, plus some clubs which have special circumstances - when they can only run their Open on a particular date and so it is this date or nothing – it this case that club was give preferential treatment.

See below the Superstars Open rule.

[SIZE=13pt]5.1.1 Booking In Dates For Opens[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]When booking in counting Open(s), each affiliated Club’s Secretary is required to provide written notification, including the following details for each event:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt] Type of discipline – i.e. Bend, Straight or Curve[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt] Distance to be run.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt] 1st, 2nd and 3rd preference of dates for each Open event.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]Whether any of the aforementioned dates are subject to confirmation at a later date. If so, state when and briefly the reason(s)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]why. Where there is a clash of dates between two or more Clubs, allocation of that date will be determined by order of preference [see c) above] then by the earliest postal date of the Club’s written notification. There may be exceptions to this where any Club(s) has/have provided provisional dates [refer to d) above].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]Affiliated Club’s requests for the next season’s counting Open date(s) may be forwarded to the WCRA Superstars Officer any time after 1st March and before 1st December of the current year.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]The WCRA Superstars Officer will provide confirmation, or otherwise notify, of date(s) to each Club that has applied for a counting event. WCRA Championship dates will take precedence over c) above. Every effort will be made to ensure the earliest possible notification to the Secretaries of all affiliated Clubs of the dates for the following season’s WCRA Championships.[/SIZE]

However, when the present situation arose again people can’t see that a ruling body is necessary to arbitrate between the clubs. I was asked a question ‘what are the benefits of Affiliating’ – well to stop anarchy may be one answer.

Unfortunately, I still have racing programmes from the early days at Stanborough when they raced at the Gosling Stadium when a ‘club meeting’ had 28 heats and as an owner your chances of getting a third run for you Whippet were slim, because of time. Big Opens had over 200 entries and to run 5 times to get to the Supreme Final was not unusual. If you were unlucky and had the addition of Re-Runs you really did have to have a fit dog to make it.

I’m not suggesting that the calendar can’t be organised – I’m pointing out that it looks like a first come, first served situation with club racing taking a backward step. Some bodies will be very reluctant to reduce the number of meetings that they organise because they rely on the money – as stated by Markamys – Honeyhill need to make £500 a year to keep the ground.

Then there was a problem of easy points – Kent had 3 clubs, all held Opens, with the East Sussex club not too far to travel, anyone living in Kent had not too far to travel with their Whippet to collect Open points. Now it would seem that the centre of the pedigree racing world has moved.

The idea is if you have an Open Class running Whippet and you run it at an Open it should beat others to make the final, not by a series of 2 dog races or solos. If you had a 24lber and went to the Championships you expected to run at least 4 times. Groups of 4 runners or less where all runner automatically make the final was unheard off – can they be considered at Racing Champions if they have had very little competition?

Now I’m not a Newbie to this game and I think new things should be tried. But a lot of things have been tried and been found to be unsuccessful. With the opposition to changes in distance or weight groups still ringing in my ears I still believe we should try new things and maybe some organise the Calendar.

 

[maggiwing]

What you have to remember about the championship events is that they are run by two organisations which at best will avoid each others dates. Neither recognises the other which is why some racers have two passports for each dog. Each organisation has a large percentage of racers who only race at championship level with their preferred organisation, therefore those racers will want to keep their four yearly events.

Garry, It is not as bad as you make out, because as you know, some racers will only go to NPWRA points opens and some will only go to WCRA superstars opens. The calendar only becomes congested for racers who want to race with both organisations. One of the reasons for racing with both organisations is that you can test your whippet against a different batch of dogs within its weight group.

Mike, you are correct I believe when you describe open racing as the new 'club racing' and it makes perfect sense. Why shouldn't people 'club' together at opens where at least their whippets get to race against dogs from other clubs rather than the same ones at their home club where as you say the result becomes predictable, which is why trialling is popular.

Bearing in mind the split in pedigree whippet racing, most racers will probably only go to about 60% of the available opens. With the cost of fuel and congested roads a lot of people will want to race at opens close by to them so it is a good thing that there are plenty of opens all around the country to choose from and although the entries won't be enormous they will be larger than the average club meeting and people will have an enjoyable competitive day.

Clubs need to change with the times and think about how they can keep the money coming in for their tracks to survive which also means keeping new racers interested in returning to their tracks particularly those with the slower dogs, (graded or handicap racing works well for these dogs) and seriously thinking about midweek evening meetings if a lot of their members want to do the Sunday opens.

 

[Carol Brown]

Yes Maggie I think you have hit the nail on the head, Clubs need to change there way of running Club meetings, not just putting on 1/2 yd lb or yd lb racing every time as results are predictable. A good handicaper is needed to give all Club Dogs a chance to win, and not to worry about winning Club Trophies each week.

Yes it is good for Club dogs ( slower dogs) and New Members Dogs to Win Club Trophies. Open class dogs who go off to the Opens leaving Club Committee's to pick up the peices.

If Clubs do not have meetings then you will not get New Members and lose existing members they find other interests.

You must look after the Club Dogs the Open Class Dogs look after themselves

 

[Garry Comber]

It is not as bad as you make out, because as you know, some racers will only go to NPWRA points opens and some will only go to WCRA superstars opens. The calendar only becomes congested for racers who want to race with both organisations.

My point is that opens are taking racers away from clubs every week regardless

You must Look after the Club Dogs the Open Class Dogs look after themselves

I agree Carol, we must also remember you wouldn't have open class dogs without the help of the clubs to school them

 

[dave63]

With out club racing i would have not got back into the sport. And without the club handycap at east anglia would have been no point in me going. Clubdog racer.

 

[Markamys]

Mike, you are correct I believe when you describe open racing as the new 'club racing' and it makes perfect sense. Why shouldn't people 'club' together at opens where at least their whippets get to race against dogs from other clubs rather than the same ones at their home club where as you say the result becomes predictable, which is why trialling is popular.

I suppose pedigree racing has now gone down the same lines as the "non peds" where the racing clubs are becoming just trialling clubs.

I also agree with Mike and Maggie, we attend most opens and championships and people from different clubs have become our racing friends and if i'm honest we only really prepare our dogs for the opens and very rarely race at the club anymore. We at Honeyhills, with the help of EAWRC have been looking at ways this year to bring in more money to our club and hope it will keep us going for at least another year.

 

[longdog]

I have read the posts on this thread with interest and subsequently have spent the last couple of evenings reading through my old Whippet News Magazines dating back to 1983 when I first got involved with racing at Tamworth WRC, changing to Moira WRC in the1984 season.

My observations and memories are as such;

There were 2 organisations back then, the WCRA and the Federation of Racing Pedigree Whippets run by Peter Spokes and based at Horspath Oxford.

The open calendar started in March and ended at the end of October with only 2 or 3 free weekends.

The main problem I feel we face is that there are far fewer racers and hence far fewer dogs. Back in the 1980's and 1990's the same level of opens were held but the difference was there were still enough dogs to club race.

As a sport, we are ageing, the majority of racers are over 55 I dare say, I am considered young at 47! How many young people are involved in racing? Very few! We need to encourage new people into our sport.

Another consideration is cost, many people are on fixed incomes and are only able to pick and choose when and where they race.

I also feel there are political undertones to the post, the split has no bearing on the reason for low levels of club racing, if we went back say 6 years there was a greater number of dogs racing, opens attracted 150 dogs, go back to the 80's and 90's and there would be more dogs at opens.

By far the main reason for lower entries is the number of dogs racing.

I am happy to scan the calendars from the Whippet News and post them.

There does need to be some positive action but the way forward is not to restrict opens or championship meetings, far from it, we need to publicise our sport and try to get new people involved.

 

[mandyrfc]

I think you will find Mr Rickson if you looked properly that there are 2 clubs which means there are 2 opens lol ours is called

The Scottish Pedigree Whippet Racing Club and the other is The Scottish Thistle yes I know they look similar in name but they are definitely not the same club

Mandy xxxxxxxxxx :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Mike H]

Longdog is of course absolutely right in his assessment of the perceived problem - hard statistics will verify that there are significently less dogs racing than a decade ago, and for that matter less dogs racing than say five years ago. Longdog is also correct in his reading of the new demography.......fewer racers / older racers / just a smattering of the under 40's. Social change generally has to be considered here. Is it not the situation that there are many more social distractions available to a younger generation, and that in general many sports and pastimes simply are of their time, and gradually fade into history ? It is for this reason, that I thought Gary's original post was so important. If the sport to which we are all seemingly addicited is under threat, should we not look at how the decline can be best managed, and in the context of club meetings should we not think about how best to keep every last club afloat and functioning ? My initial suggestion about a quota system was not entirely tounge in cheek.....what I wanted to suggest was no more than that there needs to be a sharing of the financial spoils. The forum has enabled a number of sound suggestions to be floated, and the debate alone must be of value. As has been well articulated, there is a co-dependence here - clubs >> opens >> champs. To borrow a much derised saying 'we are all in this together'.

If the new landscape is - fewer racing dogs, racers mostly 'age challenged,' 8 champs, most clubs running 2 opens, the clubs themselves struggeling to survivie financially - does it not behove us all to manage the emergent situation. It is here that I found myself saddened by Longdogs suggestion the posts might be politically motivated. The split is history and we have to get on with the consequence. However if the new landscape really is as outlined should we not consider that we are approaching a crisis in the sport What we need from the leaders of both Associations is a truce. The leaders , and perhaps all of us have got to abandon suspicion, and distrust. They/ We have got to talk to one another about how both Associations can jointly and singly best address current issues. Pedigree Whippet Racing might be in a decine that cannot be entirely halted, but with good management the sport can be sustained for a good while yet, dignity can be preserved and all of us including the whippets can continue to derive a great deal of pleasure.

Mike h

 

[Firemansam]

I have been racing for about 7 years at the Heart of England club. Over that time we have seen a few members give up the sport, and we have gained a few new ones.

One important thing is that over the last 3 years every new racer to the sport has come via our clubs website. It surprises me that not every club has a website. The WCRA doesn't have an official one, and the whippet club website has little information, no contact information and hasn't been updated since 2012.

I understand that very few of us went to school in the computer age, and with less racers comes less helping hands but surely there are a few computer geeks out there that could lend clubs a hand?

 

[maggiwing]

I have read the posts on this thread with interest and subsequently have spent the last couple of evenings reading through my old Whippet News Magazines dating back to 1983 when I first got involved with racing at Tamworth WRC, changing to Moira WRC in the1984 season.

My observations and memories are as such;

There were 2 organisations back then, the WCRA and the Federation of Racing Pedigree Whippets run by Peter Spokes and based at Horspath Oxford.

.

I also feel there are political undertones to the post, the split has no bearing on the reason for low levels of club racing

Hi Andrew,

No political intent meant in my post, just fact, and you're right that the split has no bearing on low levels of club racing, but surely you have to admit that it has had serious implications to many of the clubs opens, so much so, in fact, that some cannot afford to hold an open any more and which ever way you look at it numbers are down even at the successful opens.

The original post from Garry about the survival of clubs, is I believe, not necessarily a new problem. During the 1990's when I first came into Whippet Racing I was living in Witney, Oxfordshire so our nearest club was Oxford. Peter Spokes ran the fantastically successful Oxford Club meetings on a fortnightly basis throughout most of the year, he did so by running a bend meeting (run on a handicap system) which was attended by well over 100 dogs in 6 box heats, semi-finals and finals. A great number of the attendees were pet whippets which could never hope to compete at an open, but all in with a chance at Oxford. Look at the size of the entries and you can see why these club meetings were very popular, and enjoyable. Some of these whippeteers went on to breed or purchase faster pedigree racing bred types to compete at opens. The Federation Championships were always an exciting time in the calendar as we would get to race our whippets against all the WCRA passported whippets who came from all over the country to run at the Feds.

On the weeks off we used to go either to the Gloucester Club or the South Cotswolds Club and we could not believe how tiny the attendance was compared to Oxford. Occasionally these clubs would get a few more visitors from other clubs to make the racing more competitive but on the whole the racing at these two clubs (run for the most part on the weight system) was very uncompetitive. Still these clubs survived, probably down to the money they raised from their opens. I think they can still survive as long as members get together and work out how to keep them going and attract new members.

Mike has I think also found the real reason for less racers in "the social change" theory. However, a lot of racers have a lot of whippets and still more puppies every year being introduced so I think it is far from the doom and gloom that is being presented.

Andy must be right about websites too. Clubs need their own individual websites. Andover Club has a website and their club meetings are usually well attended with new people coming along every year. Anyone looking to google whippet racing for their pet needs to be able to find plenty of websites to choose from so that they can find their local club. I would also add, which I've said before, that the Whippet Club Site is not 'Fit For Purpose' as the new site does not even include the names and phone numbers of club secretaries like it used to, and many other details have been omitted. Any websites must be updated regularly in order to keep whippeteers properly informed with email addresses and phone contacts viable.

Anyway, I am looking forward to meeting up with everyone and seeing all their whippets racing in the upcoming season. Can't wait :thumbsup:

Best wishes to all - Maggi

 

[IanGerman]

Good thread - about time this website was used for something other than coo-cooing over puppy pictures. Thanks for starting this topic Garry.

Everyone has identified all the problems, but knowing the problem and solving it are not always straightforward.

I won't reitterate what others have already said, other than, yes, ageing members, lack of younger, more able bodied people cause clubs difficulties in hosting meetings, and financial restraints, unemployment and travel costs all add to a club's dropping membership.

Longdog is correct in saying that the "split" isn't the reason for falling attendances, but is incorrect in implying that the thread is politically motivated. At a time when rifts are being healed, and bridges mended by some, it's disappointing to see that suspicion and mistrust is still alive and well.

What the "split" has done, again as has already been pointed out, is give more opportunities for racers to go somewhere other than their own club. In a way this is understandable - who wants to race against the same 2 other dogs week in week out, with the same predictable results? That's not racing, it's trialling. I don't exclude myself from this - last year I attended more Opens and Championships than I ever have before. However, I spent the previous 8 years racing almost exclusively at club level, so I feel I have paid my dues to a degree, whilst acknowledgeing that I am therefore part of the problem!

I am currently working on a website for the East Anglian club - Fireman Sam is right in what he say's about having an internet presence. For far too long clubs have been complacent about advertising, and although it may have been tried on occasion, advertising is often a slow burn rather than an instant hit. At least with the internet the costs are affordable, and if it only results in one new member it will pay for itself.

I don't have all the answers, indeed I doubt anyone does - but it shouldn't stop us looking.

 

[Carol Brown]

Very well put Ian.

Dave and I agree with you hole heartedly

Carol

 

[judith b]

as a racing novice I think it may be of interest to the discussion if I add my comments on the issue of more information about the sport and the specifically the tracks around the country.

when I decided I would like to take my pet whippets racing it would have been most helpful if access to all the racing clubs via websites had been readily available .

what you may be surprised to know is most pet whippet owners I have met would love to run their dogs with other whippets in a safe and friendly environment what they don't all do is subscribe to whippet news ,or become members of the whippet club , so easy acess to the internet club websites may help boost the clubs resources and falling membership .

Although these dogs are unlikely to become champions.. these owners ,like myself ,may enjoy the experience so much they may wish to own a racing whippet,themselves one day .

I agree with the comment on the age of the majority of club members,I fall into that category myself but on the positive side ,on my many walks with the dogs I have noticed an increase in the number of whippets around and significantly most owners being young families ,so I spread the word on the absolute joy of whippet club running for dog and owner.

Finally I would like to add that as the owner of non racing bred dogs I have always been made most welcome at any club I have been to.

best wishes

judith