Unofficial wcra site

[Carol Brown]

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Just looked at above because of a phone call received .

Were you at a different meeting to me Mr Rixon because my dog was knocked out in the heat and this was her 1st race at an open meeting so she could not have accummulated any Super Star Points.

Is this another deliberate mistake, have I won a prize.for pointing it out.

Carol.

 

[Garry Comber]

Here's a link to the official results for the first champs, hope this helps Carol

http://www.thewhippetclub.com/results-wcra-1st-championships-2014/

 

[Rob Rixon]

Sorry about getting the wrong result at the Champs, but if you don't tell me which dog its difficult to correct any error.

Not even sure which Champs you are referring to.

As only the 1st Champs is on the Official Web site.

What I love about Whippet Racing is the very friendly way some people point out errors!

Because being in the game so long it is difficult to understand where I went wrong.

However, maybe this is the reason why so many people are leaving the Sport - or is Sport the wrong word?

 

[ray pond]

Do you know what the word FRIENDLY means? the way you talk to people. Thats why not many people like you.

Nicky Brown

 

[compo]

I am new here, also new to whippet ownership (have a 4 month old puppy) and I don't know any whippet people yet...... I have sent emails, forum messages and posts and not had any replies, I don't know mr rixon but he at least replied to emails and gave some advice...... Seems there are rifts and people falling out which is sad in such a niche group

 

[ray pond]

if you wish to know anything about whippet racing you can pm me and i will give you any help you need. We are always pleased to welcome any new friends into our sport.

Ray Pond (WCRA Race Manager and East Anglian WRC Race Manager)

 

[Firemansam]

Compo,

there are lots of racers using club and national facebook pages for whippet racing now, are you a facebook person?

 

[Carol Brown]

Mr Rixon you know who my dog is, and as if I would be speaking about any other Championship meeting other than the latest one you were at on Sunday 15th June.

Did I embarrass you because you have made another mistake .

See you at the 3rd Champs

Carol

 

[compo]

Firemansam yes on facebook..... Use it a lot as I have family all over the country and friends (ex colleagues in new zealand, sweden, usa and further afield) my name is andrew armer and my whippet pup is my current profile pic

 

[Firemansam]

I see you have been added by Garry to new whippet facebook page.

 

[springfield]

Very confusing with this unofficial site. Why is a none committee member confusing people. Needs to stop just makes more upset racers and bad press for the Wcra.

 

[munroc]

I enjoy viewing this unofficial site which is a very good source of information.

It states that it is a unofficial site and asks to be contacted if any errors are found.

So we're is the problem.

I am sure a lot of time and effort is put into the site.

 

[Millsy]

Very confusing with this unofficial site. Why is a none committee member confusing people. Needs to stop just makes more upset racers and bad press for the Wcra.

I'm inclined to agree, particularly given if you Google "WCRA" the unofficial site comes up at the top, the Whippet Club website doesn't even come up on the first page. Which could be a large part of the problem.

I'm putting on my 'professional' hat here, but if the WCRA had a site that was a) Separate from the Whippet Club, on it's own domain and b) a bit easier to find news and navigate there wouldn't be any need for an unofficial site.

The advantage that the unofficial site has is that it's easy to find by searching, and has everything you need to get to easily accessible from the sidebar. It doesn't do it for me from an aesthetic standpoint, but it does it's job fairly well.

The official WC site only has six 'recent posts' items and two 'news' items in it's front page feed, and I haven't found an easy access route to any archives, there is a 'more news' link; but that just goes to four thumbnails, two of which are for a calendar (of the wall hanging variety). It covers showing and racing, and as such doesn't focus on what the racing people want to know about - results and fixtures. A major minus point - the menu doesn't work well on mobile or tablet devices. I've tried to access the racing section a few times only to be thwarted by the menu disappearing.

Apologies if it feels like I'm criticising, I know only too well how much work goes into a website. But there are some flaws in the current site that aren't really helping the accessibility of the WCRA.

/my2cents

 

[ray pond]

munroc & millsy are you racers? if not please do not get invoved in racing politics, the WCRA name should not be used by anyone else it is a brand.

Ray Pond ( WCRA racing manager)

 

[Millsy]

I have a whippet, but she's not old enough to race. I do go to the Champs with my mother, and take her racing every week though.

How is passing comment on the accessibility of the website getting involved in politics? As I said, I'm inclined to agree that there shouldn't be an unofficial website. My other comments are just observations on the official Whippet Club website, given that I do web design for a living I thought they might help.

I'll keep my comments to myself if it offends people though.

 

[compo]

Ray, for my two penneth Millsy is offering advice that could make the official site easier to find...... I came across the unofficial one first and spoke with mr rixon first via email, he has a good knowledge of websites from his employment and education, I don't know the politics that has led to this fall out and to be honest I don't care, he did direct me towards the east anglia club but didn't know that east anglia were going to run bourne end during the winter.

I eventually got in touch with you and mr comber and you two have been gracious enough to get me in touch and in the loop so I can start coming to racing events when my pup gets a bit older, the facebook group is great, but perhaps shouldn't be a closed group, I had searched on facebook for whippet racing as well as google looking for contacts.

I have designed and used websites too, I have one which I haven't updated for a while that's a collection of my hunting and shooting trips..... My wife had one for a business she had.

Getting them to come up on the first page of google on a search is a must, very few people go beyond the first page and using some search engines it just takes you to the website that most matches the search criteria.

It took me a lot of emails and pm messages on various forums before I got directed her, I then ended up in contact with mr comber and yourself.

It shouldn't be that hard to find the official website, I feel it does need some pro advice.....

I know I am not racing a dog yet, I am a new comer to the world of whippets and don't know what politics have gone on before, I am however someone who is keen to watch racing, who is keen to race his pup and who wants to get involved, it needs to be easier for people like me to find info and find the right people to talk to ....... For that reason I would say the website needs some work..... I avent even seen the official site?

 

[maggiwing]

I have a whippet, but she's not old enough to race. I do go to the Champs with my mother, and take her racing every week though.

How is passing comment on the accessibility of the website getting involved in politics? As I said, I'm inclined to agree that there shouldn't be an unofficial website. My other comments are just observations on the official Whippet Club website, given that I do web design for a living I thought they might help.

I'll keep my comments to myself if it offends people though.

What you have said does not offend me Millsy, and you are perfectly entitled to write informative information on this forum whether you race or not.

I prefer the unofficial WCRA website because it is easy to navigate, easy to download forms and the results are added swiftly. I would prefer a different format on the results page as it is not orderly which can be confusing, however, it is highly irritating trying to find results on the NEW Whippet Club Site. The only way I managed to find the results from one single Champs was by typing in 'results' in the search box. The old WCRA site was quite adequate and easily navigable with Archive results from two or three years back including photos. I don't know why they changed it.

Good luck with your young puppy.

 

[maggiwing]

It shouldn't be that hard to find the official website, I feel it does need some pro advice.....

I know I am not racing a dog yet, I am a new comer to the world of whippets and don't know what politics have gone on before, I am however someone who is keen to watch racing, who is keen to race his pup and who wants to get involved, it needs to be easier for people like me to find info and find the right people to talk to ....... For that reason I would say the website needs some work..... I avent even seen the official site?

If you want to look at the official site Google The Whippet Club and you will find it. It mainly has a lot of history about the sport along with the rules of the WCRA. The old site used to have information on all the affiliated clubs with names and phone numbers of secretaries but sadly the new site doesn't or if there is a page I can't find it!

Good luck with your young dog and hope that you can find a suitable club close enough to you where you can train him/her to race.

 

[Garry Comber]

I prefer the unofficial WCRA website because it is easy to navigate, easy to download forms and the results are added swiftly.

Your lucky Maggi-but I get the phone calls for errors on the official site (and I don't know what their talking about)

ie: Dogs in the bitch league

Dogs that were knocked out in the heat showing in the final, other dogs missing from final

Dogs that DNF showing as DQ and distraught owners asking me if they need to clear their dog!

Wrong weight groups on download entry forms.

also if you noticed the official leagues displayed at the champs had dogs in different positions to unofficial site

The unofficial site is just a snapshot of one racers program no matter how easy it is to navigate or how swift results appear.

Rob has been helpful to racers and given time to his site but I will always hold accuracy above speed and easy. Results must always come from the official master program to mean anything and ensure accuracy.

 

[compo]

Maggiwing, perhaps that's where I went wrong I didn't know the name to search for and was googling "whippet racing" which didn't bring up the official site and whippets brings up so much other stuff...... Garry if its causing such confusion has mr rixon been asked to put links to the official site on his website? Also the meta tags and search engine words on the official site need vastly expanding to include whippet racing and all the possible variations and mis-spellings