Page 7 - Race

4.2 Race Management Principles: What should underpin the race management
team’s approach

The Race Management principles have been developed by the RYA to help Race Management
Teams deliver high quality racing for competitors, within an environment where everyone involved –
whether competitors, volunteer officials and helpers, or paid staff, whether on shore or on the water
– all feel valued, feel involved, and feel that they have had an opportunity to grow and develop their
own skills and experience.

Being able to understand the need for the following 7 principles is important for the race official.
Developing a personal attitude and approach that keeps these principles to the forefront in our
involvement in the race management aspects of our sport will help us to deliver excellent, race
management, with an attitude of continuing improvement.

The 7 principles are:

 Fairness for all. Racing needs to be run so that all those involved feel fairly and equitably
treated, whatever their role, whether that is as a competitor, a member of the race management
team on the water, or a tea bar volunteer ashore.

 Challenging competition. Racing should be run so that the competition is appropriately
challenging for competitors – clearly the degree of challenge that is appropriate will be influenced
by the nature of the event and the experience levels of the competitors.

 Repeatable processes. A core of good performance is to have well planned, well tested and
well executed processes that allow both experienced and new members of race management
teams to understand and maximise their personal contribution.

 Flexibility of approach. The race management team need to recognise that circumstances or
the weather can change unexpectedly, or that competitors may not be satisfied by what had
been planned, and be prepared and able to respond accordingly to continue to deliver high
quality for the competitors.

 Timely delivery. As far as possible within external constraints (such as weather) events should
follow the announced timings, including briefings, on and off water times, start times, race
duration, etc.

 Learn from experience. Race management teams need to review and assess what they are
doing, both during and after racing and events, applying the lessons that can be learned and
looking to identify and apply any improvements as soon as possible.

 Personal development. Individual race officers and other members of race management teams
need to assess their own skills and experience, and gaps in this, and actively seek ways of
continuously improving their ability to deliver high quality racing.

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