USA Cycling has developed a educational program for race directors and now requires directors to complete these programs in order to receive directors certification. I understand that USAC is thinking long term to help develop better events and probably trouble shoot some poorly run ones that have led to participants getting injured or other issues. But it seems like this could be a deal killer for small time races put on by people who already don’t have a lot of time.
“To provide race directors with the skills and knowledge to take their events to a higher level or to provide a base to manage their first race USA Cycling has created educational programs that include best practices and risk management. Race directors who complete these courses will receive certifications that will help to establish their credibility when they approach sponsors, partners, and civil authorities.” USA Cycling
A level C director will have to participate in 5 webinars. I know for our team we are at a loss with this requirement and we put on three races this year.
“At the end of two years certified race directors must recertify at current level or certify at a higher level or their certification will no longer be valid. Continuing Education Units (CEU) are required for maintaining certification. If certification lapses for two consecutive years certification class and exam must be re-taken with a passing exam.” USA Cycling
After two years you are required to recertify. Bummer.
Sweeping the course took half a day with 10 guys doing the work. Just one element of race promoting.
“Race director certification will be awarded to individuals who complete one of these curricula and pass the online exam with a grade of at least 80%. Certification will be good for two years and expire at the end of the second year. A certified race director must maintain a current race director license to be active in promoting events.” USA Cycling
Exam? Are you kidding? I am sure it’s an easy exam but this seems a little insulting to folks who have been putting on races successfully for quite sometime.
Happy racer.
Our guys put on races because we want to give back to the sport we love. We try to come up with creative interesting courses and execute a well run event. We use our entire team to pull it off. For the most part it has been a good experience over the years. It’s really fun when participants walk away happy sharing their ‘big ring stories’ but I am not sure if Hell’s Kitchen is going to happen this year.
Any other race promoters want to chime in? Your perspective would be much appreciated.
For more information on the new program, here’s a link to USA Cycling. http://www.usacycling.org/race-director-certification-program.htm
Time to push back? On the MTB side of things there have been several successful push backs to new policies like this. I know Road Cycling is a lot different due to the points systems for upgrading category, but if this holds true for MTB racing then I bet a lot of races will no longs be USAC sanctioned. And let me guess, these courses cost more money? And the Continuing Education even more?
Thanks Zach. Unfortunately, it comes down to time. As (not for profit) race promoters the time invested in pushing back only adds to the time invested in promoting the races. The cost is not that much of an issue for us since sponsors would take care of that. Although it doesn’t help matters.
I just checked my USAC race director license renewal and USAC wants $150….every club is supposed to get a free race director license so THC should be okay. But, the continuing ed costs money and time….
this is not so much about cost for us (although it doesn’t help) but more so about the time. Some of the webinars are free and some cost $11. As you know race promotion is time consuming. Here is a snippet from an email from USAC to Mark G about his promoters certification. ”
“Hi, Your race director certification is due to expire at the end of this month. I wanted to make sure you knew that you have to be a certified race director to permit competitive events in 2015 through a club and all events if you are permitting as a licensed race director without a club. You permitted an event in the first quarter of 2014 and I want to make you aware of what you needed to do to maintain your certification. As of this afternoon you have zero continuing education units towards recertifying. You need to complete five (5) CEUs to receive another two years of certification. Four (4) of these must be USA Cycling produced education and one (1) can be any other education related to event management. For instance Active webinars, college classes, local small business association classes, etc.”
Well said, Rob.
Make it un-sanctioned…???
Does the initial test/license for level C certification come included in the cost of a USA Cycling license since any member can access it right off their account page? I couldn’t find any info about that. And it looked like the webinars were required for level B or higher, not C, though you would have to do the continuing education. That is a bummer for the little guys, but I think you guys should be able to put your heads together and work some way to make the races happen. I believe the resources and commitment are there. As for smaller, less organized entities that will be affected: one could argue that it may or may not be a good thing to require race director licensing/certification. If you don’t have a few hours to spend taking the test, then where are you going to find the time to put on a solid event? It could actually weed out events that are hastily put on, not well organized, and/or unsafe, which I feel actually hurt the competitive cycling community and its image. If the goal is to be more professional, then this is a good measure. But there is a gray area where you guys are concerned with being seasoned race promoters who put on a handful of events a year, which I feel is the biggest demographic affected. The new guidelines state that the certification pertains to new directors and directors of UCI events, of which you all are neither. Then it goes on to state that everyone putting on a sanctioned race will be required to have the directors license, and thus contradicts itself. That could be some room for petition and push back. I don’t think dropping the race altogether would be good for the local cycling scene, and history shows that such a desperate step usually spells the demise of the event. Looks like everyone will have to kowtow to USA Cycling again, unless you can find rogue officials and get maybe some LLC insurance or something for your club (again, cost prohibitive). If there’s any help you’d like to fight the measure let us all know and you have our support, which should go without saying in the small community we have. I unfortunately don’t feel like there’s enough time for it to be successful ahead of the race this close to it. I’m sure we could round up the scratch in a pass the hat for the webinars, too. We’re lucky for all you guys do and want to keep you around. Heck, if any of the 3HC guys want to stand on top of that hill in the wind/rain/snow/sunshine with a envelop of bills and clipboard to take names/numbers, I’d be more than happy rolling around putting my foot down at stop signs to try to knock it out. Keep it up, fellas. Onwards and upwards
Thanks Levi, the added burden from USAC is enough that Mark & I are not excited about promoting HK. That’s a bummer. Putting on races takes a lot of time and now they are going to require even more. I agree with you, for USAC it’s probably trying to develop better events and reduce the amount of problem events. But for guys that are in our situation it’s just enough to discourage, not encourage race promoting. Here is a snippet from the email Mark received from USAC. Thanks for your willingness to help out with HK.
“Hi, Your race director certification is due to expire at the end of this month. I wanted to make sure you knew that you have to be a certified race director to permit competitive events in 2015 through a club and all events if you are permitting as a licensed race director without a club. You permitted an event in the first quarter of 2014 and I want to make you aware of what you needed to do to maintain your certification. As of this afternoon you have zero continuing education units towards recertifying. You need to complete five (5) CEUs to receive another two years of certification. Four (4) of these must be USA Cycling produced education and one (1) can be any other education related to event management. For instance Active webinars, college classes, local small business association classes, etc.”
They just want some money!
Did everyone see they raised the “per racer fee” to $3.60 from $3?
I’ve seen the argument that USAC really intentions is to charge the masses lots of money to race, promising that the money is turned around and spent on developmental programs. But the only really programs they support is high level U23 road racing. Nothing is returned to the local clubs and especially not to MTB racing. Dose anyone here have some insight on this?
From what I have read from USAC, they mention the continuing increasing costs of insurance.
It’s all about the dollars. #outraged
Bicycling is supposed to be fun. There are serious needs and consequences that must be taken into consideration but if the fun is lost then there is no point.
The current process is untenable. There are many good questions being asked about where our money goes, what the insurance actual covers, and what does USAC really stand for. I don’t have any of those answers but we need those answers. But it all is for not if we can’t enjoy bike racing.
If it sounds like too much work, if the effort will take away the fun, then I say it is not worth it. This is a hobby and USAC needs to realize it. Discuss it with your reps or even call USAC direct and discuss it. But don’t ruin you time off and your love of bikes for this.
Thank you for that reminder. I totally agree.
I am working on level b cert….. the race director certification isn’t that major, when you register your club, you get one free….. the bigger suck is the increase in fees….. they announced within the last week that the insurance fees per rider are going up as well as other things….. But having a great series of races here in NWA helps sustain the local MAMIL racing community…. Travelling to races is too costly and most of our nwa racers have families….. Plus developing excellent races here draws in “tourism” dollars….. The increased costs and requirements also apply to club charity events……. But the first time a club in NWA gets sued they’re going to appreciate the insurance and paperwork provided by usac…..
Britney, you bring up some great points. Particularly about the fees going up. In our case our sponsor dollars will cover that but for other promoters it’s out of pocket. I also really enjoy the local racing scene a lot and we have had quite a few new events over the years. I agree the insurance is pretty big time. I wonder if there is another way to get insured and just run it unsanctioned.
While we definitely don’t agree with all of USAC’s policies and actions, we realize that there aren’t any other realistic options at this point in permitting, sanctioning, insuring, and scoring races. We know that you can get insurance elsewhere, but having junior racers collect points for moving up in category is important. We realize that not everyone cares about their national standings, but for developing riders it is a necessity. As we try and grow cycling in NWA, getting more juniors racing in all disciplines will be very important to sustaining clubs and races.
So, given the requirements discussed above for race directors and potential hardships (time/money) they may present to teams in NWA, the BCO would potentially be willing to provide a licensed race director as a service to local race organizers. Yes, we would have to work out some sort of financial support for offering this service, but we would take care of all of the headaches with staying certified and the costs/time associated with doing so. We care deeply about sustaining and growing the cycling culture in NWA and this could be another way we could help….
Thanks BCO, our team is currently discussing how we would like to proceed. At the moment it doesn’t look good for the events we put on. I agree with you in that we really have no other options when it comes to scoring & insuring races. Seems like this new program only hurts the smaller local races or anyone putting on events for fun and not so much about profits. Thanks again for offering your assistance. We will take this into consideration.
This strikes me as an effective and creative way for 3HC to manage the added burden, if the added cost of a BCO race director aren’t excessive. It’s also a generous offer from BCO.
That notwithstanding, the new policy will certainly have the dual consequence of: a) reducing the number of local races as volunteer race directors will undoubtedly decide the added time (not to mention boredom) burden isn’t worth it for one or two races, and b) driving the cost of races up, as more professional race directors running for profit races step in to fill the void and/or HK style races hire professional, certified race directors simply to make the USAC requirement.
Monopoly x potential revenue x risk aversion x lawyer driven strategy x insurance companies…
I love the races you guys put on. I’d be really sad to see them go.
With any business there is cost associated with operations…. Race Promotion is a business like any other.
The challenge is for clubs that create events simply for the benefits of having race opportunities and charity events….. HealthSouth Race Team hasn’t kept money from any event thus far. JDRF, Live Like Laura Fund, and other charities have benefitted from every dime above USAC costs, Officials Fees, and event costs….. Now there is a higher break even point, so that cuts into either how much they can give to the charity or cut back on event costs….. Quality, safe events are important.
If people weren’t cutting corners with safety, the need wouldn’t have been as prevalent…..
Yea, this move definitely makes promotion more business that can suck the fun out of the hobby no matter how much passion you have had for it. I hope there is a palatable solution for all parties, especially here in NWA.
You can get around this. Permit the event in another club members name. This person will need to take the certification test online through the USAC site. There are no webinars needed for this person just pass the online test. Then the process starts over again with this individual meaning you have 2 years to complete the webinars. Then in 2 years, if they still have the BS, you can have another person permit the event. I just had this conversation with USAC, after two weeks of phone messages, about this process being more time consuming than it should be for level C promoters.
Thanks Cale, we will explore this option!
Its laughable when they say that it makes promoters “establish credibility when they approach sponsore and civil authorities” Civil authorities do not care if you certified by USA Cycling. Hell most civil authorities (and sponsors) could care less who youre certified by. They only want to know one thing. Who are you insured with? USA CYCLING does that…hmmmm….its all about liability folks…liability….USA Cycling is doing nothing here but set standards for Promoters in order to cover their ass…further is funny that they mention risk management. The guy whos runs the day to day operations for USAC is their former RISK MANAGER…the lawyers have taken over folks…
The conversation for many, I won’t say all just yet, of the cyclocross promoters in Arkansas has been one of ‘why are we going through USAC at all?’
As a rule CX racers do not care a whit for USAC rankings. Insurance is available elsewhere. We are capable of picking our appropriate race categories. Being included in the Arkansas cycling calendar isn’t critical. For myself, and those I talk to, we just are not seeing any value added by sanctioning to our little corner of competitive cycling. We may use USAC this year, or maybe we won’t. We have a year to figure that out.
Thanks Quin, I here that Frozen Cross in Hot Springs will be unsanctioned and insured privately.
This sort of top down management, adding requirements to grassroots and experienced promoters, is typical of USA Cycling. At the same time they have ensured that they are completely isolated from any performance review of themselves or their agents.
For example: in any line of work, some people are better at doing their jobs than others, but all are generally accountable and if they consistently underperform, they will be put on probation, given opportunities to improve, and eventually lose their jobs if they do not come up to speed. I LOVE and RESPECT the vast majority of USA Cycling officials and feel they are essential and vital to supporting and growing the sport at the grassroots level, and above. But as a promoter I have been saddled with a chief official who was unprepared, ordered everyone around, impeded the essential timing of the starts of races by having to talk to the racers endlessly, demanded everything from food and water to more volunteers on the spot, immediately (unable to see that people were all working at top speed to make the race happen), then was unable to score or provide results in a timely fashion (I did not get complete results for 3 weeks even with constant pleading). Meanwhile this official had the power to demand the best possible performance from everyone else, including rapid tallying of the numbers of racers, collecting all fees etc within an hour of the end of the race. And there was no recourse, no way to address the shortcoming of this official, which were well known, but because he had attended x and y courses and was promoted to a certain grade, he was untouchable and had the power to assign himself to our race when we did not want him.
So, to me, USA Cycling has often seemed very demanding of the people who are doing the actual work months in advance of a race, imposing requirement after requirement, while being unaccountable for their own performance.
Nailed it Rich…..
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That’s unfortunate. I think maintaining a certain level of professionalism is important in keeping the “branded” USAC (or other) events at a high level. And the webinar helps to make the new certification accessible, as opposed to travelling to a course. I’m not sure about affordability, though. And I would hope that RDs were given ample time (at least a year) to get such things managed.
A stopgap measure could be to insure through a different group, like League of American Bicyclists? Or a private insurance group? Hot Springs Frozen Cross put on by Adam Moore will not be USAC certified. It will insured through a private firm that specializes in such events.
Obviously, taking it away from USAC will lose a lot of attractiveness for those looking to gain points in their category, etc. But, at least there would be a race.
I’ve said this the the folks at KCA and they’re pondering it: the Arkansas Cycling Association should have a certified director, then that person can enlist the promoter as technical director of the event. It’s just a work around. Maybe?