Entering a race should be simple.. right?

Over the last few years I have entered many races; from sportives to swimathons the list is long and the experiences mainly good.  But while some race organisers simply open their entry pages and welcome you to join on a first come first served basis, others seem to make the whole process unnecessarily difficult. 

We currently have situations where online entry is promoted as opening on a certain day at a certain time and then when it does, promptly crashes due to the number of people trying to enter at once.  Registering is by a process of luck rather than orderly queue.  This scenario seems to happen consistently with limited participant events, which are largely run by well-meaning volunteers but who don’t have the IT solutions in place to cope with the volume of interest.  

Last year I secured an entry to the Dart 10k swim.  This involved taking the morning of work, getting up early and submitting my form a couple of dozen times before it managed to connect with the server and tick me in.  This year, the same situation with the Brownsea Island Swim but without luck. As frustrating as this is, it is a shame for the organisers because it puts people off reapplying and in the absence of holding a reserve list, the same situation will happen year in year out.

In contrast to this some mass participation events ask you to pre-register interest prior to opening.  I am getting a little suspicious of this approach.  For example, Velo South is a new cycling event launched to take place this year.  The organisers had 15,000 spaces and it attracted 30,000 pre-registered entrants without announcing the entry cost. My guess was it would be high and it was, funnily enough it did not sell out immediately even with that registered interest level. 

Organised cycling events on closed roads are fun to take part in but not if the entry fees are high.   Choose your events carefully and make sure you are not paying for the privilege of something you could do yourself, without paying to take part.

Finally, a word of caution when entering races.  Check the terms and conditions carefully and in particular the refund policy.  With so many events cancelled this year because of snow and extreme weather I am reading about many people who are finding themselves out of pocket as some organisers choose not to refund entry fees.  There is actually a statutory legal duty for race organisers to refund entries so if you find yourself in a situation where they say they will not I would be tempted to press them a little further and be very visible on social media in publicising your responses.

Happy racing!

Trains and bicycles - a match made in heaven?

Plans for trains to have dedicated carriages for bicycles and sports equipment are currently being discussed in Scotland as a way to alleviate seasonal cramming and space issues.   During the summer months trains servicing popular cycling routes are absolutely packed with passengers and so the idea of introducing a bike carriage, similar to the old guard van, seems a sensible one.

I have often fancied taking my bicycle on the train one way and cycling back so I thought I would find out how easy it is to do this locally.   A quick bit of research suggests it pays to plan ahead.  There are only two spaces for bikes on most trains which means you should reserve them.  There is no charge, you simply book it when you purchase your ticket which you can do online.  However, you must make a reservation on a GWR train and you can’t travel at peak times, unless you have a folding bike.  GWR states pre-booking needs to happen two hours before travel, so if you pitch up hoping to get the next train then you may be in for a bit of a wait.  This is the same if you are travelling with Virgin Trains.  While trains to Wales with operator Arriva recommend booking they are clearly a bit more relaxed about it and Cross Country sounds by far the cycling friendliest.  Cross Country will let you reserve your bike space by tweeting them or using facebook messenger and promises to respond within 30 minutes.  Its website has a detailed page dedicated to helping cyclists with everything from parking your bike securely to hire points at stations.  

It is slightly harder if you intend to travel with a tandem as some trains won’t accept them at all and others classify it as two bike spaces.  Ideally, if you are regularly going by train the message is to use a folding bike, then you can travel at peak times and you can also use a replacement bus if you are unlucky enough to need too.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with our local train operators bicycle policies, although I have not used them so I can’t truly say if they are just as good in practice, I am now able to plan my first bicycle-train adventure.

• @lindatodd74