The English Cross Country Association has received a number of queries asking, in this day of electronic entry and results, why is the closing date 7 weeks before the event? The length of time is usually queried by Clubs that miss the deadline by some margin.
The ECCA is an organisation that is managed and staffed entirely by volunteers; if all Clubs left it late and missed the closing date then we would be unable to meet deadlines.
The ECCA doesn't operate a final closing date policy of miss the date and you’re out. We are prepared to accept that sometimes forms have not arrived and that duplicates have to be sent. This year it was estimated that the cost of printing, packing and posting Entry Forms was £1.30p per pack, volunteer labour costs are not included.
Some Clubs openly admit that they have lost the forms or the Club Secretary has not passed them to the appropriate team manager.
The ECCA distributes entry packs 6 weeks before the Closing date in attempt to avoid forms being put aside and lost. ECCA policy is that the entry is the responsibility of Clubs; copies are not available on the Internet as unattached runner entries are not accepted; the Association feels that Clubs should have overall control of who is entered.
What happens once the entry is received?
1. We allow up to 10 days to resolve late entries and queries such as athletes entered in wrong age groups and names missed off original lists.
2. The two Championship Secretaries then forward the entry lists to the Association’s Computer and Chip Contractor. 8400 entries were received for the 2009 championships
3. The inputting and formatting take another 10 to 14 days and then entries are sent back for scrutiny. This covers Foreign Athletes, 1st Claim clearance and Affiliations. Note, that despite it being stated on entry forms and acknowledgement letters that only Clubs affiliated to England Athletics can enter, a number of Clubs fail to pay affiliation and athlete registration fees. This takes another week to deal with.
4. Two to three weeks before the event the Computer Chip Contractor allocates race numbers to athletes, the entry sheets then go to the Programme Editor for formatting ready for printing and are taken to the Printer 10 days before the event.
5. Meanwhile, the Contractor puts a number and a chip for each athlete entered into an envelope with instructions on how to use the chip, for distribution on the day.
6. ECCA puts the entries on it web site so that Clubs can see whom they have entered as many do not keep copies of their entry and forget whom they have entered.
7. Despite this Clubs are known to put athletes in races where they not entered substituting for a non runner, thereby rendering the individual and team subject to disqualification.
8. Very occasionally an entry is genuinely lost during the process and if proven the Race Officials have authority put someone in, even on the day. Our advice to Clubs is to gain proof of posting of entries from the Post Office, it is a free service.
The process is reviewed annually but we are unable to identify any slack in the system; the entry closing date will remain 7 weeks before the date of the Championships.
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