Developing the race grid requires the following inputs:
- List of Categories (Mixed, Women, etc.).
- Rough number of teams in each Category.
- Number of heats per team per day (guaranteed and maximum). For example, do all teams race in a Final?
- Number of boats per heat, total number of boats.
- Number of medals and awards structure. For example, how many divisions and sets of medals for Women?
- Start time, and any other schedule constraints (lunch break, ceremonies, etc.).
- Specialty races (Mixed Senior, Survivor, etc.).
Most festivals are focused on a fun experience, where everyone has a chance to medal. This is accomplished by creating Brackets (A, B, C, D) and awarding medals to the top 3 teams in each Bracket. For example, a sample festival may have:
2 Categories (Mixed and Women)
16 Mixed teams
16 Women teams
2 Divisions in each Category (8 teams each), with 4 total sets of medals
4 guaranteed heats
4 boats per heat, 8 boats total (2 sets of 4)
This yields the following structure:
Seeding 1
Seeding 2
Semi
Final
The first two Rounds (Seeding 1, 2) are generally pre-assigned, and created to allow teams from different club/areas to race against each other. Teams are generally in their Division in the Semi, and then advance to the Medal Final or Consolation Final.
It is important to place teams in Divisions accurately, to ensure competitive Finals. Paddlers do not enjoy "blow-out" races where they are boat lengths behind other teams. There are generally two ways to stack teams for the Brackets:
- Advance by Rank (then time): all 1st place teams are in the highest Bracket.
This format is immune to varying water conditions, but requires accurate seeding. - Advance by Time: use total times, ignoring Rank.
This does not require any seeding (since teams race just for time), but requires consistent water conditions.
We typically Advance by Time (combined time of first two heats), as this yields better Brackets. If you Advance by Rank, Seeding rounds must be set very carefully by researching the strength of all teams. Otherwise, two strong teams in the seeding round will force one of them to finish 2nd and possible in a lower Bracket.
Power Protect/Power Match
There are two methods of setting up heats within a Round:
- Power Protect
Ensure the fastest teams advance by racing the fastest and slowest teams together. This leads to "blow-out" races but guarantees the fastest teams do not knock each other out. Semis are Power Protected. - Power Match
Put the fastest teams in the same heat to determine the best teams (head to head). Finals are Power Matched.
Scheduling
Teams need time to rest between their races, so we interleave the Categories. For example:
Community 1
Women 1
Community 2
Mixed 1
Community Semi
Women 2
Community Final
Mixed 2
Women Semi
Mixed Semi
Women Final
Mixed Final
Special Requests
As the race organizer, you can decide to honor team requests, and we will do our best to accommodate them. Some examples include:
- Scheduling away teams later in Round 1 (since they may arrive in the morning).
- Allowing teams from the same club race in non-adjacent heats to allow sharing of callers and tillers.
With two boat sets, they need at least one heat separation. - Moving teams around to allow women paddlers race both in Women and Mixed Categories or Specialty races.