<\/p>\n
As many of our members would be aware, Athletics Victoria asks participating athletes to complete a short survey following our major events to share their thoughts about their experience \u2013 what we did well, what we can do to improve.<\/p>\n
We read your responses carefully and use them in several ways, including:<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the responses are topics we have addressed previously, and quite often, your opinions are split close to 50\/50, with no clear way forward that would suit everyone. Splitting the male and female races at Lakeside is an excellent example of that; some of you like it, some, not so much. If there are many responses with the same feedback requesting improvement within one survey, we know this is an opportunity for improvement that we can address quickly.<\/p>\n
Other times, we see from your responses that the reasons behind some of our decisions are not clear, and for the last couple of seasons, we have published responses to some of your most frequent questions or comments. We want you to know that we are listening, and we also want to take this opportunity to explain some of our decisions and share the limitations we face when planning a major event.<\/p>\n
There were several responses from the recent Lakeside:5 event which fell into the above category, and as a new and very popular event, we thought it was a good time to respond to some of your thoughts:<\/p>\n
This was quite possibly the biggest takeaway from the feedback from this event, and trust us \u2013 we know!\u00a0 We tried very hard not to clash with both another major event, the Mother\u2019s Day Classic, as well as the special day for all the mothers in our lives. To explain the process of securing a date for this event, we must apply via a \u2018Call for Dates\u2019 process with Parks Victoria before the end of the previous year. \u00a0The first Sunday in May is unavailable to us, due to a long-standing booking of a memorial run\/walk. We requested May 2 or May 9, but we were unsuccessful due to the risk of traffic disruptions from road closures on a Saturday. Ultimately, we had little choice but to swap the weekends of All Schools Relays at Princes Park and Lakeside:5; luckily, the City of Melbourne (Princes Park) was flexible enough to let us do that.<\/p>\n
We can do our best to apply earlier in future, however at this time of year soccer holds priority at Lakeside Stadium, and we also must await their calendar release to factor their dates into our planning \u2013 they are very kind in sharing the venue when they can.<\/p>\n
Our entry numbers rose by 70 from last year \u2013 an excellent result. We did shuffle some of the divisions into other races to spread the numbers more evenly, giving athletes more room at the start line. It\u2019s possible that this is what made the fields look slightly different.<\/p>\n
This is a common talking point among our athletes and AV staff regarding the best way to proceed. All three toilet blocks within Lakeside Stadium (which has a capacity of roughly 12,000 patrons) were open on the day, as they have been for the last few years. We published a map of those toilets on the Lakeside:5 event page and made announcements on the day to guide everyone to the toilets on the other side of the stadium. We do understand that there are a lot of athletes wanting to use the bathrooms at the same time (and there seem to be fewer cubicles for males than females); however, we encourage athletes to make their way to another toilet block if they feel the lines are too long on the northern side of the Stadium.<\/p>\n
For this event, we use an electronic starting gun used at track events.\u00a0 While it is a little quieter than a traditional starting gun, the Lakeside:5 is a race that begins in a residential area, early on a Sunday morning. We would not maintain a permit to hold this event if we disturbed the Sunday morning peace of Albert Park residents, although we do feed the audio through a set of speakers so that athletes along the entire start line can hear.<\/p>\n
Both times are available for the Lakeside:5. We publish the \u2018gun\u2019 time in the main race results. To see your \u2018chip\u2019 or \u2018net\u2019 time, please click the \u2018athlete\u2019 tab in Results Hub, and search for the athlete\u2019s name, beginning with the surname.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, that does happen, and we understand how frustrating it is. One thing we know from our friends at Tomato Timing is that when an athlete activates their smart watch at the start line, it\u2019s usually by holding their forearm in front of their body, blocking the timing chip, which is situated on the back of the bib on the athlete\u2019s chest. We\u2019d encourage athletes to do this either just before or just after the timing mat so that the net time is accurate. This applies to athletes finishing as well \u2013 Tomato Timing spends a little time after each event adding correct times to athletes with no result, which is why results are sometimes delayed.<\/p>\n
The Lakeside:5 is run on a certified course, in accordance with World Athletics Rules, meaning athletes can use their times for world ranking points. World Athletics Rule 19.24.5 states:<\/p>\n
Note: The official time shall be the time elapsed between the firing of the starting gun (or the synchronised start signal) and the athlete reaching the finish line. However, the time elapsed between an athlete crossing the start line and the finish line can be made known to them, but will not be considered an official time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n World Athletics Rules of competition can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Lakeside:5 is held at a time of year when many other sports are being conducted, especially on the opposite side of the lake. Road closures in that area would significantly impact those sports, making it unlikely we would obtain a permit to run the entire circumference. As it is, Lakeside:5 is a very, very fast course, and one that Athletics Victoria is very proud of.<\/p>\n We hear you! In the interests of transparency, we do our best to provide survey responses where we feel it is necessary \u2013 for XCR, that\u2019s once or twice a year. Those responses are then emailed to each athlete who competed at the event in question. We also publish a short \u2018explainer\u2019 at the launch of each XCR season. You can find this year\u2019s article here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nWe\u2019d really love to run all the way around Albert Park Lake. Can we do that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Can you share the results of these surveys, along with the changes made in response? We never hear from AV on what is done with the information provided.<\/strong><\/h3>\n