Advice needed re sponsored ride

[leighdinglady]

Hi all

I'm organising a charity ride for around 50 people. I don't ride, have never been to a ride and have no idea what I'm doing!

So far, we've got a course sorted. Official course, so that's not an issue.

We've got our riders, who are bringing their own horses.

I've contacted St. John's ambulance but have no idea what they'll come back with re costs

I have bib numbers and will have someone counting people out and back.

Anything else I need to think about? Especially regarding safety?

You'll need some sort of "disclaimer" along the lines of we are not responsible for anything whatsoever. I'm not sure if it holds water legally but it makes people think. Perhaps in your publicity put something about everyone needing their own PL insurance. Parking for horseboxes needs to be on hard ground or you might need to have a tractor to tow off, parking stewards. Consider signage to the event - what's access like? Make sure horseboxes and trailers (and therefore horses) are parked well away from general public in cars. Food & drink is always a good way of making extra money.

That's off the top of my head, I'm sure someone else will have loads of other suggestions!

If it helps, my local private medical cover people charge me £150 for a days cover of 2 staff and an ambulance for a cycling event.

Who is providing your public liability insurance? They will often have criteria about things like making sure everyone knows its not a race, helmet wearing, U16s, sharing space with others etc.

You need to issue participants with a number to call in case of any issue, and obtain emergency contacts for them in case anything goes wrong

Do I need insurance if they sign a 'I accept I might fall off and die' disclaimer? Maybe the venue can advise me what they usually do

dibbler which private company is that? Just like a doctors?

frosty thank you! I think access is good. The course can cater for up to 100 riders, so the parking area is pretty big and solid.

What happens if someone falls off? How will the ambulance crew find out?

Have you some insurance in place ? NFU are pretty good to cover this type of thing usually

You should have stewards covering all jumps

We haven't got insurance no. I'm not sure what we'd be insuring?

If it's personal injury can the riders not just sign a waiver? Agreeing it's their responsibility?

king good point. We've got stewards but I'll ask how many jumps there are

Can you have anyone mobile on the day to keep an eye on things on the route? Only remembering one sponsored ride where everyone was merrily riding along when a steward came after us on a quad and told us we were all going the wrong way because some cows had eaten a sign off a gate . It was funny at the time and we laughed about doing the extra but we could have ended up miles away!

Sorry, typing too slow. I see you already have stewards.

insurance is for when a horse kicks a car/child and the caterers poison people etc.

Have you got a photographer? Rosettes? Refreshments half way round if it's a long one? Emergency number to give out to all riders in case of accident? Tractor to tow out anyone stuck in the mud?

God I'll have to look in to insurance! I just want to make the charity as much as possible and not to spend everyone's entry price on admin.

Photographer is a great idea! I've just ordered rosettes. Got them for a right bargain too

I'll write our emergency mobile number on everyone's bib. Good idea.

Just found out The course have 4x4s that can nip around the 9 miles course if anyone does have a fall.

Do I need to supply anything for the horses? Food? The riders will have a healthy, sporty burger and chips :-S

These are the people I use. I think theres a lot of such companies out there, but if you are using a cross country course then you'll need someone with a 4x4 to get out to any incident.

So if someone falls off, someone else or a steward phones your designated 'event control' phone number which you have given to everyone, then you (or whoever is Event Director) phones your first aid cover, then if an external ambulance is needed your first aid person calls them. You'll then need to inform all stewards via group text and put into place your emergency plan.

You would also need to have an on call vet

If the centre routinely hire out to sponsored rides, they might be able to help you understand what is normally done, or put you in touch with another organiser

Water for the horses if possible in case it's a warm day, but I always take my own in a big container and take a bucket so not essential as most people probably do this.

Firstly, is 50 riders going to be sufficient to both cover costs and raise money? The rides I have been involved in usually need a minimum of 200 riders to make a decent profit. 50 riders at an entry fee of £20 (which is what most people pay) is a turnover of £1000. Costs can rack up quickly, and as a rule it costs the same amount to send 200 riders round as it does to send 50 round. Unless you are organising something very unique and special (and he fact you've not done one of these before and are using a recognised route suggests you aren't) £20-25 is the max you can ask. I've paid more to ride round Blenheim and my friend charges more for her Windsor ride. Be aware that the first year you run it is the year of all the hard work. Make notes of everything you do and everyone you book, and the following year it is all so much easier. Every year after that becomes almost self-organising, iyswim. Many of the stewards I've called for this year have done it for so many years they were just waiting for the dates to be confirmed and fully expecting a call - some even called me before I had my act together!

Things we think about when organising ours:

• Advertising/publicising. Get it out there! Facebook, Horse Events and Riding Diary are good places to start. Many fun rides are annual fixtures and will be on the same weekend every year. If you are setting up a new one make sure it doesn't clash with one nearby.

• Event insurance. Ours specifies that there must be a steward supervising each fence - although a line of fences all within one person's eyesight can be stewarded by one person.

• Stewards. Some for fences, we also need people to man car and lorry parking, entries on the day, start/finish line, course repairs, stewards' lunches, road crossings. I am responsible for stewards at a fairly high profile ride this weekend and I have 28 volunteers to cover this. The least number of people I have run a ride with is 16, and that was quite tough.

• Ambulance/first aider. There are lots of companies out there who provide these services for equestrian events. Get several quotes and give them plenty of notice as the good ones get booked up year after year. It helps to use a company who send their staff out in a 4x4.

• Emergency plan. Make sure each steward has a printed copy of the plan and a fully charged mobile phone. Make sure their position has mobile coverage, and if they don't have a back up plan in place - 2 stewards in that spot, one to drive for help? Or a set of walkie talkies? No steward should be responsible for any more than calling for the right kind of help - make sure that this is clear in the plan.

• Food. People will be hungry after a ride and a burger van is seen as essential these days. If you don't get a caterer in, at least have a volunteer selling drinks, crisp and chocolate for the desperate. If your ride is in summer and you expect children there, get an ice cream van in too.

• Toilet facilities. If the venue doesn't have a permanent toilet block, you will need to hire in a portaloo.

• Rosettes and photographer. Not essential but everyone wants a souvenir of their day out.

Definitely second the insurance. Also all the rides I've gone to have had a farrier on-site too.