What Makes the Lincoln Grand Prix?
An Organiser's Recipe
When asked what goes in to organising an event like the Lincoln Grand Prix, I thought it may be a good idea to sit down and think about the ingredients. They are not in any particular order, merely as they came to mind as I sat down to think about it. My apologies for anything or to anyone or anything that didn’t come to mind.
Ingredients:
- 55 Years of History
- An interesting and exciting course
- Sponsorship and support (in 2009) from:
- Abstraction Ltd
- Lincoln City Council
- Lincolnshire County Council
- East Midlands Development Agency
- Jackson Building Centres
- British Cycling
- Danwood Office Equipment
- Impsport
- NatWest Bank
- Chattertons Solicitors
- Lincolnshire Cooperative Society
- C Shop
- Lincolnshire Sports Partnership
- 5 Range Rovers, Freelanders and Discoveries from Marshall Land Rover, Lincoln
- 3 Peugeot Cars from Robins and Day, Lincoln
- 2 Recovery Vehicles from Wells Recovery
- Race Headquarters courtesy of Yarborough Leisure Centre
- A Sharp photocopier loaned by Danwood
- 100 crowd barriers from British Cycling
- 80 Crowd barriers from Lincoln City Council
- Race promotion equipment and signage from Impsport
- Race programme supplement produced by Systematic Print Management
- 100 packed lunches
- 6 Bouquets of Presentation flowers
- Fantastic web sites:
- 900 leaflets in residents and business letter boxes around the circuit
- 100 roadside advance notices around the circuit
- 100 Traffic Diversion Signs, traffic and non waiting cones to keep the race circuit secure and to divert non race traffic around the City Centre
- General support from the citizens and householders in Lincoln and Burton
- 70 Race Marshals
- 5 National Escort Group marshals
- 3 media motorcycles
- Endless meetings with authorities and police
- 25 police on duty to control traffic including 5 motorcycles
- 600 competitors’ numbers and 3,000 safety pins
- A pre race supper for supporters and guests
- A post race barbecue for tired officials
- A Hospitality Centre at the Magna Carta pub and The Judges Lodgings on the finish line and support for this from Lincolnshire Sports Partnership
- A helpful MP for Lincoln, Gillian Merron
- The Mayor and Mayoress of Lincoln, City Sheriff and Sheriff’s Lady for their support and for starting this year’s race and presenting the Winner's trophy
- 5 foreign teams from,Holland, Ireland, Sweden and Australia
- 150 elite riders from within the UK
- 3 Race Service Crews
- 3 UCI qualified Race Commissaires nominated by British Cycling
- 10 Assistant Race Commissaires and car drivers
- Roger Hobby for non-stop commentary and interviews
- 2 Lead cars
- 1 Sag Wagon
- 5 Race Judges
- 1 Race Timekeeper
- 1 Race Medical Officer
- 12 St John Ambulance Brigade volunteers and 1 St John Ambulance
- 60 Race Radios and 1 Public Address system from Bates Sound Services
- 50 race officials’ polo shirts, 70 Race Marshal Safety Jackets, 70 Race Marshal Flags, 70 Race Marshal Whistles and 20 Vehicle designation stickers, all from Impsport
- 1 set of race control flags
- 30 hotel rooms booked for riders and officials
- 40 advertising banners
- 600 zip cable ties
- Numerous Press Releases
- Hundreds of emails
- Thousands of photocopies
- Hundreds of phone calls
- plus one very harassed at times race organiser, a small but enthusiastic background crew and one very tolerant wife
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