BRC entry fees

[jehsb]

I have competed with BRC for many years now and only recently have seen that at qualifiers and competitions that are open to non riding club members there is about a 50% extra on top of the usual entry fee that is a fee to BRC - so if you compete as a non riding club member at the exact same competition it costs you much less. Surely this is only going to reduce BRC membership rather than encourage people to join. Is this standard to all Riding Club's ?

 

[shortstuff99]

BRC has always charged a pre entry fee, this is supposed to pay for rosettes, paperwork, champs etc. This is set by BRC and riding clubs don't see it, every team or individual entry has to pay this. Normally clubs pay this out of their funds and riders just pay normal fee, some clubs ask riders to pay it. When I organise qualifiers, if I have open entries I normally make it the price of the prelim and full fee so everyone is paying the same price.

 

[jehsb]

Thank you. I have never seen/paid it before so it must have been that previous clubs have paid the extra. It is a shame as it does not encourage me to ride for the club/on teams etc. with a 50% increase in entry fee.

 

[MagicMelon]

I always thought you pay extra as a member to enter a qualifier because you've got the chance to qualify. Otherwise if a non-member you're riding with no hope of qualifying for the champs. I never questioned the reasoning, I guess I thought it was because you normally got much nicer rossettes as a qualifier than the nons!

 

[MissTyc]

Every BRC I've been a member of has covered this cost out of the club fees. Club members have always got cheaper entry costs (subsidized rate). It's part of my reasons for joining as I am quids in by the end of the year, so your club's model wouldn't work for me!

 

[Squeak]

BRC has always charged a pre entry fee, this is supposed to pay for rosettes, paperwork, champs etc. This is set by BRC and riding clubs don't see it, every team or individual entry has to pay this. Normally clubs pay this out of their funds and riders just pay normal fee, some clubs ask riders to pay it. When I organise qualifiers, if I have open entries I normally make it the price of the prelim and full fee so everyone is paying the same price.

This has been my experience - The club covers the extra fee and so everyone ends up paying the same price.

 

[LEC]

We run a lot of our RC stuff as non qualifier and Qualifer. Being in Somerset our entries for anything at Lincoln are terrible so we give people the option to be Q or non Q. Makes the day more financially viable.

 

[Britestar]

This only applies to Quailfiers I would think.
We used to cover the prelim entry fee, but it became a very heavy draw on club funds, plus we found people said they wanted to be a qualifier and then wouldn't go to champs.
We now pass this fee onto those who want to qualify, BUT we do pay all champs entry fee and stabling if they go.

 

[jehsb]

Thank you all for your replies. It does seem to vary between clubs but not very encouraging to do qualifiers/teams if it costs extra !

 

[Lanky Loll]

Our club does the same as Britestars now. I was surprised at how high the fee is, especially as no prize money, it made a qualifier twice the price of a BS class at the same venue