Late closing of entries and last minute times Vs early closing of entries and times received earlier?

[Jango]

I'd be interested to know other people's thoughts on this to see what people's preferences are!

Do you prefer the entries to competition closing say 4 days before a competition and then getting times at least 48 hours in advance? Or do you prefer entries closing 48 hours before and then times the day before (sometimes less than 24hrs before your time). For the purposes of this assume an unaffiliated competition (e.g. dressage, arena eventing, SJ) at a comp centre.

 

[LEC]

3/4 days before is fine and times 48 hours.

My BIGGEST annoyance is late entry fees - a local EC round here does it and it’s so money grabbing. They close entries quite early as well - 5/6 days before. Whereas everyone else is 3/4 days before competition.

 

[milliepops]

Yep I prefer earlier closing and earlier times.

 

[nikicb]

Close of entries within a week of competition and times within two to three days would be my preferred option. So say for a Saturday competition, close of entries weekend before, and times on Wednesday evening/Thursday at the latest. Not quite such a problem for me these days, but if you are juggling child care/yard cover etc. 24 hours notice is too little as most of us have a life outside of horses to fit in as well.

 

[RachelFerd]

Close entries 72hrs before, times 48hrs before - BUT leave a few limited slots open to late entries (don't mind if there's a little extra fee for these) as it is really helpful to be able to slot in with a last minute change or plan or cancellation.

 

[MagicMelon]

I prefer as late as possible for entries closing, I like to see what the weather is doing more than anything!

 

[Leandy]

Times 48 hours before so competitors can plan (and allows some lea-way in case of technical problems in getting them out). 48hrs is also the usual timeframe for affiliated comps so tends to be what competitors expect. Now we are in the electronic age I don't see any justification for closing entries prior to the day before times come out. In days gone by when entries were by post and times etc done manually then one needed more time but no need nowadays. I do see that charging a late entry fee for last minute entries encourages people to enter early so venues can plan better especially for dressage where numbers may impact how many arenas to run and how many judges are needed.

 

[humblepie]

Agree with Leandy. Where there is more than one arena, what is helpful in advance and at the time of entering is some idea as to how the classes are split, so an idea of whether a class may be the last in one arena or the first in another. Have had a problem with that in the past.

 

[Goldenstar]

I prefer later closing .