Here’s a note we received from our series announcer and on-the-mic entertainer, Paul Warloski of Simple Endurance Coaching, that will help him make your event an audio success.
My goals as the series announcer are:
- Entertainment. Provide good music, stories, etc., and tell the story of each race and tell stories of racers (most of them true!)
- Racer instructions and information. Call to line, etc.
- “Teaching” new riders and spectators about cyclocross
- Podiums. I can do podiums for each race at set times. For example, after the Cat.4, masters Cat. 4, and junior races since those are often doubled up.
- Promote sponsors – I’ll need a written sheet with names, etc. If you want me to announce this regularly, please put this on one sheet so it’s easy for me to use.
Physical Set-Up
Ideally, you as the promoter will create a physical set up for the race that includes a triangle inside which the officials, podiums, and announcer van will be set up.
The officials’ trailer would be set up inside the triangle along the start/finish, I want to set up near them to be able to get immediate results, and then the podiums would be set up near me, so I can get to them easily.
Sometimes, this is logistically challenging. For example, at Wisconsin States, podiums were on top of the hill and away from the officials. This year at states, I can set up the van/table at the hill and use radios to communicate with the officials.
Another example is at Grafton. If we could have the officials on the inside by the pavilion, I could see the finish and do the podiums. Even better would be having the officials/finish on the field east of the pavilion so we could see more of the course!
Sometimes logistics just don’t work out well. And if you want to do podiums on your own, that’s fine too! But I’m happy to take a call with each promoter to talk about setup prior to you laying out the course.
Thank you.
Paul Warloski
Here’s what each promoter should coordinate with the announcer:
- Work with officials to get a start list to the announcer
- Provide a script or information to highlight event sponsors
- Set up a triangle with the officials, podiums, and announcers
- Make sure the announcer gets lunch with the officials
- Set up WCA backdrop and podium boxes nearby
- If you have events (face-painting, kids races, etc), provide this information to the announcer so they can promote them.
- Coordinate a time with each promoter and other event organizers to do a short interview about the race. Conversations can happen several times during the day.