It’s band selection time. CT teams you can ignore this, everybody else pay attention.
We are continuing some changes we started last year (1) PTHC and HC selection will be combined, (2) it will be done via a web form and (3) PTHC prioritization will be a little different.
Timeline
All times refer to the site time. The response window opens at noon on Thursday, July 9th. Responses received before then will be ignored. After that exact time of response will not matter if you respond before midnight on July 11th. Responses after that will be prioritized based on response time. Responses received after midnight on July 17th are late and may be ignored and instead bands assigned to balance participation. Recapping:
Response window opens: Noon, July 9th
Deadline for top priority in PTHC: Midnight, July 11th
Deadline for submission: Midnight, July 17th
HC Bands:
Since there are 24 slots and 22 PCT teams everyone is guaranteed to get their choices. Therefore, in the survey you will be asked to enter the band you DO NOT want. PT teams will enter zero.
Each band has 9 or 10 race days for a total of 47, so each PCT team will end up with 37 or 38 race days.
PTHC Bands:
22 PT teams. 22 PCT teams. 6 PTHC Bands, 3 Bands of 14 RD each which is 42 RDs in PTHC for all teams.
With only 22 PCT teams now, getting your top 3 is more likely, last year even, with 24, all but 1 team got their top choice but if a choice is over-subscribed, then a mix of factors will come into play including response time (all responses in the top priority window are considered equal), your answer to question 5 below, and other factors.
If you have already considered goals, make sure to put the PTHC goal into the top1 priority, ideally, or top2 to make sure you will be able to participate. No goal changes are allowed afterwards and there is also the possibility of the OR goal.
Submission Form
The first spoiler below has a link to the web form. If you wish to keep a record of your response take a screen shot before you submit as you do not receive a copy. The form is pretty self-explanatory but here is quick intro:
Q1: Team Name, is just in case something goes wrong with Q2
Q2: Team Number see second spoiler below for your team number
Q3: HC Band you DO NOT want (PT teams enter 0)
Q4: PTHC Band ranks, please be careful to list each band only once
Q5: Asks how important it is to you to get your 3rd choice versus your 4th. This will help us prioritize over-subscribed bands. Generally those whose say it is important will be prioritized but if you said it was important last year you will be behind someone who said it wasn't last year. Third spoiler lists last year's responses. Saying it is important this year will handicap you next year, so don’t use that option lightly.
Noon (12:00) site time? (So in 4 hours, at least it says 8:07 on this post for me)
Site time is British time, so currently GMT+1. The time you see when logged in is you local time (GMT+2 in your case, so noon site time is 1PM your time). You can log out to see the site time to make sure.
Noon (12:00) site time? (So in 4 hours, at least it says 8:07 on this post for me)
Site time is British time, so currently GMT+1. The time you see when logged in is you local time (GMT+2 in your case, so noon site time is 1PM your time). You can log out to see the site time to make sure.
You can also change your time zone in your profile. I have it on GMT because of MG timelines
Q5: Asks how important it is to you to get your 3rd choice versus your 4th. This will help us prioritize over-subscribed bands. Generally those whose say it is important will be prioritized but if you said it was important last year you will be behind someone who said it wasn't last year. Third spoiler lists last year's responses. Saying it is important this year will handicap you next year, so don’t use that option lightly.
I find that I just say not important every year, so I should hopefully be building up enough karma to get all of my choices by default
Q5: Asks how important it is to you to get your 3rd choice versus your 4th. This will help us prioritize over-subscribed bands. Generally those whose say it is important will be prioritized but if you said it was important last year you will be behind someone who said it wasn't last year. Third spoiler lists last year's responses. Saying it is important this year will handicap you next year, so don’t use that option lightly.
I find that I just say not important every year, so I should hopefully be building up enough karma to get all of my choices by default
While it is the first time for me, I kinda have to agree. After selecting the most important it was more "Damn, they are all equally shit for me"
