Risks and Mitigation Strategies

Too Few Competitors

One concern is that the swim will not be popular. Specifically, it will not be popular to cover the cost of running the event or to satisfy sponsorship arrangements, or it will not be popular enough to warrant running the swim again in the future.

Mitigation

• Minimise up front costs where possible
• Ensure that sponsorship will cover up front costs and does not have a minimum number of swimmers clause
• Put off certain purchases until a firm number of competitors can be obtained (traditionally online registrations are allowed up until the Friday before the event, some purchases can be made on the Saturday in response to these figures)
• A certain amount of promotion may reduce the risk of this occurring
• Manage stakeholder expectations on what can be achieved in a swims first year

Too Many Competitors

While this may not sound like a problem, there are risks associated with having too many swimmers. Major concerns are

• Not enough equipment
  • Not enough swim caps (in the correct colour)
  • Not enough post-race water/fluid (see Bondi to Bronte)
  • Not enough food
  • Not enough toilets, bins, parking, public transport, shade, and other conveniences
• Event takes too long due to increased administrative overhead
• Results lose accuracy due to too much 'noise'
• Water safety can become overwhelmed
• Administration team overwhelmed
• Generation of pollution (including noise pollution)

Mitigation

Assuming that the majority of swimmers perform registration online and registrations close the Friday before the race, we will have a day's warning to be able to fill missing equipment. In some cases this will require no additional preparation, for example food and drink can be purchased in large quantities from local supermarkets without any premium being payed. However some items are harder, or impossible, to obtain on short notice. Of particular concern are the swim caps, which are neccessary for the accurate running of the event and may be required to (or at least ideally) be branded with sponsor or Tamarama logos. If, as part of the cap deal, the cap manufacturer can be availble early on Saturday and have packages of coloured, unlabeled caps available in lots of 50 units, then this problem also can be dealt with.

Administrative overhead can be dealt with to some extent by computer automation or increased staff. Again, if the numbers are looking to be far in excess of what is anticipated, then either convincing members to pitch in, or bribing members from other clubs, becomes an option. Computer automation and/or the use of electronic will require more preparation and must be decided upon before the numbers are known.

The water safety aspect of the swim is taken care of by having fixed size waves, sent off in order of ability. In doing this we can effectively ensure that at any given time there will only be a certain number of competitors swimming in through the break, so as not to over-tax water safety. In short, the safety of the swim does not decrease with the number of swimmers, however the duration of the event increases.

The event may drag on with too many people, there is little we can do to counter this without compromising safety or moving the finish to another beach.

Results losing accuracy is a problem for any swim, mostly due to swimmers going off in the wrong waves (either intentionally or otherwise). To counter this each wave will have a uniquely coloured cap, or, in the case where the number of waves exceed the number of cap colours, a different coloured cap to the previous two waves before-hand. Swimmers will also be marked with their race number, which will be of the format

WAVE-NUMBER COMPETITOR-NUMBER

so the first swimer in the first wave will be marked 101, second 102, third 103, etc... Swimmers in the second wave 201, 202, 203, etc... and caps will be marked with the wave number only. Given the cap colouring system, and the small number of competitors in each wave, it should be easy to identify swimmers in the wrong wave and pull them out. The swim announcer will have to be aware of the number and colour of each wave as well as the system we are using. Finally, we may flag results for swimmers that are clearly out of form via software.

Rubbish pollution will be dealt with by a clean up crew, a certain amount of noise pollution is unavoidable, however the sound engineer can be encouraged to drain excess noise out to sea instead of into the gully

Parking and Public Transport Availability

Getting to Tamarama isn't particularly easy, there is only one bus that runs hourly from Bondi Junction (aside from the beach comber, which is on trial, a trial which finishes before we hold this swim) and very little parking available. Council has indicated that opening up the gate to the gully is an option, but only for vehicles associated with the running of the event, not for the the public or competitors. We could see people not returning to do the swim, or avoiding it altogether, simply due to a lack of any way to get to the venue.

Mitigation

• Something to consider is the use of shuttle buses from places with more available parking (Bondi? Clovelley? Bondi Junction?).
• Heavily publicise that swimmers should park at Bondi or Bronte and walk, or catch public transport
• Ask council to put on more buses
• Consider altering the course to start/finish at a beach with parking (Bondi, Bronte, Clovelley)
• It's the off-season so parking in the back streets may not be as bad as in summer
  • Inform swimmers of gully stairs and on-street parking at the top of them

Vehicle Access

Generation of Bad-Will with Key Stakeholders

Sponsors

Council

Competitors and Spectators

Club Members

Residents

Underselling or Overcommitment to Sponsorship Deal

Damage to Parkland and Surfclub

Dangerous Surf Conditions

Event Cancellation

Insufficient Numbers of Club Members to Hold Event

Lack of Support from Other Clubs

Event Sustainability

Large Upfront Costs to Hosting Event

Lack of Understanding of Non-age-group Waves