MAINTAINING YOUR RACE TRACK
The racetrack both on and off track needs to be maintained for safety and aesthetic reasons and for Clubs it is important to have a plan in place ahead and after each race meeting to ensure your club provides a great facility – especially in regard to safety.
A basic checklist is a good way to manage this and could look like:
- Are all the curbs in-tact (no crumbling concrete), do they need painting? Have drop offs behind kerbs been levelled?
- Asphalt track edges – are they intact and not crumbling, potentially presenting a safety issue? Have drop offs been filled where needed?
- Is the asphalt track surface OK?
- Have the catch traps been raked and do they need topping up?
- How are your tyre barriers? Are they still in place? Do they need painting to aid viewing
- Are the Barriers and Safety fences sound? If there has been an accident, they may need reviewing
- Could there be any safety issues with your grandstand, officials posts, commentary area etc – i.e. broken chairs?
- Is every part of the amenities blocks working? Are the bathrooms clean, well maintained and does the club have enough consumable stock (toilet paper, cleaning etc) brought in for the race meeting?
- Is the canteen clean? Is there enough stock for the weekend race meeting?
- KA has a checklist that must be completed before the commencement of any race meeting – being familiar with this list may assist clubs in developing your own maintenance checklists for use between race meetings.
Some further race weekend maintenance/venue appearance considerations:
- Is the canteen menu appealing?
- Does your canteen/kitchen area meet Government health guidelines? Download a basic health checklist here (check your Local Government Area and State for specific requirements for your city)
- Is your canteen offering healthy and enough food options to cater for various tastes – without producing excessive waste? (PRO TIP: good, real coffee and a great bacon and egg roll can never go wrong!)
- To release pressure on club members – investigate if viable to engage a local person/organisation who understands catering to be your designated caterer and share takings? You may have someone in your club that can do this!
- Do you have a volunteer responsible for cleaning?
- Check Toilet paper, soap, hand towel etc stocks one week before the meeting and re-stock if necessary – stockists for these items are potential club sponsors!
- During a race meeting – check the bathrooms every two hours:
- Mop the floors
- Check the Toilet Paper
- Ensure the bowls and trough are clean
- Make sure no toilet is blocked
- Make sure no taps are running
- Do the bathrooms smell nice?
- Check the canteen area every two hours and clean (with different instruments to those used for the toilet area)
- Clean up any rubbish around the canteen
- Sweep the floors (mop if necessary)
- Wipe down tables and any condiment service areas
- Check the drink fridges and re-stock if necessary
- Re-stock food supplies to assist cooking volunteers/staff in busy periods