Event officials
Ice Racing New South Wales Inc

Official's role

Duties & responsibilities

Chief Referee

The Chief Referee is the Chief Executive Officer for the meeting and will make the final decision on all points of dispute and infringements of rules which can result in disqualification. The chief referee's decision is final.

The Chief Referee is responsible for:

• Checking the eligibility of Officials and Skaters
• Deciding the program and qualifying procedure in consultation with the Competitors Steward.
• Seeing that all applicable rules are observed for the competition being conducted.
• Checking that the ice is of a suitable condition to race.
• Keeping the meeting to the allocated time.

The Chief Referee is empowered to:

• Introduce alteration in the program, as long as this doesn't conflict with the regulations.
• Decide whether the conditions of the rink permit the holding of the event.
• Exclude skaters from the competition, if necessary.
• Remove the Starter, Competitors Steward or other officials.
• Suspend skating until order is restored when the public interrupts the competition or interferes with its orderly conduct.
• Delegate responsibility to other Officials in order to assist him in the carrying out of his duties.
• Add a skater who was in a qualifying position to the next round if he feels that the skater was prevented from qualifying due to an offence resulting in a disqualification. This decision is solely at the discretion of the Chief Referee.

Assistant Referees

A chief referee should have more than one assistant referee. Assistant referees may be on the ice, two others are positioned off ice, one at each end near the beginning or end of the curves.

One Assistant Referee directs the skaters to their starting positions and ensures that they are ready to start before handing the starting process over to the starter.

During the race, the Assistant Referees report any infringement of the rules to the Chief Referee.

Block or Track Stewards (2)

One Track Steward is needed at each end of the track so that missing blocks can be replaced as soon as they are moved out of position. Obviously this job is to be done without interfering with the skaters currently racing, so is normally performed by an experienced skater.

Chief Starter

The Starter starts the race and maintains control of the race until the first apex is reached by the lead skater.

Assistant Starter

The assistant starter assists the starter as well as starting races in their own right. The chief starter will generally start all the races for either men or ladies and the Assistant starter will start the opposite sex.

Heat Box Steward

The Heat Box Steward works in a designated staging area called the heat box. It is in this area that the skaters will assemble prior to a race.

The Heat Box Steward makes sure that all the skaters are ready for each race and that they are correctly dressed for racing.
Special talent required? A sense of humuor and air of authority.

Finish Line Judge

If there is no photo finish equipment, the Finish Line Judge notes the order of the skaters over the finish line. This task is sometimes better performed if the finish line judge calls out the helmet cover numbers as the skaters cross the finish line and someone else writes them down.

Photo Finish Judge (Lynx)

The Lynx Operator records and interprets the photo finish of each race, then reports these to the competitors steward.

Competitor's Steward

The Competitors Steward makes up the races for each race, assigns points on finish position and determines the place getters per division for each race meeting.

Based on the results of the races the Competitors Steward determines the skaters who will take part in the next qualifying round and issues the race list for the next set of races. This list goes to the announcer, the Heat Box Steward and the skaters' notice board.

The Competitors Steward is responsible for the co-ordination of all administrative matters, and observes ISU Rule 283 paragraph 3 completely.

Scoreboard Officials

The scoreboard officials are messengers that take the race lists from the competitor's steward to the Announcer, Heat Box Steward and the skaters' notice board.
Special talent required? To be nimble and available to post results all the time.

Gate Steward

Ensures that the gate to the ice is opened when skaters are entering and leaving the ice and making sure that it is closed at all other times. The Gate Steward may also temporarily stand in for the Heat Box Steward.
Special talent required? Attention to detail (to check that a skater's equipement is complete).

Chief Timekeeper

The chief time keeper, assisted by the timekeepers, is responsible for recording the time taken by each skater for each race. The chief timekeeper will allocate skaters or lanes to each time keeper and ensure that they have the manual time keeping equipment that they need. If only manual time keeping records are maintained (as is done for most race meetings), the chief timekeeper's job is to collect all the manual time sheets for the competitor's steward so that points can be awarded to the skaters, the next race can be planned and the protocol produced. The first stage in claiming a record starts with the official protocol.
Special talent required? Being patient, methodical and a clear writer.

Timekeepers

The timekeepers use manual stop watches or some other manual time measuring device to record the time it takes for a skater to finish a race. In the case of a relay, a timekeeper will be assigned to a team to time. Skills required? Quick reflexes and ability to concentrate over fairly long periods. As this job requires concentration and because most people volunteering for this taak are parents of relative of a skater that they want to watch, as many time keeping volunteers as possible are required. That way, we can all take a break when 'our' skater is racing.
Special talent required? Quick reflexes, ability to concentrate and ignore distractions (while a race is on).

Lap Scorer

The Lap Scorer shows and shouts out the number of laps still to be skated as the lead skater passes him or her.

Normally, a lap counter with electronic numbers is used to indicate the laps remaining, but if there isn't one available then a manually produced lap counter (A4 pages on a stand) is used instead.

The Lap Scorer rings a bell (vigorously) to indicate the start of the last lap of each race.

In relay races, the Lap Scorer will advise the Starter that the last three laps are coming up so that the starter can fire the pistol.

In relay events a lap scorer (generally drawn from the ranks of the time keepers) is assigned to each team (and the job of letting the skaters on their team how many laps remain.).
Special talent required? Ability to concentrate and avoid distractions. A loud voice is also very desirable.

Announcer

The Announcer keeps the spectators informed throughout the competition and also ensures that all officials, team leaders, coaches and skaters are kept fully informed of competition details, especially changes to the published program.

In addition, the announcer, when requested by the Referee, will announce disqualifications and specify where and how the skater(s) concerned made an infringement and whether there is an advancement of a lower placed skater.

Mat Stewards

Mat Stewards supervise the orderly addition and removal of the mats from the ice.

Event Organiser

The organiser's main tasks usually occur before the event. Check lists which list some of the tasks required prior to an event, are available from the Committee Resources page of this web site.

During a race meeting, it's the organiser's job to run around the various stations to ensure that each official is able to do their job and either relieve them temporarily or supply something that they need. Although there are ice surface breaks during the meeting, your main task is to ensure that the officials are able to stay in place and perform their duties.

For that reason, it is recommended that the Event Organiser does not take on any other full time job.