Aid

This chapter is intended to help you, the Club Fat Ass Event Host, determine how you would like to address the issue of aid for your event.

For the purposes of Club Fat Ass events, we refer to an aid as, "any form of outside assistance" and an aid station as, "a place where an event participant can get aid."

One of the key premises of Club Fat Ass events is that participants should be fully self-sufficient and should not expect external aid of any kind during the event. That said, an Event Host may opt to provide aid as an unexpected extra or to insure that an unprepared guest doesn't come to grief because they didn't prepare appropriately.

Clearly, it is very important to establish expectations as they refer to aid. The following thoughts are intended to help Event Hosts and participants clarify expectations and prepare accordingly.

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Expectations

Setting expectations properly is particularly important when it comes to aid.

Set expectations at zero

Promote that guests in your event should expect no aid from you. State clearly in all event communications that you expect them to come prepared to complete the event with their own food and liquids.

Identify outside sources of food and liquids

Make sure you note drinking fountains or public washrooms with clean drinking water in your event course description. (Be sure to check that they are working the week before your event!) Also identify on your course description the location of convenience stores or other places where a hungry or thirsty guest might stock up along the course.

Identify possible aid stations

We recommend you identify key Reference Points along the event course where an aid station might be set up if a volunteer steps forward. If there are no volunteers, nothing is lost. If there are, it is easy for guests and volunteers to identify the location of the aid station.

Drop bags

Will you take participant’s belongings from the start to the finish or to aid stations along the course? The contents of a drop bag may include a change of shoes or sox, a change of clothes, food or other special needs. If you are accepting drop bags, at which reference point can the participant expect them?

Types of Aid Stations

Un-manned. There are no people at the aid station to identify it or to assist a participant in the event. Examples of this type of aid station might include a public drinking fountain or a few milk jugs of water or electrolyte drink stashed by the roadside.
Manned. One or more crew people associated with the event are present. An example of a typical manned aid station might be a card table or picnic bench with water or electrolyte drink in paper cups.

Classifications of Aid

The word 'aid' can mean different things to different people. What is appropriate depends on the type of event and the weather. For example, what works in the summer might not be appropriate in the winter or on a cold rainy day. A faster or more experienced participant may have different requirements from someone new to a sport.

Setting expectations for what type of aid will be available and at which point during an event is critical. To help set expectations, we offer the following suggestions for classifying aid.

Aid