Race Setup: the Devil is in the Details

Our vee board sled, loaded up and ready to for the next race.

We've been honored to host a wide variety of races this year, with many more to come. But while the big stories of speed, skill and stamina have been told, some of the smaller details that make those efforts possible have flown under the radar. 

Like what? Well, for the corral fencing for instance. Anyone who's put on a ski race knows the utility of this fencing. Combined with vee board, it's a staple of stadiums everywhere....but most everywhere also struggles to find the right balance of cost, durability, ease of use and transport, and flexibility in course layout. We're no different. We went through several iterations before we came to our present design.

There were the rustic pickets:

Pretty, local, but time consuming to produce, and too dependent on deep snow. Not that easy to reset either.

We went in a more traditional, dimensional direction, with a variety of feet. Some were straight ahead, screwed in legs

Which had production advantages, but still could tip over and they didn't store well. We went through another iteration with feet that were bolted on that could swivel to address the storage issue - but the feet were still kind of loose and did not address the tippiness. 

Eventually, the groomers came up with the present sawhorse style model:

Light, quick to make, cheap, durable, effective, not so tippy - and they store neatly, thanks to a design detail that offsets the legs.

Race-tools---19jan12-002

By putting the legs side by side,

…we save the thickness of one leg for each trestle.

And that thickness saved really adds up when you’re storing these in bulk!

The trestles are easily transported on their sled behind a groomer. Very efficient.

Pretty slick, huh?

Even if you don't geek out like we do on the finer points of course maintenance, layout and so forth, you can rest assured that we do, and that you'll enjoy the benefits at your next Craftsbury event.