London Kayakathon Operations ( Blog assignment 3)

2010 saw the inaugural London Kayakathon take place, a 26.2 mile sea kayaking event on the river Thames on the same day as the London marathon. The second event will take place on 17 April 2011 and see’s the event doubling the number of participants from 50 to 100 and aims to raise £20’000 for a variety of charities as well as act as a frame work for future Kayakathons.

The Thames is a heavily controlled stretch of water.  The harbour Master, Port of London Authority, River police, RNLI, Launching sites and BCU all need to be satisfied that the event is well organised and safe. This means that in order to get approval to hold the event a comprehensive risk assessment is essential. For the 2011 event, the original risk assessment has had to be enhanced using feedback from the leaders and officials involved in the 2010 event. 

Another extremely important element pertaining to the smooth running and safety of the event is the Rules and Regulations document. All participants are required to read and adhere to this document and hand in a signed consent form at registration on the day of the event before a detailed briefing is given regarding the Kayakathon.

The meeting place for the Kayakaton is Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre. This venue is used as it has the facilities to accommodate the participants including toilet and wash facilities, electricity and catering facilities. Parking has been arranged for up to 10 transit vans with trailers within the centre’s grounds and there is ample street parking around the venue. There are storage facilities for the participant’s kayaks and equipment as well as space for people coming from outside London to camp over on the night before the event. This will also be the venue for a social get together and barbeque for the participants the night before the Kayakathon. A portion of the administration fee will cover the cost of the food and beverages and people staying the night are asked to leave a donation for the centre.

Registration for the event opens at 08h30 on the morning of 17 April 2011 and will consist of two manned tables in order to register the 100 participants before the event briefing at 10h00. The day follows a strict plan to ensure the participants are ready to start underneath Tower Bridge at 11h30. This has been arranged with the BBC in order to receive media coverage in the hope that the publicity may help in the expansion of the event in future years. Communication plays an important role in keeping the participants safe on the water and in their groups, therefore all of the marshals will be using VHF radios to keep in contact with the safety boats and megaphones to communicate with the participants. The Marshals will be wearing Blue bibs in order to make them distinguishable from the other participants who will be wearing yellow with their race numbers pinned high up on their bibs.

Macroeconomics and the Falmouth Oyster Festival (Assignment 2)

Cornwall has a wealth of festivals which vary in size and style from small community celebrations to large scale arts festivals presenting a variety of professional product. They are capable of providing a focal point for cultural tourism and are beginning to do so in a number of cases. A higher profile and more integrated marketing, together with a recognition of their value in terms of tourism and economic spin-off is necessary. The range is impressive and the benefits, both economic and social, of promoting this area of activity are self-evident.( http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=14917) accessed 08/11/2010

The Falmouth Oyster Festival is an annual event celebrating the start of the oyster dredging season and one of the last traditional oyster fisheries, dredging by sail and hand punt. The season runs from October to March and is governed by ancient laws, overseen by the European Union, put in place to protect the natural ecology of the riverbeds and oyster stocks.

The Oyster Festivals effect on the local economy is tremendous, held in mid October and a week before half term, the event creates a tourist boom of around 30’000 people over four days, at a time of year where income from tourism into the economy should be decreasing. The festival benefits nearly every aspect of Falmouth’s economy, local supply businesses experience an increase in business due to increased business for local restaurants, shops, hotels and others businesses providing services. This also means that the majority of people who are employed seasonally in Falmouth may be able to stretch their employment time until after the half term holiday toward the end of October, which has a positive effect on the employment rate, and the gross domestic product of the UK

The event also promotes local produce, and in turn can be very beneficial in promoting Cornish produce to international markets. Although the oyster festival only lasts a few days, it signifies the start of the dredging season. The Fal River oysters are sold, mostly out of the county to smart metropolitan restaurants or exported to Europe where they are highly sought after, even in France. There are many factors influencing this trade with other countries for example the value of the British Pound against other currencies. This is determined by the current deficit of the economy, a rise in deficit will result in the fall of the face value of a currency, in turn, a reduction in deficit will improve the value of the currency. Inflation also has the ability to devalue a currency as it reduces the purchasing power within a county. Although the reduction in the value of the pound is negative when purchasing from international markets the opposite is true when supplying. The decreased value of the pound might possibly influence trade with countries who 10 years ago would never have purchased British produce as the value of the pound was extremely high. 

The week pound could also mean an increase of international tourists visiting Cornwall. The government website, Visit Cornwall, promotes the Oyster Festival to international tourists, which benefits the county on a whole. Tourists visiting the UK are effectively creating wealth for the country, this means that they are bringing money into the country that wasn’t there before their visit.