Entry Desk Timetable for a One-Day Competition

A one-day competition entry desk opens eight to twelve weeks before the event and closes two to three weeks before it. The desk is not a single moment: it is a dated sequence of notices, forms, confirmations and a final heat list, each one sent on a fixed day. An organiser who works backward from the competition date can name every deadline before the first entry arrives. The same discipline applies to any dated production schedule, and the practice of dating each document rather than each intention is described in the working notes on production music catalogues, where a catalogue number fixes the version before anyone hears it.

The timetable below covers a Saturday event with a Sunday rain date. Dates are written as day, month, year. The documents are the ones a desk actually sends: entry form, rules sheet, fee schedule, confirmation, heat list, programme, results.

What does the entry desk send first?

The first notice goes out eight to twelve weeks before the event, and it carries three documents: the entry form, the rules sheet and the fee schedule. The notice names the competition date, the venue, the divisions offered and the closing date. Nothing else is promised at this stage, because the desk cannot yet confirm judges, heats or running order.

The entry form is the only document that creates a record. It asks for the competitor's name, date of birth where age divisions apply, division and level, partner names for couple events, and a contact address for the confirmation. The rules sheet states what disqualifies an entry: late payment, wrong level, missing partner, unsigned waiver. The fee schedule lists the per-entry fee, the late fee and the refund rule.

A desk that sends these three documents together avoids the most common first-week problem, which is a competitor entering a division the rules sheet does not allow. The rules sheet is the document that answers that question, not the form.

How long does the entry window stay open?

The entry window stays open six to nine weeks, from the first notice to the closing date. The closing date is a fixed calendar date, not a countdown from the event. A Saturday event on 14 March 2026 with a closing date of 21 February 2026 gives competitors eight weeks from a first notice sent on 3 January 2026.

Two intermediate dates sit inside the window. The first is the early-entry date, usually four weeks after the first notice, when the lower fee applies. The second is the partner-matching date, two weeks before closing, when the desk stops pairing unpartnered competitors. Both dates appear on the entry form, not in a separate letter.

A desk that publishes the closing date only on the website will still receive late entries. The confirmation email is the document that repeats the closing date to each competitor who has already entered.

What documents go out at the closing date?

At the closing date the desk sends two documents: the entry confirmation and the payment statement. The confirmation lists every accepted entry with division, level and partner. The payment statement shows the amount received, the amount outstanding and the late fee where it applies.

Entries that fail a rule are not silently dropped. The desk sends a rejection notice with the rule cited by number from the rules sheet. A competitor who entered the wrong level receives the rejection notice and a corrected entry form, and the corrected form carries a new deadline, usually seven days.

The closing date is also the day the desk freezes the entry count. That number goes to the judges' panel, the venue and the programme printer. A count that changes after the closing date changes the heat list, and the heat list is the document that competitors read most closely.

When is the heat list published?

The heat list is published seven to ten days before the event, after the desk has assigned heats and running order. It lists each heat number, the competitors in it, the division and the scheduled start time. The heat list is provisional until the final confirmation, which goes out forty-eight hours before the event.

The final confirmation is short: arrival time, warm-up time, heat number, and the name of the desk contact on the day. It is the last document a competitor receives before the event, and it is the one that prevents the morning queue at the desk.

A desk that publishes the heat list earlier than ten days will republish it. Late entries, withdrawals and partner changes all move heats, and each republication carries a version number and a date in the header.

What happens at the desk on the day?

On the day the desk opens ninety minutes before the first heat and closes thirty minutes after the last result is posted. It holds four documents: the printed heat list, the check-in sheet, the scratch forms and the results sheets.

Check-in closes fifteen minutes before each heat. A competitor who has not checked in is marked as a scratch, and the scratch form records the time and the reason. The desk does not hold a heat for a late arrival unless the rules sheet allows it, and the rules sheet usually does not.

Results are posted heat by heat, not at the end of the day. Each results sheet carries the heat number, the placements and the judge's initials. The desk keeps one copy and posts one copy, and the posted copy is the record competitors photograph.

What closes the desk after the event?

The desk closes seven days after the event, when the final results and the financial statement are sent. The final results document lists every heat, every placement and every scratch. The financial statement reconciles fees received, refunds paid and any outstanding balance.

Three documents remain after that: the entry file, the heat list with its version numbers, and the results file. They are kept for one season, because a placement dispute can arrive weeks later. A dispute is answered from the heat list and the results sheet, not from memory.

The timetable works backward from the event date. First notice at twelve weeks, early-entry date at eight weeks, partner-matching date at four weeks, closing date at three weeks, heat list at ten days, final confirmation at forty-eight hours, desk open at ninety minutes, desk closed at seven days. Each date has one document attached to it, and the document is what the competitor reads.