How do I actually run a rally?
written by Tom Stevens from KidNme inc

SO, you want to hold a Rally!
First, it is important that you start off with the right mindset even before the planning stage. You must understand that when you run a rally, “your riding pleasure” is not your "primary concern" during the actual rally itself.
Over the next few days, you will be able to ride the trails with a buddy or two, running mock comps, setting up maps and markers etc. and you'll have a blast so enjoy this time as your rally now so you can keep things flowing smoothly when your guests arrive.

Don't worry, IF, you follow these guidelines and have done your preliminary leg work, the rally will almost run itself and you'll have a great time meeting new people!

Being prepared, is to know the entire trail system you will be on, all activities, times and places and any rules that may be in place for your particular riding area. You will be answering questions, policing member activities and assuring that the land owner will invite your group back. It is very rewarding to pull of a successful rally which is made much easier again, if you planned ahead.

How long and When to hold a Rally
Most rallies work well on a "3 day plan". Starting on Friday evening and wrapping up on Sunday afternoon is the norm but you can tailor to your groups needs.

As a guide, if guests can drive to the rally area in 2 hrs or less, you can do a "One Day" event. If guests have to drive more than 2 hrs, it should be a minimum of 2 days. Keep in mind that many will have school age children so planning an event around standard school vacations. (Spring break, Summer etc) will ensure you get the best possible turn out.

The "3 Day Plan"
We call it "3 day" but really, it's 1 full day of riding on Saturday and a half day on Friday and Sunday. You'll start late afternoon and early evening on a Friday when folks get off of work and start arriving at the park and most people will be packing up and leaving Sunday, late morning / early afternoon, for the ride home.

Here is a good schedule for a "3 Day Rally":

Friday (afternoon): Registration / Meet & greet, Free explore
Friday (evening): Community Cookout
Saturday (Morning / Early afternoon): Free ride
Saturday (Late afternoon): Competitive events, Group pictures!
Saturday (evening): Awards BBQ, Local Entertainment
Sunday: Free ride, good byes

This "Ramps up" and "Winds down" the weekend in proper fashion!

Saturday late afternoon is best for group pictures, Awards ceremonies, community BBQ's and Thank you's because everyone will be there by then.

To start a rally, you need a legal location to ride.
Finding one that is central to your riding group is essential. Try to keep travel times under 4 hrs if you can.
State parks that allow ATV riding, Private land owners and off road parks are the most prevalent but be creative in your search. Many property owners/managers may not know what a mini buggy is and it’s our job to fill them in!

A campground that allows off road vehicles might be a good choice or even a member of your group may have some open land to use. Wherever you decide to go, try to choose a place that will benefit the land owners and the locals. A large group of buggy riders and their families bring money into an area and is a great selling point when contacting the potential land owners.

We’d like every rally to be beneficial to the area we ride, in some way. Whether it is an influx of revenue for a small town or leaving their trails better than we found them to, bringing families together that may not have otherwise spent much time outdoors together before.


Contacting land owners and trail managers

You will next need to contact the appropriate people who own or run the property and inform them of your plans. They may help you with registration, maps, rules and regulations etc if they are already an established riding area. If not, be ready to supply these things yourself.
A phone call is a great place to start but plan on visiting in person as well. Be professional and accommodating.
Remember, you may need to make several “scouting” trips to your chosen location before the actual rally.

Funding the fun
Whenever there is a large gathering to be hosted, money will be involved, especially your 1^st one. Whether it’s buying trail markers or just driving back and forth to scout locations, you can expect to spend some money.
This doesn’t mean you need to clean out your bank account but to be sure; it will cost you a few dollars. Donations, entry fees and help from other members and even the caretakers of the property you will be using, can help ease the burden by lending equipment and supplies but do not count on these. It’s best to be prepared yourself and anything else you can get is a plus. As your rallies grow, this will get easier and you'll find more creative ideas to pull things off.

Do your best to include local businesses.

Hire a “Mom & Pop” bull roast company to cater one night.
Hire a DJ to host music (have as good a mix as you have ages attending)
Be creative with who you bring in for entertainment. Ask the locals for ideas.

Local bands trying to make a name for themselves and other local talent can be free and really make a rally memorable. Offer them a hamburger, beverage and a ride in your buggy as payment! Don't be surprised at how many will find that a wonderful offer and indeed it is! :-)
These moments are great ways to get the entire group together in one place.

Venders/Local Dealers

Local dealers can donate prizes and can offer performance and replacement parts. Because of the potential for them to make money on sales to your guests that weekend, you should solicit them to either donate prizes or help out in some way. They should know that this is a win/win for all concerned. Make them welcome and comfortable and they will come back for your next one too.
Also, contact some of the local hotels in the area if you are holding an over night event for those who do not like to camp out. Many hotels will offer discounts if you ask, so ASK! Make this information available to your guests as soon as you can so they can plan accordingly. Some of the local hotels where we usually hold these things can get overwhelmed with a large group so get information from several, as close as you can to the rally site.

How to scout/setup a rally area

To find a suitable rally location, you first need to determine what and how many your rally will entail if you can. You can let your riding area determine what you do such as long rally races, drag racing, a few buggy games and BBQ or just some simple trail riding, let your trail be the guide!
Sometimes you'll want to hold "specific events" but try to mix it up with plenty of “free time” trail riding too. (Refer to our "3 Day plan mentioned earlier")

While scouting "comp areas," (Hill climbs, drag racing etc) remember your area will not only need to accommodate your group’s activities but any spectators who choose to "Sit this one out". Always remember that some may only want to ”watch” so be sure there is ample space and view lines for them to enjoy the festivities.

If this will be an over night event, you will need to think of restroom facilities and a water source. You can haul in water for the weekend but if your location doesn't have restrooms, you'll need to rent a port-a-pot. I believe they say it should be 1 per 10 guests for a weekend but check with your local "Johnny on the spot" rep.

TIP: Get a small group together that is camping and pitch in together for a hotel room for a day so everyone can take turns getting a quick shower for cheap and if needed, a couple of the "weak ones" can wuss it out in comfy beds for the night.

Scouting and Making your Trail & Map

A Clear, accurate map is essential to a good rally, especially if you have a larger area to ride in.
Anything over a hundred acres should probably have a trail map.
If the place you are riding has one, great! Maybe you can just make additions to it pertaining specifically to buggies. If not,
You can do one yourself.
This stage is actually one of my favorite activities!
It's best to get a friend and work as a 2 person team. This way you can goof around the trails a little each day with a friend while you scout.

When you're ready to start making your map, jump into one buggy.
The passenger can draw as you go along and mark any landmarks and notes of interest such as "rock garden, creek crossing, trail splits etc. Try to be as accurate as you can in marking turns in the trail on your map. This can be tricky to get it on the paper right but you can refine it as you travel it over and over in your scouting process.

What you are trying to do at this point is just establish your "major loop" and mark where any trail splits are as you come across them and you'll come back and explore them later.
A large (One way) loop is the best setup for a trail ride or rally race, one that will lead each member back to the camping / staging area if they follow the entire loop.

Once you have your major loop established, go back around again and start marking distances between artifacts around the track such as the rock gardens and trail splits you marked down earlier. These "Artifacts" will be used for your trail marker spots for ease of identifying where one is on the map such as a large downed tree or other noticeable items along the trail.

On your second trip around, as you come to a trail split, mark the distance from the last trail marker then go down it, again, drawing the path, marking distances and more "artifacts" as you go. Your objective here is to travel an alternate path from the main loop but eventually make it back onto the main loop again without turning around.
If you can't get back to the main loop, mark that down and move onto the next trail split/artifact on your map and continue on this way until you have most, if not all of the side trails explored or at least marked.

Marking distances is important so groups can determine the length of their chosen ride.
Remember, use natural landmarks such as boulder formations, creeks and trail splits so riders will know where they are on your map. These should also coincide with the numbers on your map where possible.







If there aren't any "noticeable" natural artifacts at a trail split, this is where a sign needs to be used. Place a sign and mark it on your map.

 If there are several terrain/difficulty types or side trails not explored thoroughly, be sure to mark them on your map as well so members can determine if everyone in their party should make that trip or avoid that section. Just let them know what they're in for such as "Steep hill here" or "very thin trail, lots of dead ends" or "We don't know"! etc.

 If there is anything dangerous or "off limits" such as drop offs or adjoining properties, you may consider putting up cones or caution tape or even mark off an area entirely but again, mark them on your map clearly!

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Find a large, open area you'll use for Buggy Games, drag races etc.
While you are scouting, also try to find a place that would allow parents a place to goof around with their kids, out of the way of main traffic.




Small hills in open areas allow a parent to tutor the young ones without the worry of dangerous obstacles or heavy traffic.
Mark it on the map and inform all guests that this area is specifically sectioned off for parents with small children and all caution is to be used if in this area!

Signage
You will need signs to:

Post direction to travel,
Mark off trails that are unsuitable or lead in an undesirable direction.
Mile Markers / Checkpoints
Hazards

Unless you have a permanent riding location and the land owner is OK with it, all signage should be temporary only. Twine and corrugated plastic board is fairly cheap and holds up to weather. Signs can be tied around trees. Do not use nails! Remember, we want to leave as little impact on the property as we can! If trees are not available where you need a sign, wooden stakes can be used or even a sharpened stick, pounded in with a rock will work. We've also used a pile of rocks as a post stand so you can be creative where you need to be just don't do anything "permanent" and remember that all your signage will need to be taken down at the end of the rally.






A GPS comes in handy for marking distance but since everyone won't have a GPS handy,you should use natural formations for markers as well such as Large boulders, downed trees or power lines.



Note: Prepare for buggy breakdowns. At no time should a side trail be so out of the way of main traffic that a person would have to sit for hours waiting for rescue.
If you have any of those and don't mark them off, you will need to travel down them  before the end of the riding day to be sure no one is stranded.
Cell phones don't always work in the forest and if a couple gets lost on the trail and has a problem with their buggy, it could be a long walk back that will look a lot different in the dark, walking, and going in the other direction!

  Safety First

First and foremost, when scouting your riding area, you may need to think of the 8 yr old in a 70cc buggy as well as older riders in much larger machines and even spectators that will be traversing the area when considering what a hazard is or when deciding if the terrain will be too difficult to traverse. Err on the side of caution. 

Some potential hazards to scout for:

• Steep drop offs from the trail

• Crowded ATV trails, excessive alcohol use

• Sharing the trails with Larger vehicles

• Potential for cross traffic, head on collisions

• Water hazards (Large water holes on trail, Ponds, lakes etc)

• The need to climb Steep hills/dangerous terrain, to complete a circuit or reach an event area

Trail difficulties:

Trail difficulty types can be listed in several ways:

You can list the terrain, ie: "Very rocky with steep hills" or "Smooth fire trail" etc or
You can color code them according to difficulty. We use Green, Yellow and Red to make it as universally recognizable as possible.

#Red (Danger!) for difficult. (A modded 150cc or better to make this trail due to steep hills, rocks etc)
#Yellow (Caution) for medium (some small hills, larger rocks in the trails, pot holes etc)
#Green (GO) for easy (Small Children in a 70cc buggy can traverse these with ease and no major hazards to avoid),

Some Items needed for your rally

OK, so you have a suitable place to ride and you're all set, now what?
Here are some basic items (But not all) that may be needed at a rally and will differ depending on where you hold it and the type of activities you plan on having,
Some of this stuff you may already have and other items can be brought by other members. Below are a few items that are always good to have in your rally arsenal and should be considered must have items. Once you have them, they can be used at all future rallies.
Trash Bags -We practice a “Pack out, what you pack in” mentality.
MBRA groups should leave as little impact on the land as possible.

Cones / Caution tape– A dozen or more small traffic cones and a roll of "Caution tape" to mark off areas. You can find these in Wal-mart or similar discount stores are always needed at a rally.
EZ-UP and folding table – You will need these for a central point for signing in attendees, award ceremonies etc.
GPS – This will really come in handy when marking the trail markers on your map and are perfect to determine distances in place of a measuring wheel!

Stop watch - or cell phone app etc for timing runs.

Lights and generator - You'll need lighting once the sun goes down and a couple Construction lamps work great and are pretty cheap. You can get a double halogen light tree for under $30 at your local home store!

Two way radios – Especially handy when you have help so you can communicate with your volunteers somewhere else on the property and is also great for rally races that cover a large area so you can determine if a racer has made it to a check point etc.

Camera – Of course, I think this is one of the most important items in your rally bag!
First aid kit – Band-aids, antiseptic wipes, Ace bandages etc for minor scrapes and boo-boos.
Also know where the nearest hospital is. We hope to never need it but if you do, this is very important.

Planning buggy challenges
Planning your events for the weekend is the key to their success. Dry runs and practicing each event is the best way to determine difficulty, viewing areas, time needed, general layouts of each and is also part of YOUR FUN before the rally!.




You will not only need the proper spacing for events but also consider the spectators viewing lines and safety!








It is also VERY important that the whole weekend isn’t just about "events". You should give your attendees plenty time for lone exploration.

Best time of day to hold your events?

Events are best held early in the day or near the end of the day after everyone has had plenty of time to “just ride” and it has cooled down a bit from the heat of the day but be sure to leave enough time to get through your events before it gets too dark!
It helps to have food planned (BBQ/Tailgate) at the end of the day to get everyone together to share the days events and to also allow you to present awards, share some smack talk and of course, EAT!

THE GROUP PHOTO!

What rally is complete without a group photo?

Remember to get that group photo on SATURDAY, late afternoon!!
On a typical 3 day rally, Late Saturday is the day that anyone who is coming, will be there by this time.
Saturday, right before the community cookout is best!
Tell everyone "EXACTLY", WHERE and WHEN everyone should be together and remind them 1000 times!! Seriously! We have never been to a rally where this wasn't one of the hardest things to accomplish! There is always someone, somewhere else, when the group photo is taken!
Tell them that the group photo is where they'll find out which camp site is having that nights community BBQ if you have to! :-)
This is why you have it late in the day Saturday so when they start to get hungry, they'll think "Oh ya, the group picture!". Everyone wants to be in the group photo but we're all out having fun and time gets away from us. Make it as easy as you can for everyone to be there for it!

Dems da rules
We hate to be a bother but, if you don't have rules, things can get out of hand quick!
When we're out as a group, it is important that we leave a good impression on everyone including the land owners and other riders. We know that everyone attending feels the same way but when we're out having fun, common sense sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. For this reason, there must be 1 person in charge to be the "Friendly Reminder" we all need from time to time.
If you are up front with these from the start, you should have little trouble. Buggy owners are generally a great group of conscientious people!

You will be responsible for making sure that the safety of the members and the adherence to the rules and regulations is first and foremost. 
You must be nice and generous in your enforcement of broken rules.
No yelling or threatening! Always be pleasant but firm. Remember, everyone wants to have a good time and you should think of everyone’s needs, not just the one, or the few.

Each member must be made aware of each rule and a copy should be given to each.
"I didn't know" should not be a viable excuse.
It is a good idea to read these to the group as a whole or at least go over bullet points with each family as they arrive, before any riding, to be sure everyone understands.
Your guests, MBRA and the land owners will respect you for it.

Sample Rules:

• What times for buggies, radios etc to be shut off at night?

• Generators allowed? (a real "no-no" after dusk anywhere)

• Trash placement (We follow a “pack it in, pack it out” mentality at our rallies but make it easy for folks to do the right thing. Have trash bags handy and let everyone know you have them! Maybe a local buggy/parts vendor can make up some cigarette lighter baggies that hang from your lighter as an advertisement opportunity.

• Camp fires allowed? Wood gathering from property?

• Off limit areas (Should also be clearly marked on map)
  

• Never drive past anyone in need of help!
  

• Helmets and Seat belts required at all times, no exceptions!

• No one rides alone, 2 buggy minimum in all groups

• New riders should be paired with veteran riders when you can

Advertise your rally

You will need to inform as many people as you can, weeks, months or longer, ahead of time that you will be getting together for a ride. We suggest a 2-3 month advance notice for a typical 3 day rally for your guests to give them time to arrange the time off. The longer the event, the longer you need to give folks to prepare.

Ways to advertise are:

• Related Web Forums, MBRA Rally Calendar
  

• Attending vendors can help you spread the word

• Fliers in local business windows and hand some out on the street
  

• Word of mouth

You will list on your flyer:
(Template available for download soon)

• Day and time the rally starts

• Who’s invited

• Location and duration of the rally

• Appropriate age limits and vehicle sizes required

• Events & times planned

• Guests/Sponsors attending

• Any fees associated with the ride

• Phone numbers and emails of people to contact for more info

To be listed on your map & handed out to each family:

• Rules of the park.

• Trash dumping locations

• Trail marker locations

• Restroom areas

• Event locations and times (Use the numbered signs as reference)

• Medical service station (Where's the 1st aid kit)

If you plan ahead and do your research before starting, you'll have a great rally that everyone will enjoy! Be sure to let us know where and when by posting it on our Rally Page to get everyone you can to check it out!
Have fun and go to the Rally Forum for help and advice if you need it!!
Enjoy your weekend, take plenty of pics then, share them with us here!!