After the last runner in the last race has crossed the line, you will have a few tasks left to complete your meet.
After the final results are recorded and the awards made, the Chief Awards Clerk must see that the Varsity Score sheets are signed by both team's coaches. The Awards Table section contains more details.
Before the competition is actually over, your Meet take-down crew can begin. There are those expected things to do in the way of taking down, cleaning-up, and locking-up that the crew can start on, like:
- Visiting each of the field event sites and collecting the equipment. If you have been clever, you have picked-up and put away the field event equipment after the last age/group completed their competition at the site. The field events are almost always over substantially before the running events and, if possible, you should plan to put away the mats, bars standards, etc at that time.
- Picking up and storing the hurdles.
- Closing down the Snack bar.
- Packing up and collecting the equipment and supplies from the Announcer, staging, the Starter, the Finish Line and the Awards table as those areas are finished.
After the meet your remaining "close-down" tasks can be done:
- Generally clean up the facility: Pick up paper, cups, etc. (I assign the late sign up parents to this).
- Check, clean-up and lock the rest rooms.
- Be sure you lock up or secure any equipment you borrowed and close and lock any gates you opened.
- If you used the press box, check it for your equipment, clean it up if needed, turn off the P.A., and lock the doors.
There are a few special duties that will need to get done within a few days following the meet:
___ Mail out the meet results. This is usually the responsibility of the Chief Awards clerk but can be assigned to anyone. Please see the Awards Table section for details.
___ Get the meet results published. You may have a separate publicity manager which can submit tabulated results or an article for the local newspapers.
___ Clean the Starter's gun and equipment. I also take this opportunity to restock the box for the next meet.
___ If you are using rechargeable batteries in your radios, you should completely discharge them. Turn the volume and squelch all the way on and leave them for a day or two. Once discharged completely, they can be stored for the next meet.
___ Repair or replace any equipment known to be damaged or lost (watches, shot puts, clip boards, measuring tapes, etc). Some items have a long lead time to acquire and you need to order/repair them as soon as possible so that you have them for the next meet.
___ Copy/obtain any forms you are short of for the next meet.
You may also want to have a "post-mortem" review of your meet with your key officials. I suggest you do one after the first meet so any adjustments can be made before the next one. The review should be done as soon after the meet as you can. Keep it short, to the point, and productive.
You may also want to have a short review with the visiting team's representative immediately following the meet to pick up any suggestions he/she might have.