Blog by Alan Rae, IMG
By now you should be fine tuning your training and be well on your way to hitting your fundraising target. The last element you need to ensure success is to apply winning strategies to the tasks we set you.
The strategy applied by Team A is not necessarily the right strategy for Team B. It’s important that the strategy you apply works with the strengths of your team.
Below are some hints and tips on strategising based on a Stage we have used previously.
Tour de Europe!
The notes for this stage contained the following:
- ‘Tour de Europe’ is a five hour Set Time Stage (with no advantage for finishing early). Teams start with a score of 300 minutes which they must try to reduce by earning bonus minutes. The lowest score wins the stage.
- Teams earn bonus minutes by visiting European cities.
- To visit a European city (such as Madrid) teams must first collect the relevant visa from the appropriate Visa Point and the relevant number of Air Miles Tokens from the Air Desk. Visa Points and the Air Miles Desk may be visited by two people.
- Once these are collected, teams should take them to the relevant European city. The complete team of four must visit the city together.
- Visas can only be collected from a Visa Point in exchange for a Visa Pass.
- Teams receive only one Visa Pass in the start envelope which is given to teams at the start of the stage. A Visa pass will be given for each Visa teams to submit at a European city.
- To collect Air Miles Tokens, teams must first collect three letter codes from Air Miles Points – these codes are exchanged for Air Miles Tokens at the Air Miles Desk. Air Miles Points may be visited by two people.
- Additional bonus time can be earned by trading in any remaining Air Miles Tokens at the finish; one minute will be earned for each Air Miles Token.
- The number of Air Miles Tokens required to visit a city and the number of bonus minutes earned for visiting each city are detailed on the journey sheet contained in the start envelope.
- Points are visited by bike or by canoe, as indicated on the stage map which is contained in the start envelope.
- Teams must take a one hour compulsory break within the five hour Stage time.
Team strategy: Hints and tips
After the Team Captains Briefing, teams should be thinking about the key strategic questions that need to be answered before tackling the stage. Some key points for discussion are:
- Which four team members are going to take part in the stage? Discuss who is going to be in each pair and who will take on what role.
- When is the one hour break going to be taken? Taking it at the start of the stage will provide the team with one hour of planning time. Alternatively, taking it in the middle of the stage will provide a break halfway through and allow for re-strategising.
- How will the team minimise waiting time when the pairs meet up to visit a city?
- How can teams maximise their ‘return on investment’ with the Air Miles Tokens they collect, given that bonus time can be earned by trading in Air Miles Tokens at the finish.
- If you have any outstanding questions about the stage then your Team Captain should raise these at the Start Briefing just before the stage starts.
Finally, the most important thing after the Stage has started is not to panic! It is, by definition, complex and requires strategic thought. Clear thinking, discussion and time management will help you unpick the issues and options. All teams are facing the same challenge, so remember it’s tricky for everyone. Also remember there is no single right strategy. Often the key is to make a sensible decision and execute it efficiently, minimising errors and downtime.
Bearing that in mind, a possible approach to this task would be to start off by picking one of the cities to visit, working out what you need to collect to visit that city, and then building in other cities around it. What other approaches can you come up with?!
Monthly brain teaser
This month’s brain teaser can be viewed by clicking here. I highly recommend looking at this and others from my previous blogs as you’ll be faced with similar puzzles each stage!
Finally all that remains is to wish you good luck and see you at the event!!
Alan Rae