Alleycat/event liability

[Sekt]

What's the go with liability for people organising alleycats and other riding events?

Stuff like the Dash For Cash has sponsors and such, so there's obviously a formal element to it. Does the organiser take sole responsibility?

Is it just ignored, or done through association with a larger group, or some other method?

[ndf]

[shrug]

I assume it's just ignored.

[spud]

If you crash or break the law its your fault. If you feel you need to break the law, or if you ride harder than your abilities, its up to you.

[nexus]

Insurance Co's would never touch anything like that. High risk sports cost a fortune anyway and something like that would never be affordable.

[Sekt]

That's kinda what I figured.

We're keen to organise a few more events down here, but the thought of liability is kind of freaking us out. A few people who organise events for local clubs down here have suggested we're insane for having already one run event. The thing is, ignoring it doesn't make it go away, which doesn't leave me sitting too happily.

Does having no specified 'host' help things? No host = no one to blame?

How do sponsors feel about it?

[chromeo]

I am not a lawyer and this is all based purely on assumption and speculation:
One would imagine that the sort of people who ride in an alleycat realise and accept the risk (and probably revel in it as well). I can't imagine that these are the sort of people who would try and sue you.
That said, if one of the riders smacks into a pedestrian you might be in all sorts of strife.

On the whole I would assume that everything about it is illegal starting with a lack of council permits following on to a race on open roads with no police assistance or the provision of first aid.

Do these races cost money to enter?
It's quite possible you may get around it if there are just prizes and no entry fee on some odd technicality like you're not running it for profit so you don't have a duty of care or something.

This does not constitute legal advice.

[iwearmoccos]

i rode in my first alley cat lastnight (which was so much fun by the way!)
the way i see it is your responsible for your own actions, so if you crash into the side of a car, get taken to hospital and leave a big dint in the car because you ran a red, you werent competing in a race, you were just trying to get home quickly.
you're racing on open roads with complete (at times) disregard to the road rules, you cant crash then turn around and say ' well i was racing in HIS race, chase him for costs etc'