Serpentine is a long standing central London running club. It has it’s origins in Hyde Park, and the snake like lake in the middle, of the same name.
Runners of all shapes and sizes, speed, commitment and ability turn out to weekly club runs or track sessions, and some have even been known to skip straight to the post run pub meet!
One stalwart, however, of the Serpentine race calendar is the (infamous, for club members at least) monthly handicap race.
It’s a 4.3 mile race (or 2 laps of the lake) where anyone, whether you’re fast or slow, has a chance of winning. Let’s explain: each runner is given a ‘handicap’ race start time according to their pace. If you’re faster, you start later, if you’re slower, you’re given a head start, the aim being to beat yourself and come higher up the rankings. In reality, there’s a rush of finishers towards the end when the slower runners are nearing the finish and the faster runners have caught up and are hitting the home straight….it’s quite a sight!
But what are the mechanics? And what’s a payment solution for small businesses got to do with a club running race that sees around 70 runners in matching tops tearing down the North side of the Serpentine lake at around 9:30am on the first Saturday of every month? Take a deep breath, and we’ll tell you…
It’s all thanks to technology (and runners running, obviously, but apart from them), and breakthroughs in a payment solution for small businesses.
An algorithm works out everyone’s handicap start time across their last 6 races, giving everyone a rolling average of their running performance. Runners buy their specific handicap race number which is assigned to them and which they re-use every month. The manual bit is the time keepers on hand with stop watches to clock the runners in at the halfway point and finish according their number, which is then fed into the mighty algorithm for start times the following month.
So far so good. Then comes the 8:30am Saturday morning start time. Runners rush to get to the park to register in time with the volunteers organising the race. If they’re a new runner, they buy their shiny new £2 number and, if they’re a forgetful runner, they buy a shiny new duplicate £2 number.
Very few people have cash on them these days, and if they do, it’s probably not exactly the £2 needed. And this is where Ordo steps in, being a payment solution for small businesses. Clubs like Serpentine and most other amateur sports clubs and many not-for-profits are run by volunteers. For races, there’s enough essential kit to remember and set up on race day, like mile markers, finish funnel cones, marshall bibs, whistles and stopwatches, without having to remember card readers and that clanging bucket of small change, and working out what is the safest way to pay someone online and how you can enable this in the middle of a park.
With Ordo’s bank transfer QR code solution, all the volunteers need is their smart phone. When a new or forgetful runner jogs up, the volunteer simply logs into their Ordo profile on their smart phone. Ordo instantly generates a secure bespoke QR code for £2, which the runner scans with the camera on their smart phone. The runner is taken to their banking app or online banking on their smart phone, where Ordo has set up the £2 payment to the club, by virtue of the secure bank transfer QR code, all without the runner having to type in account details or card numbers, or Serpentine having to share its account details.
The reference is the handicap race date and the runner’s number so Serpentine have an audit trail of who’s paid for what, when and why. Once payment is authorised by the runner in their own banking domain in their usual way, an instant bank transfer is made from the runner’s bank account directly to Serpentine’s bank account, correctly referenced and automatically reconcilable, making it easy for the volunteer Honorary Treasurer too. And because all of this is across Ordo’s secure and FCA regulated payments platform, it really is the safest way to pay someone online.
Ordo’s payment solution for small businesses is its bank transfer QR code solution and needs no card reader, no QR code reader, comes with no delays and no fees deducted from the bank to bank transfer. All anyone needs is their smartphone, and instant bank transfers land in the club’s account automatically referenced and are never more than 20p. Ordo’s payment solution for small businesses makes taking payment and getting running as fleet as foot as crossing the finish line in 1st place!
With races having been largely shelved throughout 2020, clubs and sports men and women have had to find other ways to keep their bodies, minds and bank balances fit. For some, it now means cash is tight, and clubs and not-for-profits are going to need a low cost payment solution for small businesses that gives them the instant bank transfers they need, with minimal manual input.
Ordo allows participants to transfer money online, without having to remember cards or volunteers have card readers, or compromise their safety by carrying cash around.
Technology today means there is a better payment solution for small businesses out there, and it’s good for the club collecting payment, as well as those making the instant bank transfers, so it’s that rare situation and, perhaps most unlikely in sport, where everyone’s a winner! But with simple, swift and secure ways to now transfer money online, there’s no reason why not-for-profits should need to wait multiple working days to receive their income, no reason for anyone to have to share sensitive information, and there’s definitely no reason why it should be anything other than easy and low maintenance.
This is what Ordo means with its payment solution for small businesses in its bank transfer QR code solution: convenience and control, with secure instant bank transfers meaning racers can instantly transfer money online and get to the start line in no time!
Ordo means anyone can transfer money online by secure instant bank transfer to pay for online in advance race entry, race numbers, on the day race entry, ancillaries like race merchandise and club kit, all via its payment solution for small businesses in its bank transfer QR code solution, a low cost and stress free experience for all concerned… it’s by far the safest way to pay someone online.
