I think it’s fair to assume your involvement in the events planning industry (beyond just being a paying participant is limited). This is a little bit of a harsh rebuttal of all event planners. The rules/guidelines are a minefield to negotiate at the best of times, even more so now, and the rules also keep changing constantly.
I really feel for the event organisers. It’s been a tough industry since forever, but right now it’s near impossible. Beyond pandering to the expectations/demands of their clients, they also have to get go ahead from the local government most of the time (the level at which official sign off is needed varies based on the scale of the event). The decision to cancel/go ahead very often depends on the input/feedback from the relevant authority, and this would obviously change based on what municipal authority you fall under. If the current guy in government you need to appease says no go, it’s no go. So you need to check and recheck on a daily basis wether your will likely get the go ahead come start day. No one wants to be the event organiser that cancels the day before the event. But the final sign off of the event permit is done 24-48 hours before the event kicks off, and even then, the relevant authority can change their mind if the situation changes. So organisers have no choice but to cancel if they get feedback that implies go ahead might not be given.
saying this is unfair etc because event A cancelled while event B is still going ahead is also non sensical. They are needing to comply with the same vague set of rules, but administered by referees with varying interpretation of the rules.
on top of that, one needs to think about whether the required “innovative solutions” will be accepted by your clientele, or not. Or if it’s viable based on your business model or not.
The fact that some events can go ahead and others can’t, is so much more complex than orginser A is lazy, Orgineser B is a champ.
It will be a long time before anyone forgets Epic 2020 being cancelled literally the day before the Prologue. A week prior, the CTCT went ahead, with a record attendance. No one could have imagined what was about to come. By the time CTCT took place, we had heard of Covid, but had no idea how governments would react, or how things would be changed across the world, nor how long it would be before normality sets in. I have it on relatively good authority that the entire originising team was ready to go with the epic. But, the Western Cape government, specifically the disaster management portfolio, who are the duly appointed authority, appointed by the Premier to sign off event permits for an event like the epic, (Individual bivoucs/race villages etc amd stages also need to be signed off by the specific municipalities),decided not to sign off the event permit. Remember, this final sign off only happens somewhere between 24 and 48 hours ahead of the event, officially, in reality, it often only happens mere hours ahead of the start of an event. The MEC’s office declined signing off on the permit the Friday morning…. 24 hours before the official start. No event organiser wants to find themselves in this position.
Understandably, everyone was up in arms after that cancellation, and I promise you, no one saw the cancellation as an easy out/lazy option. Remember, these events are run as a business. The larger events are essentially a full time job for the core team, and they need to be paid salaries for a full year. Suppliers are paid months in advance to secure services, with very strict cancellation terms. Race villages are essentially set up a couple days ahead of the event. None of the ancillary services are refundable. Catering is a perishable, the guys running the showers/toilets etc cannot find new work on short notice. The tents set up, bedding, bike wash, everything is a total loss if the “clients” in this case riders, don’t show up. The epic had the first 3 tent villages 100% set up, and the other two 80% ready to go. All of that a total loss since there was no event. Not an easy out/lazy solution for anyone. Most of the time, these events direct costs are covered by title sponsors, like ABSA, but the contracts normally state that the sponsor only pays over their contribution if the event is a success.
So for any of these major events, you can understand the organisers are torn. On the one hand, they have a core team that needs to be paid salaries for a full year, come what may. On top of that, they rely on dozens of service providers that need to be paid substantial deposits in advance. With strict cancelation clauses. I hear the notion often lately that “they” have sat on our money earning interest for a year now…. That’s just not true. The events companies had racked up substantial expenses even before the time entries opened, and the sponsor contribution will only materialise after the event is run. So they carry huge risk/exposure. The sooner they cancel (once they get the hint from the relevant authority that the chances of an event permit being issued is slim, the higher refund etc they can expect form their service providers, in order to pay refunds to riders etc….
so, it’s all down to the relationship the organisers have with the applicable highest authority, the deal/contract they have with their sponsor, the terms of the deals they have with their service providers etc. The choice to cancel early, or wait till the government makes the call for you, is up to each organisers appetite for risk. But epic 2020 put all organisers on the safe/cautios path.
I will refer back to this post a few times below.
Unless you are in the industry, you can’t understand the implications of all of this. I take my hat off to you guys, especially if you own the properties you manage. I would have sold the “asset” being the buildings/property at a loss in April 2020 already and put the money into a different industry altogether. Yes, tourism will recover, eventually, at some time in the future. But South Africa is going to be left behind big time, most specifically due to our slow vaccine rollout. As long as we stay on red lists, while the world gradually re-opens, we will keep losing tourist traffic to our competing markets. For 10 years already, East Africa has been stealing away the clientele coming for the big 5. They have arguably even more of a colonial big “big game” heritage than us, and have a real and notable advantage over us in terms of wildlife product in a proper “wilderness” setting. The other action/adventure holiday market has been slowly but surely eroded away by the South American and Eastern European markets. Both of which are short haul flights away, and offer enormous value - without the major security issues/instabilities etc that our market is hindered by, even without bringing Covid into play. The US/UK/EU governments are less concerned with countries like Columbia/Hertzgovia-Bosnia/Pakistan/Egypt/Algeria/Morocco etc than they are with us, from a security point of view, nevermind the currently super peaceful countries like Chile/Argentina etc, and publish travel advisories accordingly. All these places offer a as good, if not better adventure tourism experience, at similar, if not better prices than we do. Our tourism industry is in deep ****, both internally thanks to our wonderful guvment, and externally due to series, open market competition.
Western Cape establishment are slightly better off, due to the fact that tourists want to visit Africa and Cape Town, to many, it makes no difference if that “Africa” is the Masai Mara or Sabi Sands, as long as they get their table mountain and V&A selfie to finish off their “Africa” trip album. While this benefits the WC establishments, they are simultaneously also hardest hit by the unsustainable over investment in tourism services driven by the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Whether accomodation (especially BnB/Geusthouses), wheels operators, experiences etc. South Africa completely over invested into the industry in order to supply the rush in 2010. If any good can/does. One out of this current slump, is that it hopefully resets the industry to sustainable levels.
for you personally, I hope you were one of those that was there before 2010, and is still there, sustainably after the reset.
I think it’s fair to assume Freedom Challenge participants are a very different client to your typical weekend warrior, Sani2C, W2W etc etc.
These are tough dudes and duddettes that mostly prefer being 100% self reliant. They are just happy to be there and to make it to the end in one piece. There’s a reason no one is doing the FC to raise “awareness” for XYZ cause, or riding in a CHOC cow suite, or expecting any kind of “recognition” beyond a polyester finishers blanket. They don’t expect manicured trails, overstocked fuelling stations catering for every variant of special dietary requirement, and a gender inclusive ablution arrangements. They would be happy to accept any concession the orginser needs to make in order to allow the event to take place, and would actually probably be happy to pay more, for even less support, just to say they rode the fully unsupported FC. (I admit this is somewhat of a generalisation, but I don’t think I’m far from the truth.)
in contrast,the typical S2C or W2W rider is going to write a strongly worded review on the vents FB page, as well as Hello Peter and the huisgenoot, if the water pressure in the communal shower isn’t quite up to standard, never mind the Temperature of said water. Also, their better be a representative selection of vegan+Banting+halaal/Kosher, high protein, low carb snack options at the midday feed stop, as well as a suitable sugar free, gender neutral energy drink a every checkpoint, and a grass fed organic recovery shake at the bar at each overnight stop, to enjoy while having your post (65km, fully supported) days ride.
Every single finishers blanket owner deserves a modicum of respect as a human being. 95% of the finishers medals holders of every one of the regular mass participation events is an entitled prick, riding on a fully paid entry sponsored by the company they are only loyal to until a better offer comes along. (Again, somewhat of a genrilisation, but also largely actuate)
Wait till 24 hours before had, before being so sure. Like mentioned above, the final legislative sign off only happens a day or two before the event if your lucky. I do hope for the competitors sake the event goes ahead, but even more so for the organisers. Ecobound is a case in point here. They are a small business that is 100% sustained by running of 2 events a year, the Transbavians and 2Hell&Back. Neither have taken place now for 2 years. They got a lot of flack for opening entries for 2022 before having run the postponed 2020 event. I understand the reasoning behind doing this, because they needed to secure business for the future, amd could not have anticipated the duration of these restrictions. If this upcoming event is cancelled, there is serious trouble, and a family business, and at least a dozen full time people’s livelihoods is essentially stuffed.
All those suggestions I can see are coming from a good/thoughtful place, but these all have real cost implications, and are in reality a lot less feasible than they seem on the outset. Add to that, the riders won’t be happy either way. There will either be too many or too few water points, the additional water points will either be understocked, or at the wrong distance or something. Especially for events with a reasonable heritage. I’d suddenly there isn’t a support station at the top of Mother, because there is now one at the start, and one after the descend, in order to spread them, everyone will be unhappy.
also, how do you decide where/how to space the additional water point? You can have 50% more water points, but everyone is still only going to require support at specific intervals. So the extra points will end up being oversupplied, and under-utilised, while the normal intervals will remain overrun, and then there will be that one event the authorities choose to make an example of, and cancel mid event, because the 38km water point 2 is overcrowded. It’s an impossible balancing act.
As mentioned above, different local authorities, different measuring sticks, different risk profiles. Impossible to say because a 1day event in one municipality can go ahead, a different, multi day event spread across various municipalities is canceled, there is something malicious going on.
Pursuit challenge is a good concept thought up to get around some of the current regulations, and it works because it is the best current compromise. It doesn’t give sponsors the exposure/interaction they want out of events, and is not long term sustainable.
Everyone thinks this is a great idea, until a mechanical or injury happens in the middle of two support stations, or even worse a rider hits the wall in but f@rk no where, and there is no backup/medic/shuttle 5min away. Like I said, Freedom Challenge/Munga etc participants are a different type. Normal paying pax are happy with everything until something goes pear shaped, then everything is the person you paid your entry fees to’s fault
That said, I do like this thinking. I think we definately need more of this kind of approach. Not nescisarilly as an “event” or “race”, but rather more as an opening of access to rights to roam, like is seen in many other countries, and a set of recognised overnight establishments and catering options. Something along the lines of a Camino in Europe, but modified to suite local conditions.
So something like permission for access across private property (required because of our lack of suitable public land and non existence of public “rights to roam”), but only to registered riders/walkers/runners etc who have been issued with a route “passport” to be stamped/checked at certain points along the route. A group of accomodation owners/operators choosing to collaborate on a fixed range of accomodation prices, a fixed price late lunch/dinner offering etc to registered trail users. Anyone who has ever done a European Camino pilgrimage (the proper way) would understand this concept. We have the so called MTB Camino in the western cape, but this is essentially just an unguided tour with a bunch of pre-book campsites along the way. Instead of events, we need regional tourism bodies to work out MTB “pilgrim” offers/plans. Imagine being able to take on @ 300-1000km ride, with a standardised basic Accommodation tariff, and a fixed cost daily lunch/dinner offering. I would do one these type trips once a month. I don’t want to carry tents etc and be self sufficient like on the MTB Camino, and camp night in night out. But a basic bed somewhere between a good backpackers and a reasonable 3 star bnb, a reasonable fixed price dinner and a carafe of wine, and authorised access on trails across private and public property, instead of just riding public access gravel roads. That is something I, and I believe many others, would happily pay R550-R700 a night for. This would provide a reasonable income stream for rural Accomodation/restuarant owners, and a decent value offering to riders, while maintaining control through a permit/passport program - actually I think this concept justifies a new thread all on it’d own….. maybe tomorrow.
Agreed, more people Medco just go out amd do things, whiteout relying on an events company t organise it for them, the entire industry benefits from this. On the flip side, the South African scenario and our lack of free passage/right to roam does limo this much beyond gravel bike type trips. But yes, more people should be doing mor of this.
As mentioned above. If they actually get the permit signed off and go ahead good for them. I hope they can manage the risk effectively. If the plug is pulled a few days ahead of time, I hope the participants accept the risk they took when they paid their entry, and everyone can come to a happy conclusion.
Addressed in the first few paragraphs. The only way you can make a statement like this is if you completely have no understanding of the industry.
That said, events companies/organisers need to start thinking creatively about their next phase/business strategy. Events like we know them are dead for another 24months at least in SA. Th rest of the world is opening up. But we have to accept the limitations our elected government have put on us. I’m attending eurobike in 3 weeks time, amd it’s looking to be the sam kind of event it was in 2019. Buts in Europe, with major vaccine rollout in place, protocols being adhere to, and poeple like us, owing from the third world, having to adhere to strict protocols in order to attend.
a hotel in Zurich is getting about 600 bedniights sold, to vaccinate South Africans, just do a small number of us can attend the show in Spain. The unvaxxed are being left behind. I’m only vaccinated because I was lucky/gifted enough to spend enough time outside of SA to get myself vaccinated in a country that functions.
before any normality returns to the South African realm, we need to reach 65% vaccination minimum. Before then, nothing much will change from the status quo. If you enter for an event in SA today, you need to accept the risk. But if you want there to still be similar events in 3 years time, yo need to support the guys trying to keep the industry alive noW, risk and all.
