Gentlemen, if I may have an opportunity to respond to your inaccurate and grossly insulting comments. Let's start at the start. The reason that prize winners at cycling events receive an 'envelope with a letter', and not cash, is very simply security. Having the amount of prize money in envelopes on the day poses a high risk, and we are not prepared to entertain that. Running events generally have lower prize money (and entry fee) therefore the risk is relatively lower. However, in the running events that we are involved in, we have instituted the same procedure. Secondly, the race organiser, in both the Fast One and Cycle Challenge (94.7) does NOT pay the prize money. In the case of the Fast One, Riverside Rotary (a group of volunteers) pays this money directly to prize winners. In the case of Cycle Challenge, this is paid out directly by the sponsor - as they control the event budget. In both cases, this is not their core business, and there are many checks and balances in place before the money can be transferred. Again, from an event budget. Furthermore, the ludicrous suggestion that event organisers and/or sponsors sit on the prize money to earn interest shows a complete lack of understanding of the business and the budgets involved. It does help too, then, that ALL the CORRECT bank details are supplied to the entity that is making the transfers. I find the slander and name calling of these volunteers, professionals and sponsors quite unnecessary, and undignified. It casts an extremely poor reflection on the cycling community, of which I am embarrassed to say I am am a part of. Because of doping issues and the non-repayment of monies from perpetrators, the suggestion from CSA is that prize money is held onto for four to six months after an event. Roads cannot be closed and commandeered week in and week out, and we need to understand this. We, as organisers do what we can in order to put the safest possible events on, given the greater considerations of living in one of the busiest cities in the world, with no public transport infrastructure. In closing, insults and ignorant comments go no where to improving the service. In this climate, sponsors are few and far between and unfortunately, without sponsors, we don't have events. While we welcome your constructive comments and suggestions, this may be best done by engaging with each event organiser instead of creating a negative and inaccurate culture of feedback. We have many people who do chose to interact with us in this way, and many changes have come about through this positive interaction.
