confusion regarding Triathlon organisers

[Spectrumsport]

we have received a lot of calls finding out if the organisers for the Prestige Olympic/Sprint Event this weekend are the same as the organisers of the Midmar ultra held last weekend, I would like to put your minds at ease that the organisers are NOT the same and would like to assure you all that the quality of the race this weekend will be on par with the quality of all our other races.

 

Due to the major shortage of triathlon events around the JHB area we have taken it upon ourselves to create the opportunity for all the multisport folks out there to come and experience some quality races, so if you are just starting out or are seasoned triathletes please come and enjoy the day with us.

 

one last thought i would like to leave you with is that sponsors of events have nothing to do with the organisation of races so they should not be given the blame in the event of things going wrong during a race, if it wasnt for the kind sponsors putting up the money for these events it would not be possible to host half the races we have on our calender

Edited March 10, 2011 by Spectrumsport

[B-Active Sports]

In regard to the above announcement, the following statement is released by B-Active Sports the Organisers of the Midlands Ultra Triathlon:

 

We sincerely apologise for the problems our competitors encountered and we unfortunately did not plan for a day with heat near 38deg. We accept full responsibility for the problems on the running route and we have already planned for better water table management for the 2012 event so that these issues are addressed as our top priority.

 

Although we cannot change what happened, we apologize for these problems and you can be assured that we take your feedback and everyone else’s extremely seriously.

 

We are looking at changing the run route to exclude the “grass” section in 2012. We did the grass section to alleviate a 2 way congestion with runners in both directions as well as cars and boats. As was the case in the DUEL in 2006, However we might have no choice but to resort back to this route and try and minimize the traffic inside Midmar. (easier said than done) The Grass section is acceptable as ITU rules don’t stipulate the running surface. However as mentioned we will be reviewing the run route.

 

We will be meeting with the department of Transport to discuss possible road closures. We have been pushing for this for 3 years with the Police, but to no avail. We hope to get partial road closure on some of the route, which will minimize the congestion and traffic. We will be looking to take the cyclists past the dam wall and will try make the cycle route safer for all. We will also be speaking to Midmar Dam to include our athletes entrance costs in their entry fees.

 

These events are never easy to organise and with the heat throwing us a curveball didn’t help. We have already made provisions to manage the water tables in a different way in 2012. We have noted the athletes concerns and with temperatures at 38deg at 12:30pm, there was going to be a water issue no matter what. We had made 10 000 water sachets available on the run route (double what we had in 2011) , approx 18 per Ultra athlete (3.6ltrs each). We then also had 360lts of Coke on route, enough for each athletes to have 650mls during his race. We then also had Bar Ones and bananas at each water point. We however had not banked on people using the water sachets to cool themselves down due to the excessive heat. This cut our water sachet numbers per person down drastically and lead to a shortage on route. We implemented our backup plan and had 60 x 5lt water bottles distributed to the 4 water tables as soon as possible, with a further 300lts being delivered another 30min later. We managed to correct the problems on route within 35 minutes and had the situation under control until the 3:30pm cutoff.

 

We sincerely apologise for this problem. Our planning for the event was comprehensive and we strive to make our events the best they can be. Problems like this can and do occur and we can only take heed of them and plan better for future events.

 

Yours sincerly

 

Damian Bradley

Race Director

 

If you have further queries, please email me: damian@bactive.biz

Edited March 17, 2011 by Damo