Race Organisers - I Hate You!!!!

[Skubarra]

Poor students aside....what about high school learners?

They are totally dependent on their parents and pocket money!! This is where our next Burry Stander will come from....and judging by the local talent heer in Stellenbosch & Somerset west...it will not take long.

 

How do one grow this great MTB sport if the excessive enry fees starts to inhibit entries?

 

 

 

I don't see how entry fees in the region of R100 can be blamed for inhibiting entrants when the bicycle and extras you need are costing R1000's. If your parents can sponsor your bike they should be able to afford the entry fee.

 

I also will never get why MTB'ers are happy to spend R1000's on their equipment but then get anal about a R100 entry fee or R20 permit. Maybe it's because I wasn't part of the good old days of cheap entries but I will happily pay the current going rate for a well organised funride/race.

[Cassie]

I don't see how entry fees in the region of R100 can be blamed for inhibiting entrants when the bicycle and extras you need are costing R1000's. If your parents can sponsor your bike they should be able to afford the entry fee.

 

I also will never get why MTB'ers are happy to spend R1000's on their equipment but then get anal about a R100 entry fee or R20 permit. Maybe it's because I wasn't part of the good old days of cheap entries but I will happily pay the current going rate for a well organised funride/race.

 

Skubarra...I see you are new here...do a search on TheHub and see what some arguements are i.t.o. what it costs a family of 3 -5 to participate in an event. My point is...the more participants - the cheaper it "should" be getting... even for the race organisers to make a bit of a profit...not to retire after one succesful event!

 

Personally, I've scaled down to 1 or 2 nioce events per year whereas in the past i did almost evry possible ride...I've used the money i "saved" subscribe to groups /clubs where I can ride al year round to my heart's contenet (I'm a member of two clubs at a cost of ~R700)...

[Zac.A]

Doctor Evil, (route planner+organizer of the epic, Kevin Evans' dad) gets a ridiculous amount of money for his part in the Epic,

Yes, what he does is amazing, but i think it's R40mil!!

[Mojoman]

Doctor Evil, (route planner+organizer of the epic, Kevin Evans' dad) gets a ridiculous amount of money for his part in the Epic,

Yes, what he does is amazing, but i think it's R40mil!!

R40 million?

[Benjamin]

Skubarra...I see you are new here...do a search on TheHub and see what some arguements are i.t.o. what it costs a family of 3 -5 to participate in an event. My point is...the more participants - the cheaper it "should" be getting... even for the race organisers to make a bit of a profit...not to retire after one succesful event!

 

Personally, I've scaled down to 1 or 2 nioce events per year whereas in the past i did almost evry possible ride...I've used the money i "saved" subscribe to groups /clubs where I can ride al year round to my heart's contenet (I'm a member of two clubs at a cost of ~R700)...

I pay for a family of 5 so I know. Bank on all in 1k per good race, incl entry fees , petrol, spares, juice, lunch and a beer. Not complaining, my family loves it and I love them loving it, but just means we don't do every race. Some I'll go to on my own and some we just bypass altogether. All about supply and demand and as customers of the events we choose which we want to do. No beef with the race that charges more, I look at what it offers then decide. All good.

[reteid]

maybe 40 milion swearwords along the way.where does this R40 M come from.

[Zac.A]

I could be wrong, but the amount was exorbitant, I believe it was from advertising, entry fees and sponsorships.

[rudi-h]

This is a joke. Money is relative and its always easy to say that "that person earns too much"... When last have you compared your salary (or pocket money) in this case to others on a objective basis???

 

Shocking I tell you, even if you think you're poor, just by having internet access and a bike (to be able to belong to the hub) you are probably in the top 5% in SA. And still you point fingers at race organizers that also want to have a decent life.

 

Bottom line is that everybody in the world wants a nice house, a car and 3 weeks of holiday in December next to the coast, so if you can find a way to do that and people are willing to pay you, that's just how life works. (not that I'm saying race organizers have that type of lifestyle, just a general comment)

 

I agree to promoting young talent and wouldn't mind if some of my entry fee is used to sponsor entries for serious and talented kids who's parents cannot afford it, but for a student (whom will likely earn in the top 2% of society in a few years) riding on recreational level i don't really get the point of "sponsoring" them.

 

I didn't even have a bike when I was at varsity, so don't know why its such a big "setback" if you cant compete in a race every month.

[udxcob]

Doctor Evil, (route planner+organizer of the epic, Kevin Evans' dad) gets a ridiculous amount of money for his part in the Epic,

Yes, what he does is amazing, but i think it's R40mil!!

Careful Zac.A you are going to be lambasted for that one, get the facts first

[cat-i]

However, with the fees going higher and higher each time, they are doing the sport more harm than anything else.

can't see much harm if singletrack is congested because events are filled up to capacity and then some?

 

I worry when I read in Bicycling Magazines that organisers treat Races like businesses - they have to show profit.

why not?

would you be willing to spend a few weekends scouting & organising a race, and then go home with a loss or a break-even if you're lucky?

 

I am most concerned that Cycling will go the same route as Motorsport in this country - supported by a very few with very few competitors.

i used to ride tar till it got too congested on the road. then i switched to mountainbike because it was way more fun ... until the tracks got congested. then i discovered trailrunning ... and now events seem oversubscribed ... so i dabbled a bit in adventure racing, which would have been the answer ... was it not for the sleep deprivation

 

with the speed at which events sell out, and the numbers participating, i dont see cycling going downhill very quickly ... except maybe downhill, which is not a bad thing at all

 

I feel that the entry fees should attract competitors

due to the nature of the sport, it's much more fun riding a non-crowded event. I'm not attracted to oversubscribed events and queuing for singletrack.

Edited August 2, 2011 by cat-i

[pastapouch]

cost of race = venue + ambulances + traffic + road closures + charity + water points + medals + prices + [please fill others here so we can show the people here what goes into a race..... ]

[TNT1]

cost of race = venue + ambulances + traffic + road closures + charity + water points + medals + prices + [please fill others here so we can show the people here what goes into a race..... ]

 

+the cost of paying the various municipalities and traffic officers. And for a race like ours, we go through 4 different municipalities, and they each want their cut.

[Cassie]

+the cost of paying the various municipalities and traffic officers. And for a race like ours, we go through 4 different municipalities, and they each want their cut.

 

+ marshalls + Timekeepers (racetec) + Course designer + Marquee tents + fencing etc for start/finish + as you can see the re is a heck of a lot of "small" items that all ads up ....+ profit margin

 

BUT this is still not a justification for (1) poor service (2) exuberant fees!!

[AndreZA]

cost of race = venue + ambulances + traffic + road closures + charity + water points + medals + prices + [please fill others here so we can show the people here what goes into a race..... ]

 

 

+the cost of paying the various municipalities and traffic officers. And for a race like ours, we go through 4 different municipalities, and they each want their cut.

 

 

+ marshalls + Timekeepers (racetec) + Course designer + Marquee tents + fencing etc for start/finish + as you can see the re is a heck of a lot of "small" items that all ads up ....+ profit margin

 

BUT this is still not a justification for (1) poor service (2) exuberant fees!!

 

 

So what are the sponsor's money used for?

[Kranswurm]

So what are the sponsor's money used for?

 

To pay for all that...

[Eldron]

Personally I think it alls comes down to value.

 

I'd rather pay R300 for a race where the course is perfectly marked, parking my car is easy, the course goes through some nature reserves/private farms with good views, theres an ice cold beer/energade/water waiting for me at the finish etc. than R100 for a race where I get lost on the course, have to park my car in an overgrown veld and the course is no more than a glorified quad bike route.

 

I'd rather do half as many great races at double the price a year than double the amount of *** oners at half the price.

 

Thats why I value all these rate the race style websites. I use them to taregt races that sound good.

 

Give me value not low prices and I'm happy.