Who's Doing the USN Race - Red Barn Saturday.

[Mike Bike]

having read the email they sent this morning...my feeling are its crap. I got the full race distance of 44kms. now they gonna apply my time to 30kms and do some calcs..bollocks

[ChUkKy]

**** happens . My 50 also turned into a 30 but its over now and I hope the next one will be better . Just feel sorry for the people who raced for position . I think they must just crap the results and we can all move on , and please don't waste my time by trying to refund me R50 or whatever .

 

Agreed, they should give the 50km riders an entry into the next 50 kay Red Barn race for R30.

That for me would feel fair

 

Not some crap about measuring average speed to get a result

[kevin Walter]

I'm pretty much finished with these races, nissan trail seeker at cullinan was *** too... The routes are very average which makes you focus on trying to get a good time but then the distance are always at least 10km shorter or longer than you bargained for...

 

I did the magalies monster and that was properly organised on a way more beautiful route too! Doing vori berg this weekend in the hopes that it will be similar...

[Mats]

why dont we all send the race organisers a email about the quality of the race and results.

If it has a paper trail they will have to attend to it.

[jcza]

Shambles probably due to the fact that in order to add distance route zig zagged too much. Why did we not get to do the sweet single track on the red barn side? Was really looking forward to that section.

[Ramrod]

Carpet for President!

[ChUkKy]

Shambles probably due to the fact that in order to add distance route zig zagged too much. Why did we not get to do the sweet single track on the red barn side? Was really looking forward to that section.

 

I liked the route, but if I have to compare it to the previous one it was total crap!

[Wyatt Earp]

Races that end up like this should have no results and no prize giving.

[ChUkKy]

Races that end up like this should have no results and no prize giving.

 

Agreed... they should just have beer giving at the end with an apology

[Gavmeister]

An e-mail from Velocourse:

 

Hi Guys and Gals

 

Thanks for participating in the race we held at The Big Red Barn. It was great having you there amongst the many participants on the day.

 

It is unfortunate that there was a group of riders who, through confusion, took a wrong turn and ended up cutting kilometers off the route of the day. As organisers we were immensely concerned about this as it is a reflection on the quality of the course markings and the pride we take in ensuring these respective markings are correctly applied and well sighted.

 

The rules pertaining to a situation such as this are clear. It is incumbent on the MTB rider to ensure that they follow the course correctly and that in the event of mistakenly taking an incorrect route, he or she is disqualified from the race. We at Velocourse feel that in this instance there is merit in opting for a different solution as the enjoyment of such a race lies in the result and obtaining of a time that can enhance your future seeding as well as establishing whether you are improving in your own performance.

 

In the spirit of ensuring that we try and achieve the above, we have in consultation with the Commissaries on the day agreed not to disqualify any rider and to give them a time based on the average speed that was achieved by each rider (based on 30kms ridden) and then to apply this to the balance of the race that should have been ridden which totals 13 km. (the Commissaries would like to shorten the remaining distance to ensure that the process is fair for all) This will give every rider an official time that will be used for log and seeding purposes.

 

We are grateful to both the riders and the Commissaries for their understanding of the situation and look forward to seeing you at the next event. Category winners will be finalized and prizes will be delivered within the next two weeks. Please forward any further queries to info@velocourse.co.za.

 

Cheers for now

Velocourse.

[Scalpel]

Just to put some perspective on this. USN is the title sponsor. They do not organise the event. Same as the Nissan events. Nissan is title sponsor and Advendurance the event organisers. We are always quick to blame the organisers when things go wrong yet there are riders out there that will ride over banting to take a shortcut. When you confront them they get aggressive. It only takes on person to do that and all the other sheeple will just follow. This leaving distances in shambles. Race organisers sometimes have limited space to work with safely and routs pass each other closely. I saw some riders crossing the veld from their route to the guys on the way back to the barn allready. Once again when this happens others just follow blindly.

 

Yes the organisers can make mistakes on route marking and distances. Yes the route markings can get stolen. But its not always the organisers fault when things go wrong. We as riders must also adhere to markings and not cross banting where it is placed to direct us in a direction.

 

What will happen when ALL events move over to zero route markings? How will these individuals then follow a route? If you cannot follow and adhere to markings on the route how will you follow a GPS? The great thing about zero marking routes will be the download of your GPS if you complain about distances!!

 

So yes there is always something to complain about but direct your critism to the organisers directly and not slant the sponsors so that the organisers can also learn from it and make sure future events wont have the same issues.

 

my Monday morning 2c!

[Wyatt Earp]

 

 

So yes there is always something to complain about but direct your critism to the organisers directly and not slant the sponsors so that the organisers can also learn from it and make sure future events wont have the same issues.

 

Well said.

[silvertemplar]

Shambles probably due to the fact that in order to add distance route zig zagged too much. Why did we not get to do the sweet single track on the red barn side? Was really looking forward to that section.

 

Yea, definitely this. If i wasn't riding on my own, being forced to stop at a few turn offs and look for markings, i would have skipped alot of sections simply because i saw other riders coming back on a zig-zag . Very close after the 30km/50km split there was definitely a left turnoff part where you had to zig-zag all the way up the slope and then wind down again where the route literally joined back into the original section. I bet my arse alot of people went straight and skipped the entire section, especially if they saw the other rides coming back .

 

Even though i don't use alot of the junk/sample filled goodie bags, i was somewhat disappointed to pay the same price as a Nissan race and not even get a free energy bar or bottle or sample of facial cream ;-). I wrote it off as covering payment for the Red Barn entry fee (i think it is R40 or something?).

 

But yea, as for the results, i personally don't really care as i'm just an average rider and i keep my own time. I can however see alot of people not liking this if they actually DID ride the full distance and suddenly get their last 15kms "averaged".

 

In the bigger schemes of things, i still enjoyed the single tracks, i was actually getting alot of adrenaline rushes going through the sections and i remember 35km literally flew by. I was just surprised how i had so little congestion considering the amount of bridges and drop offs, but i suppose it has to do with the riders skipping entire sections.

Edited August 5, 2013 by silvertemplar

[madmarc]

An e-mail from Velocourse:

 

Hi Guys and Gals

 

Thanks for participating in the race we held at The Big Red Barn. It was great having you there amongst the many participants on the day.

 

It is unfortunate that there was a group of riders who, through confusion, took a wrong turn and ended up cutting kilometers off the route of the day. As organisers we were immensely concerned about this as it is a reflection on the quality of the course markings and the pride we take in ensuring these respective markings are correctly applied and well sighted.

 

The rules pertaining to a situation such as this are clear. It is incumbent on the MTB rider to ensure that they follow the course correctly and that in the event of mistakenly taking an incorrect route, he or she is disqualified from the race. We at Velocourse feel that in this instance there is merit in opting for a different solution as the enjoyment of such a race lies in the result and obtaining of a time that can enhance your future seeding as well as establishing whether you are improving in your own performance.

 

In the spirit of ensuring that we try and achieve the above, we have in consultation with the Commissaries on the day agreed not to disqualify any rider and to give them a time based on the average speed that was achieved by each rider (based on 30kms ridden) and then to apply this to the balance of the race that should have been ridden which totals 13 km. (the Commissaries would like to shorten the remaining distance to ensure that the process is fair for all) This will give every rider an official time that will be used for log and seeding purposes.

 

We are grateful to both the riders and the Commissaries for their understanding of the situation and look forward to seeing you at the next event. Category winners will be finalized and prizes will be delivered within the next two weeks. Please forward any further queries to info@velocourse.co.za.

 

Cheers for now

Velocourse.

 

I've never heard of such crap in my life. How do they expect riders to follow a route that is poorly marked. And why weren't the splits marshaled, anyone with half a brain will forsee problems on a route that turns back on itself and the trails are so close together. If the split points were manned there would have been no problems.

 

They indicate they now doing us a favour by not DQing those who rode short.

 

Is it not also the race comm. job to ensure the route is marked properly as a CSA sanctioned event. Or is his job just to stand at the start and bleat about racing fair and hard and don't litter and look for the splits and how he gonna DQ you if you look at him skeef.

 

I would insist that they DQ all of us who rode short and lets see what turnout they get at the next race.

[LONE TWO]

What a joke. My time isn't on spectrum sports and now sa seeding website isn't working. Looks like this race wont be counted. Come to think of it, those people taking numbers at the finish didn't even call out my number.

 

Apart from that it was an awesome race I enjoyed it

[Wilhelm87]

For me the biggest problem that I eased myself into the race, i was planning on speeding up during the last 20km and taking it very easy in the beginning as I am stugling with hay fever and wasn't sure how this would affect me.

 

If I knew that I would only be doing 32km, i would really have hammered it.

 

The way the organizers are dealing with the matter by suggesting that "riders through confusion took a wrong turn" in their email is not appropriate, there was a problem with the route, I sure as hell wasn't confused, just followed the route..

 

At the end of the race I was hopelessly confused, that would have been true.

 

Things go wrong and responsibility needs to be taken when they do, I'm not happy with this applying your average speed to get a 50km result junk.

 

I didn't do 50km so don't give me a 50km result. In fact please take away my 32km result!

 

Responsibility needs to be taken, I would like a refund please, or a free 50km entry.

 

Thanks for a 32km long joy ride............