[Event] MTN NATIONAL MTB SERIES #1 Dullstroom

[rouxtjie]

you don't have to wait any longer.

 

I will do it for them.

 

Sorry we made a mess of it. Sorry about the water and sorry that everybody was on the same trail at the end.

We will improve from here. Please bring your money for the next race. Thanks Nissan/ mtn.

 

same with last year at VG. My wife entered for the 20km. When I got back from the 40km, there she was still waiting to start. 35 in the shade. She sadly did not start because it was way to hot then. Thanks for the money, come again

 

Lucky for us magalies monster is the same date as rooiberg. I will be at magalies

No brainer...no brainer :thumbup:

 

Even though its a tough race...they have it waxed.

[rouxtjie]

It will feel just like a MTN/Nissan race - no water at the waterpoints

hahahahha but at least you have a good party to show for your "droogies"

[jcza]

Press Release - MTN Dullstroom

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

soz

wont happen again

see you in Sabie

LOL

x

[Lexx]

Hey, Maybe the Report is classified under Information secrecy bill!!

Advendurance, do you have Showerhead on speed-dial...

[flat29]

I fixed it

[MuddyMike]

Really dissapointed at the lack of response..... oh well, lets see if Route 66 gets it right this weekend. Who's there for the 3 days?

[Clinton - theCOW]

but use a half bottle in the 2nd cage position that's all that fits on my bike...... which is still dirty Just sprayed it down that's all. Pic before wash down.......

 

Camelbak make a 610ml bottle, it's only 100ml extra, else do a seat post mount?

 

610ml fits on my lil lady's bikes

[Thug]

It will feel just like a MTN/Nissan race - no water at the waterpoints

 

There might not be any water at the WP's at SS championships but I can guarantee you that there will be beer and possibly other liquid refreshment

[TALUS]

Well that was nicely cleared up.... Will have to look for a few alternative races now. Actually I will just go and ride Hakahana on those days - at least they want us there!

[Traverse]

You get the moaners and complainers, and then you get the guys that actually do it for the fun. Every time I get to a hill I can hear somebody complaining. Get fitter or get off! I stopped at nature's best water point and filled my bottle with the best water I ever drank before. I first thought it was a huge crash with all the bikes lying on the ground, people washing their faces, very cool place. It was an awesome race for me and you can count me in for next year!

[Newboy]

You get the moaners and complainers, and then you get the guys that actually do it for the fun. Every time I get to a hill I can hear somebody complaining. Get fitter or get off! I stopped at nature's best water point and filled my bottle with the best water I ever drank before. I first thought it was a huge crash with all the bikes lying on the ground, people washing their faces, very cool place. It was an awesome race for me and you can count me in for next year!

 

Well I am glad you enjoyed it. I am one of the "moaners and complainers". Strangely enough I also do it for the fun. The difference is for me it is a lot more fun when it is well organized and I don't have to worry that there will be no water or USN at the water points or that I might ride over somebody on the single track. When there is no water points and I have to make my own way with water, I call it a training ride.

 

 

[Fritz Pienaar]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the feedback. We are in the process of communicating to all the riders to apologise for the mishaps and explain some of the issues, so you should be getting the below message quite soon, with some more detail on photos, results etc.

 

 

 

Thank you for participating in the MTN National MTB Dullstroom, driven by Nissan event #1 on Saturday. We are very thankful for the great support and our participation numbers completely exceeded our expectation.

 

 

 

There were some challenges that accompanied the great numbers, so I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the participants that were affected by this and assure you that you have my commitment to sort out these issues before the next event. I would like to elaborate on a couple of points:

 

 

 

Water points:

 

The nature of the route forced us to place water points at remote locations without easy access to running water, but we allocated huge quantities of food and drinks to the water points and it should have been sufficient in our experience. The muddy conditions, high participation numbers and warm weather put the water points under pressure, and some points ran out during the event. The water point personnel reported that the water was not only used for consumption, but many riders also washed their faces and bicycle chains, which amplified the problem.

 

 

I assure you that we will increase quantities at the upcoming events to prevent the same problems.

 

 

 

Congestion on route:

 

We pride ourselves in offering you great routes and we go out of our way to avoid congestion on route, so it is especially disappointing if we don't get this right. We expected between 1000 and 1500 participants at Dullstroom and was confident that the routes could handle the load, but there was a massive influx of last minute entries which bought the total to over 2500 entries.

 

We will definitely split this event over 2 days next year, which will resolve this issue.

 

 

 

Medals

 

Advendurance started an initiative with Qhubeka, where we give riders the option to donate their medals to the charity, which will use the funds to empower communities with bicycles. Your response to this initiative was great and we had over 50% of you donate your medals to Qhubeka, which means that we will donate R15 000 from this event to them. We had 1200 medals, which should have been sufficient, but we had many riders who still took medals, event after they opted to donate the money and some of you therefore did not get medals. I believe it is a great campaign and we will therefore keep doing it, but we will orders more medals to have some reserve and improve our control at the finish.

 

 

 

Results:

 

We started using a new timing service provider in 2014 and we are really excited about working with them, because they offer amazing technology like live timing and sms updates. This was however their first event with us and we experienced some teething problems. LiveTime did capture the results and it is available on www.livetime.co.za, so please visit the site and let them know if there are any issues?

 

 

 

 

We really liked the amazing scenery and route options in Dullstroom and believe that this will grow into one of the best events on the MTB calendar. Thank you for your continued support and we hope to offer you many world class events going forward.

 

Kind regards,

Fritz Pienaar

[Rudi Pollard]

Thanks for the feedback Fritz,

 

Just one point regarding the numbers. It sounds like all your planning was done for 1000-1500 riders. Why not place a cap on the number of entries if you know any more would cause havoc like this? Most of the problems was caused because you planned for a lot less people than actually entered.

 

I loved the route by the way. Some proper mountainbiking!!!

[Fritz Pienaar]

Just one point regarding the numbers. It sounds like all your planning was done for 1000-1500 riders. Why not place a cap on the number of entries if you know any more would cause havoc like this? Most of the problems was caused because you planned for a lot less people than actually entered.

 

I loved the route by the way. Some proper mountainbiking!!!

We did not anticipate the numbers and was initially hoping for 1000 riders, so we advertised that entries would stay open and even advertised late entries. Some guys plan their weekend and arrange accommodation etc before they actually enter the race, so we did not want to cap it at a late stage. We will close entries earlier next year and split it over 2 days, which will eliminate 90% of the issues.

[Thug]

Thanks for your response Fritz.

 

I do agree that you "undercatered" at the Waterpoints, however, with the experienced gained from running the National series and the Nissan series in Gauteng, you should have been more prepared for any late influx of entries.

 

Do the CSA Race Commissars get involved in overseeing the standards of the route and water points at the events or is that left up to the organisers?

 

Something which is beyond your scope and should be more directed at CSA, why was there no one checking licences at registration? Don't CSA claim their R35 from yourselves for those day licence entrants? How do they work that amount out if there was no representation at the event?

 

At Attakwas three weeks ago, a rider had to show his CSA licence or pay their R35 before they could register for the race.

[Watcher]

Thanks for the feedback Fritz, and I would be first to congratulate you guys as you do put on some awesome events. Routes, trails, markings etc were 1st class, considering the numbers

BUT, if you can get it right at Trailseeker events (with similar numbers) then you should be able to do even better at a national event,

From what we experienced:

Pros:

• Good routes
  
• awesome trails
  
• There are no arguments about the two points above
  
• Lekker venue (apart from parking plenty km from the actual race venue - *** idea !!!)
  

Cons

• Registration was a mission, took for ages. they weren't ready for us also NO goody bags & NO SOCKS
  
• Timing & results sucks - not even accurate yet to date & not on SASeeding yet ??
  
• water a problem as highlighted & addressed
  
• congestion at the final km's
  

I'm sure the okes will add more, Cmon Fritz, I know you guys can do better! apart from the actual routes, you did it better with the final trailseekers last year even!