JUMA Rant - Show me the money

[nolipoli]

I think that the organizers should dumb the event down completely for next year. In fact they should maybe remove all the obstacles, and then grade a dirt road up the spruit. Maybe then the masses will be happy.

[Pin-it]

I think that the organizers should dumb the event down completely for next year. In fact they should maybe remove all the obstacles, and then grade a dirt road up the spruit. Maybe then the masses will be happy.

Why stop there? I'm thinking a nice Tarmac strip along the whole spruit!

[nolipoli]

I think (and I am sure I am not alone in this) that if you didn't like it, DON"T DO IT NEXT YEAR.

 

In fact, you will be doing everyone a favour if you don't. It will help with the bottlenecks.

 

I sincerely hope that the organisers don't make it less technical - there is such a shortage of technical races close to JHB that it is really nice for a change.

 

I missed this year due to a shoulder injury, and will be seriously bleak if I enter next year to find it has been turned into a granny ride.

[LeftBhind]

Great race Sunday but:

Rode the spruit this morning. Stopped cleaning up JUMA tape and orange direction markers once my pockets were full. Thought a few had been missed in the clean up of the route. WRONG.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do something about cleaning up the race markers and tape all along the route  before we all get tarred with the cyclists are so special they wont.............. brush.

[goya-goya]

Haha Technical!! You girls don't know what's technical! If you think that's technical... Why not try riding against traffic on the N1. Or ride up and down some stairs with your eyes closed?

 

A flat Road can be technical if you're going fast enough!

 

if you enjoyed it cool. But enough with the fancy pants technical Bull..yawn.

[VicanZA]

I see the hard men of the hub are out in force....

[Spruit trail goblin]

Race entries - approx R2 million (R375 per 52 K - VERY EXPENSIVE)

Hollard sponsorship - R1.5 million 

Other sponsors? who knows how much more these okes milked out of this race

 

Income: minimum R3.5 million

 

Costs:

Prizes - R370,000

Goodie Bags - R0, absolute rubbish

Course build?  The half-baked course design with a few scaffolds (some of which failed early on), but lets be generous, lets say R500,000

Marshalls - these were not marshals, they were people paid to stand (in most cases lie) around looking disinterested, certainly contributing in no way to race flow, pointing out dangers etc etc - minimum wage stuff - prob cost less than R20,000 in total

water tables/refreshments? a DISGRACE - 1 minging water table at 16K, nothing else, not even at the finish - cost? R1000 at the most.  This was the most startling, as you cannot attribute this to a first time race mistake - races always have water/drinks at multiple points.  Even children know this

 

Profit: well over R2 million - lekka business

 

This whole thing was a racket.  The course was designed by amateurs, with unbelievable bottlenecks after the first 3 groups.  Even for a first attempt it was poor.  I saw more injuries in this race than in many other series such Nissan Trailseekers, etc etc over a whole year.

 

Amazed that Hollard put their name on this - pretty cr@ppy marketing if you ask me

 

Lets run through your numbers:

 

Entries not R2m but closer to R1.7m (2000 odd in the cheaper 22km)

Hollard reportedly only R1m, not R1.5m

 

So income only R2.7m, not R3.5m

 

Costs:

Prizes: R370,000 agreed

Goodie bags...agreed, basically ten bucks for a bell

Course Build:If you "are generous at R500,000" try closer to a realistic R1,400,000!

 ask any scaffolding company what they would charge for 450 tonnes of scaffolding? in and out in just a few days?

 Then there is the cost of all the wooden bridges? How many did you ride over?

 What about all the single track hand cut...3km in Melville Koppies, Redbull rollercoaster decent, Grayston forest (Innesfree park), Katherine floating bridge, Sandpruit trail, Outspan trail, bridges along the Braamies Spruit, imported Candock floating bridge over Emmerentia dam

 

Bottom line...no race in the history of South African mtb racing has had so much money injected into the course build...the organisers sold this an as Urban Adventure, not a Mtb Race

 

Marshalls...there were probably close to 150 people...you suggest R20,000. Would you do a days work for R133?

Water tables were sub standard...no excuses there

 

What about advertsing costs? Ironically, the huge advertising drive and internet hype (over R1m?) ultimately lead to the oversubscription of the event and hence the bottlenecks....when did you last hear of a mtb event with 5500 odd entries in its first year?

 

And then there are all the other costs of venune, medics, timing, signage, course marking, announcers, CSA registration, safety, etc

 

Bottom line: probably a loss in the first year?

 

PS: Given they probably spent over a year formulating and working on this project, do you not go to work to earn money?

 

As much as rider was on a learning curve how to ride a storm water drain for the first time, i'm the organisers have learnt alot from their first event...

 

I look forward to riding next years event...

 

My recommendation is that seeding is done on a technical basis, not a racing time...

[Peach.]

Why stop there? I'm thinking a nice Tarmac strip along the whole spruit!

Isn't that the 94.7 road race?

[patches]

 

My recommendation is that seeding is done on a technical basis, not a racing time...

 

The course designer suggested that provincial enduro and downhill results could be taken into consideration in terms of seeding.

 

Just like with SASeeding, certain events would weigh more than others. What that weight distribution would be, I have no idea.

 

But I would hope that even a 3 stage KZN enduro would count more than a 40km Nissan Trailseeker in order to get a middle pack seeding.

 

I can assure you that riding up and down Cascades 3x is far more challenging on ones fitness and obviously technical ability than any Nissan race.

[Guest Omega Man]

Probably true, but what's your point?

My point is there's an ever growing group of people in this country who shout loudest when they are unhappy about the tiniest little thing. Who contribute nothing apart from their entry fee's and think that things just magically appear. Then after the fact they do some pub cost accounting to enhance their view and sprout with great authority on a forum about things they know nothing about. Unfortunately these people typically fit my description posted.

 

They also rather conveniently fall back on "constructive criticism" when called on their moaning.

 

But when they're called on to contribute in a positive fashion...... Silence. Or I pay tax/to ride here/entry fees.

[HollardJUMA]

Great race Sunday but:

Rode the spruit this morning. Stopped cleaning up JUMA tape and orange direction markers once my pockets were full. Thought a few had been missed in the clean up of the route. WRONG.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do something about cleaning up the race markers and tape all along the route  before we all get tarred with the cyclists are so special they wont.............. brush.

 

Hey there, I bumped this up to the organisers and they assured me cleanup is still underway! Crews are working hard. Should be done by the end of the week...

 

--Andy

[Tumbleweed]

Haha Technical!! You girls don't know what's technical! ...yawn.

 

Educate us.

[Peach.]

Educate us.

 

He still has his training wheels on 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Haha Technical!! You girls don't know what's technical! If you think that's technical... Why not try riding against traffic on the N1. Or ride up and down some stairs with your eyes closed?

 

A flat Road can be technical if you're going fast enough!

 

if you enjoyed it cool. But enough with the fancy pants technical Bull..yawn.

It's a MOUNTAIN BIKE race. Technicality is miles higher than being able to stay in a bunch on a road, and that's what they're wanting to keep. Not your ability to hold a straight line at 90kph. That's just stability. 

[nolipoli]

Haha Technical!! You girls don't know what's technical! If you think that's technical... Why not try riding against traffic on the N1. Or ride up and down some stairs with your eyes closed?

 

A flat Road can be technical if you're going fast enough!

 

if you enjoyed it cool. But enough with the fancy pants technical Bull..yawn.

If you are trying to say thatt he JUMA was not technical - that is fine. But try not bring in road cycling as it just detracts from your statement.

 

The point is that this race course was designed to have a little more appeal to those that like to play on a mountain bike rather than your average dirt road riding. They added a lot of features and worked wonders with our limited JHB resources. It would be a real shame if they dumbed this down.

[V12man]

The course designer suggested that provincial enduro and downhill results could be taken into consideration in terms of seeding.

 

Just like with SASeeding, certain events would weigh more than others. What that weight distribution would be, I have no idea.

 

But I would hope that even a 3 stage KZN enduro would count more than a 40km Nissan Trailseeker in order to get a middle pack seeding.

 

I can assure you that riding up and down Cascades 3x is far more challenging on ones fitness and obviously technical ability than any Nissan race.

I wonder if we can't find a way to use Strava for seedings.... just a thought...