jcza Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Wonder how much was spent on the organisation so far. Launch in Hype Park was a 5 star affair and the advertising must have cost a fortune. rouxtjie 1
GLuvsMtb Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Hopefully the truth will out regarding: - if the prize money was in fact guaranteed and if there were suspensive clauses (such as procurement of x hours of TV coverage, minimum entries etc.) - if the quoted number of entries (100 plus by some accounts) were in fact confirmed. The reputational damage to SA event orginisers will make it even more difficult to launch new events and grow the sport. The question is how do the industry go about interrogating the event orginiser to ensure that his public statements were accurate? walkerr, Pure Savage and Pants Boy 3
jcza Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 ...........The question is how do the industry go about interrogating the event orginiser to ensure that his public statements were accurate? Easy.....get the man a login for the hub and you'll have answers by close of business today ChUkKy 1
Shebeen Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 What a monumental f-up!!! was really excited to watch this one from the sidelines. NOW I would really love to know: how they going to deal with this? what happened to all the claims 'this is definitely going to happen' ? the lawyers letter sent out saying the prize money was already in trust ? That was a piss poor attempt at a press release imo... who pulled out? Name and shame. I actually feel really sorry for Mr. Harris... can't be nice situation to be in with all the hype. Hope he has a serious PR team in place for this one...um ja, exactly. but Alex has pushed the boundaries on what he does as his 'job' before and how he funds it. He's unique and successful at it, so this made some sort of sense in a weird way. He made his bed with all the hype and now needs to face up to the music or lose credibility. I'm pretty sure one of my first queries was about the actual route. Only releasing it the day before got me suspicious, all they really had was some swish powerpoints. Pants Boy and Andrew Steer 2
Skubarra Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Entry change to R60/70k (people will pay this for braggin rights), and adjust the prize money accordingly - would still be off the charts big $$$ as far as Mtb goes! In it's current guise they will never get rider confidence back imho Remember officially the entry charges weren't supposed to cover the prize money. So I think the entry fee can be as low as R40K - R50K per team to cover costs and a little profit. Get a headline sponsor for the prize money. And drop that stupid lucky draw idea, the race&route should be drawcard enough on its own, this is not a stokvel with a race attached to it. And once you got the numbers you can hike the entry fee & prize money accordingly, seems Harris were trying to do it the other way around.
Lurch the stalker Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Cool, now I can try and find a benefactor to sponsor my entry for when it happens, and I have some time to train Makes two of us...
GreatGusto Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 This reminds me of when one of my mates tried to produce his own reality show called "The Model Millions" on SABC3. They got 2 episodes in and sponsor pulled out, show collapsed. Never got it back up again.
Andrew Steer Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 um ja, exactly. but Alex has pushed the boundaries on what he does as his 'job' before and how he funds it. He's unique and successful at it, so this made some sort of sense in a weird way. He made his bed with all the hype and now needs to face up to the music or lose credibility. I'm pretty sure one of my first queries was about the actual route. Only releasing it the day before got me suspicious, all they really had was some swish powerpoints.The event never really subscribed to the laws of your basic mtb model as it had a billionaire backer, and that sort of money can quite frankly turn any dream into a reality. The problem now of course is that backer is no longer there for whatever reason/s Alex Harris is a man with big ideas and he has accomplished more on and off the bike than many of us could ever even dream too - I hope he can get this baby back off the ground PS: The the "I told you so" brigade - the noddy badges are in the post Headshot, nonky, Tumbleweed and 1 other 4
jcza Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 The event never really subscribed to the laws of your basic mtb model as it had a billionaire backer, and that sort of money can quite frankly turn any dream into a reality. The problem now of course is that backer is no longer there for whatever reason/s Alex Harris is a man with big ideas and he has accomplished more on and off the bike than many of us could ever even dream too - I hope he can get this baby back off the ground PS: The the "I told you so" brigade - the noddy badges are in the post Maybe go more Freedom Challenge & less Hollywood? fanievb, Tumbleweed, Godzilla and 2 others 5
Nayr Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 The event never really subscribed to the laws of your basic mtb model as it had a billionaire backer, and that sort of money can quite frankly turn any dream into a reality. The problem now of course is that backer is no longer there for whatever reason/s Alex Harris is a man with big ideas and he has accomplished more on and off the bike than many of us could ever even dream too - I hope he can get this baby back off the ground PS: The the "I told you so" brigade - the noddy badges are in the post Why pull the backing at this late stage, when you have put so much in? there has to be quite a serious reason for it...would love to have been a fly on the wall.
Skubarra Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 The event never really subscribed to the laws of your basic mtb model as it had a billionaire backer, and that sort of money can quite frankly turn any dream into a reality. The problem now of course is that backer is no longer there for whatever reason/s (Andrew - sorry if it appears that I pick on your posts, nothing personal - I will wear my noddy badge with pride ) It would be interesting to know what happened with the whole billionaire backer thing, what was in it for the guy in the first place? If it was a vanity project why did we barely heard of him (if it was the porche guy), if he was hoping to get some return on his investment what went wrong (not enough entries? numbers not adding up?) Would like to hear "Mr Tread's" take on this, he was always enthusiastically punting this race on Twitter, and first with breaking news regarding The Munga until yesterday. Andrew Steer 1
V12man Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 The question is how do the industry go about interrogating the event orginiser to ensure that his public statements were accurate? Wyatt can interview Alex on his radio show.... #justsaying... I am sure Alex will be absolutely gutted by this - but he is not a man who gives up at the first hint of trouble... Bring on next year... nonky, Pants Boy, DIPSLICK and 5 others 8
Wyatt Earp Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Wyatt can interview Alex on his radio show.... #justsaying... I am sure Alex will be absolutely gutted by this - but he is not a man who gives up at the first hint of trouble... Bring on next year...Sounds like a plan, anyone know how I can get hold of him ?
Andrew Steer Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 (Andrew - sorry if it appears that I pick on your posts, nothing personal - I will wear my noddy badge with pride ) It would be interesting to know what happened with the whole billionaire backer thing, what was in it for the guy in the first place? If it was a vanity project why did we barely heard of him (if it was the porche guy), if he was hoping to get some return on his investment what went wrong (not enough entries? numbers not adding up?) Would like to hear "Mr Tread's" take on this, he was always enthusiastically punting this race on Twitter, and first with breaking news regarding The Munga until yesterday. Michael and Alex are friends (well hopefully still are) - it was Alex's dream, and he wanted people to recognise some of the less flashier names out there, who are just as tough (if not tougher) than the Sauser's and Platt's of this world. The money would pull in everyone, would give credence to the title of the Toughest race on earth. While a physical race, it would also push the mental boundaries of riders beyond anything they had ever imagined. I mean come one, I'd give my left nut (excuse the pun) to watch Sauser, Platt, Armstrong, English, Juarez, Dreyer etc killing each other on their bikes after 800km's of racing It's still an awesome idea in my view, the sums just need to be ammended nonky 1
Wyatt Earp Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Michael and Alex are friends (well hopefully still are) - it was Alex's dream, and he wanted people to recognise some of the less flashier names out there, who are just as tough (if not tougher) than the Sauser's and Platt's of this world. The money would pull in everyone, would give credence to the title of the Toughest race on earth. While a physical race, it would also push the mental boundaries of riders beyond anything they had ever imagined. I mean come one, I'd give my left nut (excuse the pun) to watch Sauser, Platt, Armstrong, English, Juarez, Dreyer etc killing each other on their bikes after 800km's of racing It's still an awesome idea in my view, the sums just need to be ammended I doubt Sauser and Platt will still be giving Juarez a hard time after 800 k's.
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