sani2c Feedback

[ricochet_rabbit]

The Good.

 

1)The Trails

2)The People

3)Glen Cairn Farm (Registration & Box drop off) - although the briefing should have been in the centre of all the stalls.

4)Upgrades to Jolivet

5)Bike washes were great.

 

 

 

The Bad.

 

1)Some Tents seriously need replacing - if it rained we would have got wet.

2)Sani is considered a premium event, as such dumping premium clothing labels

for unbranded stuff where the stiching is already coming apart after 1 wash was a poor decision.

Rather drop the entry fee and drop the clothing, except maybe for a quality finishers T-shirt/jacket.

Would rather have 1 item of real quality than 3 or 4 items of poor quality. 

3) Get the clothing sizes accurate.

4) an egg option in the morning at jolivet would be nice.

5) kids begging for sweets.

6) The tarmac and long neutral zone at the start of day 1.

 

The most serious of all:

 

The emergency medical response availble seems poor.

Heard of a lady with suspected concussion after a hard fall being asked to walk out (not a few hundred meters) of a valley.

The paramedics were ill equiped (no scoop) to deal with the bloke who broke his back.

Paramedics also seemed under trained to deal with serious injury as I understand they wanted to transport a patient with a suspected broken back over bumpy dirt roads. 

[Brandon P]

5 Favourite Elements:

• The incredible route.
• Farmer Glen's personal attention to detail - The guy is literally seen everywhere around the race villages.
• Impressive race villages.
• General good vibe among riders.
   

5 Worst Elements (having to really dig for some, but if I have to):

• Beggars on route (see suggestion below).
• Unable to change top sizing 3 months prior to race when substituting entry.
• Showers at McKenzie aren't quite on par with the facilities elsewhere.
• More trolleys needed to cart boxes to and from tents.
• Joliviet tent was kaput/broken/buggered and couldn’t zip close.

Suggestions:

• It be written into MTB Rules 'Do not give sweets to locals on route'.
  A rider was nearly knocked off his bike in front of me by kids scrambling from both sides when he reached for his pocket to give them something, myself narrowly dodging the kids. I saw 2 other similar incidents. It's a danger to the kids and the riders plus such begging shouldn't be encouraged among such young kids.
• Last Finish seems to have a little anti-climax with people rummaging for boxes, food, collecting cars, bike wash. Not sure how to improve this other than centralizing things somehow and making a big-deal talking about the 1pm prize giving at next day’s finish the night before at Joliviet. 
• A 5pm registration at Glencairn instead of 3pm which would be better for us Joy’burgers.
  Missed the race briefing, Subaru draw, clover stuff and burgers
   

THANKS for a great MTB event! Thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience!

[sani2c]

Excellent feedback so far guys, please keep the feedback to feedback (as suggested by the thread topic and moderators) there is another thread for discussion of the event.

 

So far the feedback has been very constructive and will no doubt lead to a more enjoyable race in the future. 

 

Please keep the excellent response up.

 

sani2c Team

[Gnarly]

Good

 

Too many to mention

 

Bad

 

1. Bar only opens at 15h00 Jolivet

2. McKenzie showers

3. No beer at the finish

[The Big Bad Norm]

Have done a few Sanis now.

 

Good:

1. Great race villages and food

2. Mckenzie Chill area

3. Mckenzie upgrades to showers (although the quality of work done is terrible)

4. Glen Cairns registration

5. Water points

 

Bad:

1 Clothing sizes and quality. Quality not as good as previous years. Size as usual terrible. the cut off jacket was ok, but the hoodie was far too large

2. Bike wash at Jolivet, we qued for over 40min to get our bikes washed, it was chaos. And then you coudlnt find anywhere to strore your bikes afterwards

3. Day 3 finish parking and organisation was poor, there simply isnt enough parking to cater for everyone.

4.GPS was a waste of time, it kept telling me I was of course, when clearly I wasnt.

5. Clen Cairns registration was poor, no signs visible regarding where you had to stand, and when you get to the front, there is a sign stuck to the table, which you cannot see as it is waste high and all the guys are in front of it.

6. Begging kids, although not sure what can be done about it. I had one or two very large (fat) kids begging for sweets.......clearly they have already had too many!

7. Que for the showers at Mackenzie, we had to wait over 30min to shower. Last year there wasnt any que?

 

I dont know if it was just me, but I did the race, and a lot of the single track was very rutted, and not as smooth as I remember it from the past.

 

The price is getting to expensive now, and the "corporate" feel has crept into a race that I have always wanted to do. I say it every year, but I think next year will be my last.

[nonky]

Good

1. Glencairn Farm - what an amazing start

2. Trails - better condition than last year

3. Food - great

4. Jolivet - HUGE improvement

5. Farmer personally directing the men's crapper queue on morning of Day3 of the Race

 

Bad

1. Batch starting times led to much confusion

2. End is still an anticlimax but Scottburgh is what it is

3. Begging en route and the informal water point at top of 'push of a climb' SELLING water

4. Sugar trucks active on route of Day3 of the Race - VERY dangerous

5. Clothing not up to usual standard but cap and gilet acceptable.

[jacominnaar]

positives:

 

1. best mountainbike riding in the country

2. jolivet sleepover experience

3. smiles at waterpoints and finish from everybody involved

4. best weather ever--lucky us.

5. lots of milk......and drinking yoghurt

 

negatives:

 

way more than I would like........

 

1. very disapp in clothing(sizing,quality)

2. broken/torn tent 2 evenings in a row--rain would have seen us sleeping in the fisio tent

3. no mechanics on route /at waterpoints

4. chaos at finish--once again rain would've caused havoc

5."choclate" beggars on day 3--almost causing accidents

6. "smooth" single trail very very bumpy on the hardtail riders--dangerous at times

 

 

[Sasquatch]

The Good.

1. The new start was awesome, loved GlenCairn.

2. Upgraded Jolivet facilities.

3. The route as always was amazing.

4. The catering and staff were as per usual amazing.

5. Chill zones.

 

The Bad.

1. The clothing was shocking in comparison to previous years.

2. The bike park at Jolivet was a mess. No system at all and scrambling around in the dark to ind your bike is not pleasant.

3.The parking on the beach is a absolute nightmare 

 

The Ugly.

1. NO BEER AT THE FINISH WTF??????

[cyclebat]

The good:

1 The ride over the three day was great, including weather.

2. Improvements to Jolivet was fantastic, showers and mess hall.

3. Registration venue was good.

4. Water points were great, and loved the Easter eggs on day 3.

 

Bad.

1. Start of day 1 was crazy. Tar roads saw two people crash in first ten km. Eggs at Mackenzie breakfeast would be great.

2. CLOTHING was extremely poor quality and disappointing since the cost of entry went up. Last year was amazing..this year, no socks,no beanie, no Solomon shirt, no flip flops no DVD. No magazine and I was given one water bottle.

3. SUPERGROUP held us up on day 2 through umkomaas. Having to queue and wait to descend on the best part of the race was infuriating and extremely frustrating. We could not progress past group E because group D was supergroup. Day 3 was also held up by supergroup.

4. There was no spirit and comraderie. Where was farmer glen at the end? So no finishers photo for us. Really Disappointed the lack of spirit.

5. The end of the race, no lunch! I would rather forfeit registration nandos for lunch at the end. Being told that we had to buy lunch was disappointing

[CleatsnCleavage]

ag nee man

 

I must say Supergroup have not done themselves any favours this Sani2C and I would say that despite the huge wad of cash they would have sponsored for the event the overall gain for them has been negative. I get the overall impression of a arrogant company after this whole exercise...and I wasn't even there this year...just an innocent bystander looking on

Dont worry our neighbour works for SuperGroup and she told us there has been great upset in the Exco meeting - they spent R3-millon on "entertainment" alone for their riders and staff just do Sani without taking leave. So maybe they wont be out in such full force next year. 

[davegriffin]

Good

1. Great food and catering

2. Great event and route

3. Great people serving us at water points and overnight stops

4. Fantastic weather - even though we cannot control it

5. I will be back next year

 

Not so good

1. I would suggest there are more trollies to get boxes to and from the tents and trucks. Its no fun lugging a box around when you are tired. If there were another 50 or so trollies at each overnight stop it would be great 

2. Somehow our batching on day 1 was a disaster even after we had done well in seeding events we ended up in K batch. Fortunately got to C batch for day 2

3. The deadly Supergroup hampered a lot of people. Seeding must be done correctly for everyone to enjoy the event

4. The finish is not slick and a bit of a non event. It sure is great finishing on the beach.

[Nplus1]

Great race again in 2015! I'd like to suggest a change for 2016:

 

If someone falls off the final floating bridge at the end, then they must walk/swim the last few meters rather than clamour back up onto the bridge, to avoid causing congestion and other people to fall off the bridge. My bunch waited 27 minutes at the start of the bridge due to congestion. That is extremely disappointing when the finish is in sight and causes an anti-climax and unfair time penalty for other riders.

 

Please Farmer Glen!!

[kimatei]

The Good....

1. The upgrades at Jolivet - amazing!!

2. Beautiful route and participants

3 The guy at the Amped stand who helped to charge my phone when all other power points were turned off at 6am

4. The staff and gogo at Jolivet who helped me find a point to plug in my hairdryer (yes I took one. 3 hours to naturally dry a woman's long hair results in illlness in that night cold otherwise). The staff sing off at Jolivet at the start of day 3.

5. The amazing women that I met in the bathroom banter whom I still bump into in Jhb.

 

The Bad and the Ugly...

1. I didn't get kit as I was a fill in rider, but I can say that it was "uuuuuuugggggly". Saw the women's kit going from Barbie bubble bath pink from previous years to some colour of a faded sun tinted doillie. It all looked generally like it came from China Mall.

2. Kids begging for chocolates.

3. This is not a cheap event to enter, regardless of what we as riders get out of it. An upfront payment literally a month after completeing the race has a tendency to leave a bitter taste in some of our mouths, and seems to follow a general SA trend for the majority of races now...money - bleed the riders dry, they will pay for their love of the sport. A non-refundable deposit upfront and full payment 3 months later would actually be nicer in order for us to recover from the initial cost outlay of getting there, getting geared up, servicing bikes etc. Afterall, surely the costs from Sponsors should allow for the upfront planning and logistics for the event for the next year?

4. No eggs for breakfast on day 3.

5. Coffee voucher.

[Rich]

Most was good so won't single out only 5.

 

Improvements for next year:

-Batch seeding in adventure. Farmer Glen already onto that.

-Floating bridge hold ups. Not sure the fun element of the bridge is worth the time penalty and hold up.

-The finish at Scottburgh. No atmosphere. And no Farmer at the finish. I would prefer to ride up the hill and finish in a race atmosphere and have some beers and food and watch riders come in and have my car nearby.

-The bike wash at Jolivet. Not enough space and too few washers. Need to be able to leave the bike and have it stacked like Mckenzie.

-Those black boxes and portaging them.....

- The clothes. Sani is renown for its quality clothing you want to wear. It helps justify the large entry fee. Don't scrimp there please.

[BigToe]

Most issues have been covered, and fortunately what people loved about the race.

 

BUT once a precedent has been set, to change what is the norm without adding value is something fundamentally against what Sani is about.

I refer to the extra R1000 cost to now 'park' the camper vans where they have been parking for years, and then still not providing electricity for them.

 

The extra cost would have been a non issue (for most) if the vans could have plugged in.

[teampeanut]

Also had a big issue with the Camper Vans this year. My sister and brother-in-law went with us for support. Paid the R1000 and got a bright notice to leave on the dash for identification purposes. This we were told is to gain access to the parking. Not once did anyone from the race check this at the entrances to the parking and there were plenty of vehicles using the same space with NO boards. At the finish of Day 2 I looked forward to seeing my family at the finish after a very long and hard day, but they were nowhere to be seen. I walked all the way to the Camper area where they told me that the security guard at the gate refused them entry to the finish area. Not cool.

I will gladly pay the fee again, but only if everyone has to pay, the access is strictly controlled and our supporters get access to the start/finish areas as was promised before the race.