Race Fail: Ashburton Meerendal 2016

[koukie]

Being my first race I was absolutely blown away by the awesome waterpoints- there was water, energy drinks, food, snacks and even doughnuts at some(expecting only water)- I mean if you want to complain, then get a camelvack and carry your own ****. I think one has to be self proficie t anyway and rely on these. I cant say much about the later guys that ended with no water....that is not nice.

Do yourself a favor and go do the Attakwas next year, then you will see what a waterpoint should look like. You will be blown away

[karma]

Ha-ha

[MarcW]

 

That said, last year the Meerendal race was fine & I didn't see any complaints from the Nissan Trailseeker end of last year by same organisers at same venue - sad to see that they got it wrong this year.

 

http://www.vavavox.com/company/profile/nissan-trailseeker-western-cape-series-4-meerendal?leid=b07f490c64&euid=db5f365b70

 

Here is the survey they sent out from the last Western Cape Trailseeker at Meerendal, If you read the reviews you will see it had its fair share of hick-ups especially for such an experienced Organiser. Quite glad I chose not enter this event.

[milky4130]

Last year the issues were more with permissions re the route with landowners & club? Not so much the logistics on the day? Did the race last year & 2x when it was hosted at Tulbagh without problems. Again, disappointing to see problems like this.

1 of the issues last year was waterpoints & food & I see the same issue this year.

[milky4130]

It is important to E mail the organizers with complaints/suggestions, otherwise you will sit with the same problems next year.

Feedback is crucial

cant remember if it was the Nissan Trailseeker or this Ashburton series where they actually conducted a survey after the race & emailed us the link. Clearly it was never even analysed.

[TIIME]

Water points were seriously below par. Route unimaginative - finding ways not to get us on the single tracks. What a let down!

[Cookie88]

I entered the 40km Half Marathon last year and it ended up being the main reason I signed up for a Tygerberg membership soon afterwards.

 

Mate and I decided to give it another bash this year and I was looking forward to hitting out on some of the Tygerberg farms. I didn't have much issue with the registration although it was a little pricier than last year.

 

The route however was an absolute shocker - I don't think I know anyone in their right mind who would actually choose to ride UP some of those sections of Hillcrest single track. The second half on Conties was way better though - that single track is always first class.

 

I'll think again before entering one of these again, especially at that price.

[ahp005]

From last year's events Nissan trailseeker series and Ashburton series organised by Advendurance has been organised poorly. If it is not for wrong route markings it is the water stations that has problems. They must get there act together very quickly as the people is getting fed up with poorly organised events.

[Thermophage]

I entered the 40km Half Marathon last year and it ended up being the main reason I signed up for a Tygerberg membership soon afterwards.

 

Mate and I decided to give it another bash this year and I was looking forward to hitting out on some of the Tygerberg farms. I didn't have much issue with the registration although it was a little pricier than last year.

 

The route however was an absolute shocker - I don't think I know anyone in their right mind who would actually choose to ride UP some of those sections of Hillcrest single track. The second half on Conties was way better though - that single track is always first class.

 

I'll think again before entering one of these again, especially at that price.

lol...the Hillcrest up part going up the concrete blocks :S 

I'm sure I could have made it if it wasn't for the congestion...But was kind of thankful I didnt get the opportunity to try as I would have been toast afterwards!

I was also not particularly happy with the 40km. But from what I have heard we had a MUCH higher percentage of singletrack than the 70km thankfully!

 

I still have no clue where to find final results though...with all their fancy timing you'd think you could have tracked it live.

I mean at the local Enduro events you can do just that and there's not NEARLY as much moola changing hands there.

[Meezo]

agree with the sentiments above, must say though in terms of route the 40km was the probably the most "fun" 1100m climbing and we had the fun bits in both Meerendal and Contemans.

 

That concrete climb in hillcrest was eina, but rideable!

[Rock Guy]

Wow. I wasn't expecting this level of response, but I'm not surprised that so many people share the same sentiment. If you had a good time on the race then I am happy for you. It does however appear that the majority of participants were not too happy at some level. Maybe the happy people just generally couldn't care less about us moaners and felt no need to comment here.

 

Be all that as it may, I feel that if you are unhappy about something you need to open your mouth about it. Otherwise things will never change. It's a shame that no one from the MTB series or Ashburton or Advendurance has posted a comment owning up to how things unfolded on Saturday. I can only hope that their comments will follow soon.

[edgarblount]

“It was really tough but I’m super happy with the win. Having events like these to prepare with is great, you never get to push quite that hard in training. It was perfect conditions for training and conditioning in an Olympic year," - Mathias Fluckiger

 

It seems that it is always the back markers that complain about races. 

[milky4130]

Wow. I wasn't expecting this level of response, but I'm not surprised that so many people share the same sentiment. If you had a good time on the race then I am happy for you. It does however appear that the majority of participants were not too happy at some level. Maybe the happy people just generally couldn't care less about us moaners and felt no need to comment here.

 

Be all that as it may, I feel that if you are unhappy about something you need to open your mouth about it. Otherwise things will never change. It's a shame that no one from the MTB series or Ashburton or Advendurance has posted a comment owning up to how things unfolded on Saturday. I can only hope that their comments will follow soon.

and the organizer is a Hubber too, who regularly comes here to advertise his events.

[Sidmouth]

“It was really tough but I’m super happy with the win. Having events like these to prepare with is great, you never get to push quite that hard in training. It was perfect conditions for training and conditioning in an Olympic year," - Mathias Fluckiger

 

It seems that it is always the back markers that complain about races. 

as previously mentioned by a hubber in this thread this entire event is for the top 5 riders and the corporates, thanks for confirming this Mr M Fuckiger

[milky4130]

At the last cock up they were on the hub apologizing already & sorting out a "pay back the money" option while Most of the riders were still lost on the "course"

[hellstooth]

Come and do the Western Province XCO Series, starting next weekend at Rhebokskloof.  Well organised, and you get to do multiple laps of a great course with fun technical bits.  It is super hard, but rideable for everyone.  You also get to ride in your age group!  Oh yes, no water points but get someone to feed you at the feed zone!