Race Fail: Ashburton Meerendal 2016

[GLuvsMtb]

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!

I suggest that you create your own event. Punting another event on a page dedicated to providing feedback to organizers of an event is considered to be very poor form.

[Fritz Pienaar]

Warning, serious rant below.

 

This race was for sure the worst one I’ve done to date. There are a number of reasons, but let’s list a few of them here. Some of these issues may not be universally applicable but I still feel they played a role in the overall poor experience had by myself and many other participants. Note that I also did this event last year, and I loved it

 

1.       Registration: I didn’t go to the registration myself this year, but my buddy who offered to stand in line for a group of us had a miserable time. Took him over an hour. From what I gather the tablet system was to blame. I guess that actually boils down to either using an untested system or poor planning and execution.

 

2.       Loading of riders into start chutes: I started in B batch for the Marathon. I was there on time, but still didn’t manage to get in the chute before the gun went off. I estimate that a third of the batch was still trying to get in by the time the gun went off. Again, the tablets and scanners are to blame. There were only two guys loading us all in. When I did manage to get in the people were already putting up the tape for C batch. Surely management should have recognized the issue and delayed the start.

 

3.       Water points: Three. I don’t need to say more, but I will. This was simply not enough for this race. And then when you got to them they had nothing. “Uh sorry, our water is done”.

 

4.       Route: Hands down the most boring route I have ever done. Last year the route was awesome, in fact it was the reason I joined Tygerberg MTB club. This year it was the Tour de Sand. If I say there was 3km of singletrack I’m probably exaggerating. After 30km I was totally over it.

 

5.       Post race area: It looked like the Ashburton clients had a brilliant time. If you were however, like me, not one of their clients you really didn’t have much choice. If you were very determined you would have found the small little table that sold some beer off to the one side. Thanks for alienating your potential cleints Ashburton. I don’t think I want to be one of your clients after that display.

6.       Results: uuh...All I get is an Error 404 page.

 

It was not all bad though, the Biogen cooldrinks were actually quite nice, and I dig the free socks. The negatives unfortunately far outweighed the positives and I will not be doing any more races in the Ashburton series, ever.

 

Wish I rather went for a ride with my buddies in Jonkershoek yesterday.

Thank you for the feedback Rock Guy and everyone else. It is disappointing to hear negative feedback, but we will take it on the chin and aim to improve. I would like to elaborate on some of the issues below

 

1. We changed to a new entry / timing solution which is more secure (required by POPI act) and integrated with SAS, but we experienced some network issues which slowed down registration. Sorry to those that was inconvenienced - this will be sorted next time. 

 

2. Water points - We allocated more water than normal per person, but it was super hot and we did not cope with the demand. This is no excuse and we will be investing in much better infrastructure to handle days like this!

 

3. Route - We tried something different than what we used at Trailseeker and also tried to find separate routes for the Marathon and Half-Marathon events to avoid congestion. We felt that the Half and Ultra routes was good, but that the Marathon was not as good as last year. We plan to develop new trails to give us a better route for the Marathon distance or to make changes to insure that all distances have an equally exciting route.  

 

4. Post race - We had catering by the restaurant, craft beer and barista coffee with 2 additional Bedouin tents, table and chairs, so not sure what is expected here? We will maybe just increase signage and bring things closer together. 

 

5. Results - We captured everyone and had solid backups, but network issues meant that rider details was not pulled through right away. It will be up on SASeeding.org tonight. Apologies for the delay. 

 

I do believe that most issues were due to making too many changes in one go, but we will do everything needed to run a great show in Sabie and the rest of the series. Thanks to those who took part for the support. 

[BrandonF_]

Thank you for the feedback Rock Guy and everyone else. It is disappointing to hear negative feedback, but we will take it on the chin and aim to improve. I would like to elaborate on some of the issues below

 

1. We changed to a new entry / timing solution which is more secure (required by POPI act) and integrated with SAS, but we experienced some network issues which slowed down registration. Sorry to those that was inconvenienced - this will be sorted next time.

 

2. Water points - We allocated more water than normal per person, but it was super hot and we did not cope with the demand. This is no excuse and we will be investing in much better infrastructure to handle days like this!

 

3. Route - We tried something different than what we used at Trailseeker and also tried to find separate routes for the Marathon and Half-Marathon events to avoid congestion. We felt that the Half and Ultra routes was good, but that the Marathon was not as good as last year. We plan to develop new trails to give us a better route for the Marathon distance or to make changes to insure that all distances have an equally exciting route.

 

4. Post race - We had catering by the restaurant, craft beer and barista coffee with 2 additional Bedouin tents, table and chairs, so not sure what is expected here? We will maybe just increase signage and bring things closer together.

 

5. Results - We captured everyone and had solid backups, but network issues meant that rider details was not pulled through right away. It will be up on SASeeding.org tonight. Apologies for the delay.

 

I do believe that most issues were due to making too many changes in one go, but we will do everything needed to run a great show in Sabie and the rest of the series. Thanks to those who took part for the support.

Now every(NO)one,.. Is going like,.ahh, no problem Advendurance,..shaame, we understand completely,...this is only your 1st(000th) event, we all learn by our mistakes..,right..?

 

Not the case Fritz.

 

If your Jo'burg crew cant seem to relate to our frustration..,?..Why do we have to deal with this poor performance?

 

Smooth talk wont save your bacon everytime,..produce the goods, period.

 

2016 Trail Seeker still to happen,...you'd have to make this a great value/experience vs expenditure prospect,..especially compared to last year's events, and the Ashburton flop..

 

Regards

On behalf of WC ????...not "Sabie, and the rest of the series"

[vinylguy]

Now every(NO)one,.. Is going like,.ahh, no problem Advendurance,..shaame, we understand completely,...this is only your 1st(000th) event, we all learn by our mistakes..,right..?

 

Not the case Fritz.

 

If your Jo'burg crew cant seem to relate to our frustration..,?..Why do we have to deal with this poor performance?

 

Smooth talk wont save your bacon everytime,..produce the goods, period.

 

Regards

On behalf of WC ????

Same excuses as the last few trailseekers here in gauteng. Shame... we will have to find smaller races to support this year and deal with a biased seeding index because we dont do any advendurance events.....

[BrandonF_]

Same excuses as the last few trailseekers here in gauteng. Shame... we will have to find smaller races to support this year and deal with a biased seeding index because we dont do any advendurance events.....

PPA local events do have their flaws, timing results headaches etc, but the rest is 90% of the time great, and then at a third of the price, compared to events like Ashburton,....well,...yeah.

 

 

So why do I then support these "big boys" on my doorstep?..To see growth, involvement, experience and change, in the local scene,..but another "honey pot" expectation is the "stronger beast" right now...with nothing in return.

[GLuvsMtb]

Now every(NO)one,.. Is going like,.ahh, no problem Advendurance,..shaame, we understand completely,...this is only your 1st(000th) event, we all learn by our mistakes..,right..?

 

Not the case Fritz.

 

If your Jo'burg crew cant seem to relate to our frustration..,?..Why do we have to deal with this poor performance?

 

Smooth talk wont save your bacon everytime,..produce the goods, period.

 

2016 Trail Seeker still to happen,...you'd have to make this a great value/experience vs expenditure prospect,..especially compared to last year's events, and the Ashburton flop..

 

Regards

On behalf of WC [emoji52]...not "Sabie, and the rest of the series"

They apologized, explained what happened and gave us assurances that they will improve. I am not sure what more they should do 1 day after wrapping up a race weekend 1500km from HQ. If you want a refund, just ask them.

[BrandonF_]

They apologized, explained what happened and gave us assurances that they will improve. I am not sure what more they should do 1 day after wrapping up a race weekend 1500km from HQ. If you want a refund, just ask them.

..1,.2,..3...strike ???? you're Out!,..now 'THEY' must come up with the "results",..on ALL fronts ?????????

 

For how long does excuses count...?...and input ignored?...

 

It seems to have become a "let 'Them(us)' bark bark and shut up, move on" inclination from the "big boys" in MTB organization....?

[GLuvsMtb]

..1,.2,..3...strike [emoji109] you're Out!,..now 'THEY' must come up with the "results",..on ALL fronts [emoji118][emoji102]?

Your first post was well written and it seemed like you wanted to be constructive. Your reply to Fritz make you sound like a dwis.

[BrandonF_]

Your first post was well written and it seemed like you wanted to be constructive. Your reply to Fritz make you sound like a dwis.

If you feel this was aimed at you,..it's wrong.

 

In fact, "1-2-3 You're Out", was directly aimed at the effort enforced by Advendurance on the local WC MTB scene,..so if, for whatever reason, you felt personally offended,..I assure you, it was never a personal attack,...ever..And if you feel to have a societal right in calling people names, probably based on your educational level, please do that in private. Peace.

[SCD]

In the context of this discussion I would be curious to learn what is given to the 'owners' or 'creators' of the trails by such an event. Is there eg a financial contribution to the TBMTB club that would assist in repairing/maintaining the trails? What is coming back to the local MTB scene that could not ride 'their' trails for a whole day? 

[GLuvsMtb]

If you feel this was aimed at you,..it's wrong.

 

In fact, "1-2-3 You're Out", was directly aimed at the effort enforced by Advendurance on the local WC MTB scene,..so if, for whatever reason, you felt personally offended,..I assure you, it was never a personal attack,...ever..And if you feel to have a societal right in calling people names, probably based on your educational level, please do that in private. Peace.

You sound like a real classy guy. Here I was following a thread hoping the organizer respond to the complaints raised here. It seems like you did not want to be constructive about it after all, just wanted to have a goeie ou moan?

Here is what you probably could have said to Fritz:

Thanks for taking the time to respond to our comments here. While we appreciate the time taken to try and explain where and how things went wrong and how you will improve things in future, I am not quite satisfied. There seems to be a history with sub-standard events from tour company in the Cape in particular and while I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, I'll rather sit out the next event that you have down here to first see if you have addressed the issues. Cape Town riders in particular set the bar quite high as we have other world-class events on our trails. Hopefully your next event is on par with these events and perhaps in future I will be persuaded again to enter one of your events once it is clear that the issues were dealt with.

[BarHugger]

While reading this thread and the various posts, including the response from Fritz (if it really is him and not the company's marketing and communication spindoctor)......I had a sudden deja vu moment wrt an event organised in 2014 at Dullstroom by the same company.

 

There is also a Hub thread on that event, just copy and paste the contents of that thread and substitute Dulltroom with Meerendal.......history has a knack of repeating itself.

[DJuice]

Where can one find the results?
The SAS website I am looking at shows nothing, it is now the morning after the night it was promised.

[Oakley360]

Where can one find the results?

The SAS website I am looking at shows nothing, it is now the morning after the night is was promised.

I asked the same question on their facebook page- even got an very assuring and quik response that it would still be up tonight(yesterday).

 

 

Maybe they lost all the results....

[lerouc]

I asked the same question on their facebook page- even got an very assuring and quik response that it would still be up tonight(yesterday).

 

 

Maybe they lost all the results....

more "network issues" ?

[tubed]

Its a pity that this series is getting attracting a poor reputation as it could offer a lot, but perhaps that's the problem, they offer a lot and they dont meet expectations and social media is the ideal platform to rant about your unmet expectations. I think their challenges are:

 

Meerendal: a great venue for a short race, but actually very limited trails, so for anything longer, the expectation is that the rest of the TMB will simply be made available. I imagine there is a cost to that, both direct (wear and tear on trails), keeping usual members out for a while and the logistics of crossing some very busy roads which have commercial and other interests. So they send the long route out into the dusty farms toward Philadelphia for a couple of hours. The Epic has the same headache and the same complaints, its going to be a very creative route director who gets that field from Boschendal to Meerendal without some very loud complaints of endless dusty roads - lets wait and see.

 

Ashburton have a budget and its largely to be spent on entertaining their financial services clients and possibly attracting some more, times are tough and they are probably into a multi-year commitment with questions being asked about the actual return vs someones pet project. Compare this to pedal power who are sometimes a bit slow - but dont have the same commercial interests, ie reducing costs vs adding to your experience.

 

The sad thing is that mtb needs Ashburton and Meerendal.

 

At the moment the series seems to offer 'the ride with the pros factor, a decent indication of the suffering some of the Epic stages will offer and some insight into how Ashburton look after their corporate clients. Thankfully we have a whole host of other races on offer and a decent feedback system which allows us to carefully evaluate and spend our cash next time we enter an event.