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Cape Epic without spectators - Not Epic


Pamie

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Fellow mountain bikers I may have delivered too strong an opinion on the spur of the moment. Was just once again disappointed and worked up over the whole COVID situation and then I received email regarding no spectators. My words at the beginning of email "Everybody ....." are wrong, sorry for that. In my case, the Epic is a whole adventure experienced with family and friends. As an amateur, this support is worth a lot during the event. Usually the epic is a week that the family is looking forward to and it is nice for them too to experience the tour together and support all riders, hence my disappointment. Anyway it's good to hear the different opinions and follow the conversation. Everyone's opinion is respected.

Edited by Pamie
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This almost sounds like a philosophical thought experiment along the lines of:

 

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" 

 

I think most participants would rather do the event without spectators than not do it at all, as others have stated the logistics around race villages might be tricky one to solve.

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This almost sounds like a philosophical thought experiment along the lines of:

 

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" 

 

I think most participants would rather do the event without spectators than not do it at all, as others have stated the logistics around race villages might be tricky one to solve.

 

 

Quite frankly If I were riding in 2021 I'd welcome no spectators as after Day 3 you're pretty gatvol of "hou bene hou!" and "its down hill from here!" when you know i) your legs are phuqued and ii) there's another 500m vertical to go before the finish.

Sure the cheers as you come in the finishline adds an extra motivation to dip into the reserves .

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To your point of 50k per rider. For households like ours where both of us are very keen competitive cyclists, the possibility of my husband and I being able to ever race the epic together is slim. Having the stars align to get a lottery entry, or have cash at hand to drop on the day the entries open plus all of the cumulative expenses of training, servicing equipment, nutrition etc for two people all out of the same household becomes something of a pipe dream unless you are ultra successful. 

Herein lies the crux, it is an expensive commitment. Financial, resource and time. Like any high key adventure/event though, the cost vs value balance lies with the individual. 

 

Given the status of an event like the Cape Epic though, there are ways and means to motivate a 'sponsored' entry compared to many other events.

Be it through a charity, corporate, event sponsor, etc .... I know of a few "average Joes and Janes" who managed this.

One mate does a sponsor proposal each year and sends it to his clients, they'll opt wether or not to commit and how much. 

Have covered about 10 events and ridden one which we motivated through a combined media/charity entry at the time.  

 

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tell me wat I am missing?

The short answer ....

 

Epic was bought by Ironman.

 

Ironman is a wierd card house in serious financial trouble BEFORE Covid ... also serious allegations of bad business practices ...

 

Thus doing all the planning and some multiple expenses for two years, with only one year's income is not helping the group's books.

 

Let's see what this group looks like by end 2021, and intp 2022 ...

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wanda-sports-group-completes-the-sale-of-the-ironman-group-to-advance-and-announces-board-of-directors-changes-301096048.html&ved=2ahUKEwjhpsKclfvsAhVKZcAKHQRhCFgQFjABegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw0da7log__KGuDBuPgHvLxQ

 

 

How does all this impact on the business model for the epic event .... doubt we will ever know.

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tell me wat I am missing?

this might seem a bit obvious, but they need to hold the event to make money.

if you delay the 2020 event to 2021, you don't get to sell new entries in April 2020.

if you delay the 2021 event a second time, you've missed a second year of not selling new entries.

 

if you really think the entries from the 2020 event can just sustain the overhead running costs of the event management company in perpetuity then you must be on some proper aaptwak - I'd like some too please!

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this might seem a bit obvious, but they need to hold the event to make money.

if you delay the 2020 event to 2021, you don't get to sell new entries in April 2020.

if you delay the 2021 event a second time, you've missed a second year of not selling new entries.

 

if you really think the entries from the 2020 event can just sustain the overhead running costs of the event management company in perpetuity then you must be on some proper aaptwak - I'd like some too please!

 

I don't think you read my original post - or maybe I wasn't clear.

 

Post queried whether no refunds were given and 2021 event entries would be sold at normal prices.

It has been clarified that entries were not refunded but rolled over to 2021 with a 25% surcharge. 

 

It will be interesting to see how Iron Man as a Company come through - if they do at all...

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Wanda Group... They also own IronMan.

 

IronMan do not own Epic.

 

Wanda group or Dalian Wanda are a Chinese Private property development company who also own cinemas and have shares in AMC theatres.

 

They build sky scrapers and stuff.

 

Just to clarify. 

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Wanda Group... They also own IronMan.

 

IronMan do not own Epic.

 

Wanda group or Dalian Wanda are a Chinese Private property development company who also own cinemas and have shares in AMC theatres.

 

They build sky scrapers and stuff.

 

Just to clarify.

Actually not, they used to own Ironman. Back in March Wanda sold Ironman to a family group, called Advance. They involved in media.

 

I don’t think Wanda sold Epic though. The numbers were favorable to sell Ironman, but they haven’t owned Epic long enough to realize a sizable gain.

Edited by sirmoun10goat
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Actually not, they used to own Ironman. Back in March Wanda sold Ironman to a family group, called Advance. They involved in media.

 

I don’t think Wanda sold Epic though. The numbers were favorable to sell Ironman, but they haven’t owned Epic long enough to realize a sizable gain.

I did not know that, but I do remember some reshuffle with IM a couple of years ago.

 

Did they sell their shares in Atletico Madrid too?

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I did not know that, but I do remember some reshuffle with IM a couple of years ago.

 

Did they sell their shares in Atletico Madrid too?

I never looked into what they sold. I was flipping through some news articles and saw they sold IM. There was something about financial trouble, so maybe they were to indebted and needed to realize something of value quickly.

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I don't think you read my original post - or maybe I wasn't clear.

 

Post queried whether no refunds were given and 2021 event entries would be sold at normal prices.

It has been clarified that entries were not refunded but rolled over to 2021 with a 25% surcharge. 

 

It will be interesting to see how Iron Man as a Company come through - if they do at all...

I read it.

 

They took a big financial hit not running the event this year. Entry fees alone don't pay the bills.

 

I think they will pull out all the stops to do 2021,only thing that could stop it would be government restrictions.

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How much spectator value is there really from day 2 - 6?

Nothing...the only reason to watch is for when they get to go down the Gorge at Hoogies or Plumb Pudding on TM...for the lols.

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I read it.

 

They took a big financial hit not running the event this year. Entry fees alone don't pay the bills.

 

I think they will pull out all the stops to do 2021,only thing that could stop it would be government restrictions.

 

 

 

Or 60% of the field not turning up due to Covid.....

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