Road events - Are organisers dropping the ball or do we expect too much

[Skubarra]

16 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

Netwerk24 Paarl Cycle Tour Cancelled 17 days before the event due to low number of entries. Zero marketing done for the event. Am I wrong that 80% of entries are normally received in the 24h before entries close? I'm on a 40-rider squad that normally have about 25 entrants for every road race. We only have 3 riders that have already entered, so for us it's over 90% in the "yes I'm doing it, but still have to enter" camp...

 

I genuinely did not know this event was still on the calendar, just assumed it was cancelled as I did not hear anything about it (tbf I block the organisers email spam so partly my fault as well). Would have ridden it if it happened. Always keen to do a road race after the months of DC training, hoping the PPA might have a fundride in Dec.

[hunterza]

4 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

I genuinely did not know this event was still on the calendar, just assumed it was cancelled as I did not hear anything about it (tbf I block the organisers email spam so partly my fault as well). Would have ridden it if it happened. Always keen to do a road race after the months of DC training, hoping the PPA might have a fundride in Dec.

Yes, same here. I would have ridden this, but had thought it had been cancelled when I heard nothing about it. You would have thought that they could at least have emailed previous participants a month or two ago to let them know that it was happening. Or added an event page to bikehub. Or anything...

[Jbr]

49 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

Netwerk24 Paarl Cycle Tour Cancelled 17 days before the event due to low number of entries. Zero marketing done for the event. Am I wrong that 80% of entries are normally received in the 24h before entries close? I'm on a 40-rider squad that normally have about 25 entrants for every road race. We only have 3 riders that have already entered, so for us it's over 90% in the "yes I'm doing it, but still have to enter" camp...

Sent this to my teammates yesterday as I was going to enter, just because I'm on holidays and had nothing else to do, otherwise I probably would've entered this weekend or something.

Some didn't even know it was happening, it is a bit shocking. Also I pointed to them that the email on the information PDF doesn't work (their email is @mweb.co.za when the one in the PDF is @gmail.com). Unfortunately, I do think you're right in your "we tried nothing and we're out of ideas" meme. The spamming the hell out of everyone's inbox and then lying about entries filling up fast and all that strategy backfired, and now they don't know what else to do to sell their events.

In my opinion, charging R570 for a race that offers nothing special (vs for example Winelands that I just entered for R420) could maybe be one explanation, also winelands has been all over my social media the past week.

Event Tour de Worcester (that still haven't announced the new-new date), keeps on posting reels on instagram, reminding me I have that entry pending

[babse]

I did Paarl tour last year and found out about it a week before the event via a mate. I did entry the day before at registration. Attendance was poor. Even after the race, some mates never even heard about the race.

Winelands a month later which was marketed much better (via social media platforms) had double the number of riders.

 

[babse]

1 hour ago, Skubarra said:

I genuinely did not know this event was still on the calendar, just assumed it was cancelled as I did not hear anything about it (tbf I block the organisers email spam so partly my fault as well). Would have ridden it if it happened. Always keen to do a road race after the months of DC training, hoping the PPA might have a fundride in Dec.

Die Burger slot... 

[Jewbacca]

I'd suggest it's in everyone's best interest to find a way to get these events 'out there' as a collective.

There are plenty of advertising/marketing gurus who ride bikes.

The sport is dying a slow death which could likely be avoided by some pretty simple input from educated members of the community. 

CSA need to stand up and ask for some help or be persuaded to ask for some help

 

[Jbr]

14 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I'd suggest it's in everyone's best interest to find a way to get these events 'out there' as a collective.

You're right, the community used to create a topic here before almost every race, I think I created a few myself at the time when I was frothing before each and every race. Maybe it's time we start doing this again as not many organiser even post their events here

[bleedToWin]

19 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

The sport is dying a slow death which could likely be avoided by some pretty simple input from educated members of the community.

Maar Wynand weet klaar alles...
/s

I agree and am trying to do the most with my limited influence via my team and club. Let's in parallel hope that when the incompetent organisers fail that others can take their spot and hopefully be open to input and getting the basics right.

[bleedToWin]

@MyriadEventsSA Is it not time to step into the void? 

Drop the silly winter league idea. Cycling is a summer sport and we are looking at a 7 week period with no road races slap bang in the middle of summer while all of us are fit!

[Jewbacca]

11 minutes ago, Jbr said:

You're right, the community used to create a topic here before almost every race, I think I created a few myself at the time when I was frothing before each and every race. Maybe it's time we start doing this again as not many organiser even post their events here

 

5 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

Maar Wynand weet klaar alles...
/s

I agree and am trying to do the most with my limited influence via my team and club. Let's in parallel hope that when the incompetent organisers fail that others can take their spot and hopefully be open to input and getting the basics right.

I guess that's a start, but I sort of mean on an official level.

Actually getting the organisers and CSA to buy in to a free use platform that is easy to access and easy to navigate. 

Back in the day ndorfin.co.za had a crazy in depth race program/inventory.

Whether or not it's bikehub (this would be easiest) and it's a shared platform (CSA/Bikehub to do the financials) would come down to brass tacks, but having a 'preferred place' for all organisers to dump info would be ideal.

A lot like the classifieds.

Tick some boxes, create an ad with essential info etc and then market the ONE PLACE/Site I know absolutely nothing about marketing and advertising, but I know that as an end user ndorfin.co.za used to make entering races really really easy.

It even had a time frame search function, so if I was on holiday back in SA for say. the month of Feb, I used to be able to specify the date limits and voila, all the events in the selected area within the timeframe popped up.

 

 

[Skubarra]

39 minutes ago, babse said:

Die Burger slot... 

Can't help but think that they thought - lets just host a race on the Burger slot and numbers will come, no need to actually market.

I still think its a good slot.. I would even do any crappy race on that date!

[Skubarra]

41 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I'd suggest it's in everyone's best interest to find a way to get these events 'out there' as a collective.

There are plenty of advertising/marketing gurus who ride bikes.

The sport is dying a slow death which could likely be avoided by some pretty simple input from educated members of the community. 

CSA need to stand up and ask for some help or be persuaded to ask for some help

 

I think the funride event concept is dying a slow death, maybe not so much the sport.

We now have way more options when riding our bikes than 15 or 20 years ago with mtb'ing and gravel biking added to the mix. Personally I do fewer events but ride way more kilometers than years ago, we have club rides & trails for days for marginal cost if I want to get on my bike on a weekend. No need to spend R500+ to do an event. The very big events like DC and Cycle Tour still well attended.

[Jewbacca]

4 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

I think the funride event concept is dying a slow death, maybe not so much the sport.

We now have way more options when riding our bikes than 15 or 20 years ago with mtb'ing and gravel biking added to the mix. Personally I do fewer events but ride way more kilometers than years ago, we have club rides & trails for days for marginal cost if I want to get on my bike on a weekend. No need to spend R500+ to do an event. The very big events like DC and Cycle Tour still well attended.

While I agree, I think there is also a degree of 'the journey' that still remains relevant.

We are all at various stages of our bike journey and there are still LOTS of people at a stage in theirs that want to race or do events.

While you have 'got the T-shirt' having been there and done that, doing those things has given you confidence to do things away from the safety of a pack.

The longevity of your cycling probably also means you are past the 'training for' and into the 'lifestyle' aspect, meaning your motivation is naturally internal and a part of your daily life.

Others are starting out, getting into it, earning that level of lifestyle. Others simply love doing events.

If the sport was more easily accessible and less race oriented, I firmly believe you would get a lot of people to the startline.

[Jbr]

some of the "fun" gravel races invited local athletes. you do this, with a nice promo video, post on IG and tag said athletes, when they share you get your event seen by 100s, probably lots of these people won't ever go look on the Hub. But yeah, bikehub is a good start, if at least everyone on here knows about the races  there's better chances they get talked about on all the whatsapp groups

[Danger Dassie]

https://www.cyclingsa.com/cycling-south-africa-forges-a-three-year-partnership-with-midvaal-municipality-for-national-championships/?fbclid=IwAR3RDnmq0CbuQUUZQVBNaJeNaDnrECopC8pRn-eSlsEv-y232LW928yiioU_aem_AV42KpEtOLqk2iIQ_dSkKzwtt5ZBe6o3XfwKo-YM7zCy-unxRIBQsxzbNWQ-FR-WWdo

“The consideration includes incorporating the scenic beauty and challenging terrain of Suikerbosrand Nature”

I think there will be some criticism of this, some of it maybe fair. But at the same time under rating the good sense in this decision from CSA. 
The area represents exceptional potential for cycling, particularly the reserve. Road, gravel, MTB. 
Looking forward to what this may bring. I’ve ridden the area extensively on MTB, gravel and road. In particular the reserve loop, which I’ve long felt is an under appreciated resource offering higher value towards outdoor tourism, conservation and altitude training. 

 

[MyriadEventsSA]

1 hour ago, bleedToWin said:

@MyriadEventsSA Is it not time to step into the void? 

Drop the silly winter league idea. Cycling is a summer sport and we are looking at a 7 week period with no road races slap bang in the middle of summer while all of us are fit!

We would love to step into the void however previous experience has shown us that events held over the holiday period are not well attended at all.  Previous races we've been lucky if we get 100 participants.  Add to this the reluctance of the various traffic departments to give us permission due to the increased volumes of traffic on the public roads and we're a bit stymied.  However, let's have a look at this going forward.  It's a bit too late this year as event applications need to be in 3 months in advance.

As an aside, the Winter League is a Western Province initiative, not Myriad Events, although we are the people who organise and run the races for them.