Northern farms

[manbearpig]

quick note to manbearpig ' date=' if it was you who crashed 200m into the race, Your dismount scored    a   6

your 360 somesault with half pike  8   ( checked you flying past my head )

your landing    5   

The sound of the crash & landing    10

 

hope you and your bike ended up ok !!

[/quote'] Ja that was me, still not sure what the hell happened but my chain was in a big knot after the fall so I'm guessing thats where it started. Cast Iron Yeti is ok and we made it to the finish but It was a very hot, thirsty and f*$king sore Manbearpig.

[NotSoBigBen]

Anyone else see the oke roaming around with his frame in one hand and the bars/fork/wheel just hanging from it?

[markStockton]

 

Anyone else see the oke roaming around with his frame in one hand and the bars/fork/wheel just hanging from it?

 

What happened to you guy's? I was keeping an eye open for you and LBB at the finish, but never saw you?

 

[HammerHed]

After Sunday's debacle I fired off an email to Cycling SA as it was an SA-MTB sanctioned event, wanting clarity and offering feedback regarding the events of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to get an interested and supportive response.

 

I personally find it encouraging to know that Cycling SA actually do take this seriously, and we need to engage with them more as stakeholders in our sport.

 

See the reply below:

 

Thank you for the e mail which was forwarded to me by Grevile Ruddock Director: MTB Cycling SA, regarding the above event. I have discussed the situation which was encountered on Sunday with the two SA MTB Race Commissaires who were in attendance, as well as the Race Organizers.

 

There are a number of factors that caused this problem being:-

 

1.     Pre entries for the event were some 450 riders and then line entries on the day totaled 350 riders ? for any organizer to plan around a possible 77% increase in riders is difficult. The answer here is not to have line entries only but this is not the MTB way as yet, as it is with road events. A 77% increase in entries means a possible 77% increase in water required. Organizers are however aware of the line entry problem and do make allowances for this but it is very much guess work.

 

2.     We will now however consider applying a ratio of litres of water to number of riders which will be given to organizers and checked by the commissaires. I would expect a ratio of a minimum of about 500ml of water per rider = 400 litres of water for this particular event.

 

3.     The temperature on the day was extremely high, making the intake of water far higher than normal. If you recall the Argus Cycle Tour ran out of water a few years ago and that was after many years of experience on staging this event and with their extensive logistics. Riders were pouring water over their heads to cool themselves down and this was not accounted for!

 

4.     Many of the riders taking part in both the distances on Sunday were apparently inexperienced riders and were not fit enough or prepared enough and many did not carry water bottles or hydration packs and relied solely on the water tables for hydration. Riders need to take some responsibility for themselves as regards self sufficiency, which is the nature of mountainbiking.

 

5.     The water table was placed in a position that it fed the 35km route twice as well as the 75km route twice. The 35km riders normally only have one water table on a short route and not two and with the high temperatures they consumed excessive amounts of water which left the tail enders of the 70km event short.

 

6.     The crew manning the water point did not raise the alarm early enough to the fact that they were running out of water and this created a delay in getting additional replenishment water to them the second time.

 

7.     Cut offs will need considered and imposed at all MTB events in that if a rider cannot complete a race in say double the winners time for that distance they are withdrawn from the course. Having riders taking excessive time is both hazardous to the riders but also means the marshals, medics, timing crews and officials are inconvenienced by riders who are not well enough prepared to take on an event. This problem is experienced across the country and we are reluctant to discourage riders from taking part in events but for their safety is matter will receive urgent attention.

 

8.     Event organizers have a responsibility to provide a safe and well run events and SA MTB appoints race commissaires to monitor the safety and the fairness of the competition but situations like the weather, excessive heat, torrential rain, lightening and flooding can always influence the event and are difficult to plan around.

 

Herewith comment form Simon Nash, one of the event organizers, regarding the incident:-

 

?I could add a number of other factors which contributed to the shortage of water on the day, but the bottom line is that we depended on the sponsor manning the water point to deliver the same level of service that they had in prior years. Unfortunately this was not the case and as event organisers, Kim and I must accept the ultimate responsibility for this. I am not going to insult anyone?s intelligence by making a series of excuses and I would like to thank Terence and Robert for assisting with a very difficult situation.

 

We apologise to all participants who were affected by the water shortage and hope that the balance of the event organisation including the route made up in some small way for this botch up. As most of you are aware, I am not in this for the money, every cent we make goes back into development and it really saddens me that we allowed the event?s standards to slip on this critical issue. I hope that most entrants are going to remember the positives and trust us to get it right next time.?

 

 In conclusion we must apologize, as stated by Simon above and assure you that the incident experienced on Sunday has highlighted a number of shortcoming which will be addressed at the highest level at the SA Mountainbike Commission and addressed for future events..

 

Thank you

 

Richard Durrant

President Commissaire and Technical Commissioner

SA Mountainbike Commission

Cycling South Africa

 

[scotty]

Point 7 will be interesting to see how its implemented.

[HammerHed]

 

Point 7 will be interesting to see how its implemented.

 

Yeah, I can see some poor marshall trying to stop a group of angry MTBers from finishing.

 

How would the Marshall know what the winners finishing time is anyway, radios? That will be a first.

 

[scotty]

Yeah also the matter of transporting riders back that have been stopped. On a road race you either return by truck which will be difficult in a mtb race or your own steam which is will be dangerous and irresponsible to allow.

[Flea]

Good to see that there are some reasons for the water shortage, other than just bad management.

Wonder if the ratio for same-day entry is for other MTB events though - maybe because it was N. Farm people who were going to just ride entered,  but then they should have had their own water?

Anyway lets hope there are some learnings out of this, and not just a blanket cancellation of same-day entries.

[HowellingWulf]

Prizes for all categories to 3^rd place (where applicable' date=' see 8 below) 

[/quote']

Were there prizes for all categories to 3rd place?

Yes there where. Had to turn down my step daughters 3rd place as she had taken a short cut.

Dammit, my fiance was first in her category by we left early cause I felt like crap.... Just yesterday I washed her new white pants together with her new red top... Not been a good week for me...

[HammerHed]

From another email I received from SA-MTB they are talking about event organisers having to be licenced, and by doing this they can better control the standards of events. Sounds good to me.

[YETI575]

The bottom line is that the race organisers failed to react to a potentially dangerous situation.

 

The only water point ran out of water 2 hours into the event (I know I was there), which left plenty of time to react.

 

We can be thankful that nobody was injured.

 

 

[markStockton]

@RB - Doesn't she like riding in pink?

 

@HammerHead - Is this like the MTB seeding system that was to be put in place in 2008?

 

[HammerHed]

 

The bottom line is that the race organisers failed to react to a potentially dangerous situation.

 

The only water point ran out of water 2 hours into the event (I know I was there)' date=' which left plenty of time to react.

 

We can be thankful that nobody was injured.

 [/quote']

 

Yeah, thats why I complained to Cycling SA, thankfully no-one got hurt.

 

The positive is that they are receptive to feedback and welcome it, and want to put mechanisms in place to prevent this kind of thing happening again, one of them being forcing event organisers to conform to SA-MTB standards for races.

 

 

[HowellingWulf]

@RB - Doesn't she like riding in pink?

@HammerHead - Is this like the MTB seeding system that was to be put in place in 2008?

Haha! If only it was her cycling clothes. It was her work clothes - OK that sounds a bit dodgy - her more formal attire.

[HammerHed]

 

@HammerHead - Is this like the MTB seeding system that was to be put in place in 2008?

 

 

One of the things they said to me was that "We are a volunteer group of individuals that make up the SA-MTB and Provincial MTB Committees so sometimes our time and resources are rather stretched!"

 

Any volunteers who want to make a difference I am sure would be appreciated!

 

My feeling is that they really want to help but might lack the resources to implement things. So I guess we must be patient.

 

[markStockton]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have the mtb specific seeding with appropriate grouped starts. This would go a long way to making racing more fun.