Race4(peanuts)victory

[mallo]

Just some infor past Sunday was the "City to City" road race, first prize =R250000-00, now that is worth 2H58minutes of racing.

[porky]

I am not sure you can change the format of races in this country without a MASSIVE loss of participants.

 

I am a fanatical runner, and a part time cyclist, swimmer, canoeist any endurance activity really, I have been competing for 30 years or more in running, plus, I have been involved in quite a few race organisations, so I know a bit as well, and frankly, South Africans are not great SPECTATORS, but they are great PARTICIPANTS.

 

Let me explain, even though I am a keen runner, cyclist etc, unless, I am participating its highly unlikely I will go spectate, (however I will go watch the bokke play or the Proteas etc) and I am not alone in this.

 

Why wont I go spectate, well, its boring, frankly, endurance activities like cycling,running etc have poor spectator value because the course takes the particpants away from the spectators and one only gets to see a very small portion of the event as opposed to a stadium game, and of course, once the winner crosses the line, we all go home.!

 

Whats the enjoyment factor in that?

 

Stand around in the hot sun for three hours, watch the winner cross the line and go home. I (and millions of others) have no interest in watching the 20th place finisher, or the 200th or the 2000th or heaven forbid, 20.000 finisher,unless its friends or family.

 

However I will go and watch a top level rugby match, or a cricket match or even soccer because I am watching 90 odd minutes of the countries / worlds best, I can watch everything unfold before me, theres great entertainment before and during the match, (cheerleaders, jokers, dancing girls) theres even supporting games on occassion, cycling (and running) take themselves far too seriously, spectators want entertainment, they want to enjoy the day, and a few bikes going around a course is just part of it. 

 

Hang man, I even tried to go watch track racing once, shee, never been so bored in my entire life, nothing happened, there was no vibe, no excitement, no buzz, not even any music, everyone looked deathly serious and were all huddled around in whispering groups, cracking a smile was a definate no-no..............I left after 40 minutes and it was 35 minutes too long.!

 

Compared to a buzzing, vibey,exciting rugby match??........................its no wonder this dicipline of cycling is almost dead.

 

 

 

porky2009-09-30 08:21:34

[skelmpie]

This is where the key lies for organisers. Too change the opinions of people like porky. This an opinion shared by most, as it is the truth. Cycling in South Africa has very little spectator value and a spectator standing by the finish line, doesn't get too see what happened and its unlikely that he/she will ever be able to find out with the qaulity of post-event PR. What is ideal would be big screen TV's feeding an live stream with commentary. But that is an impossiblity for South African cycling until races are capable of attracting a couple thousand of spectators. For now organisers should look into lap racing (im not saying 45min criteriums, which by the way the number of which should also increase). Maybe having an 100-120km loop and 50-60km on a 5km lap at the end is the best solution to bring racing to the people.

Racing should also be brought closer towards the suburbs and residential area's, instead in the middle of nowhere, so the average south african can actually attend these races. This is where races like the zoo lake and tour of soweto has got right. This promotes the sport of cycling greatly.

Finally racing should not be done at such unearthly times as it currently is done. I mean having a race finish at 8-9am....how big is the crowd going to be??

[porky]

Finally racing should not be done at such unearthly times as it currently is done. I mean having a race finish at 8-9am....how big is the crowd going to be??

 

Yah, another good point skelmpie, especially when its held on a sunday, people get up at the crack of dawn all week, so come Sunday, many want to relax a bit, enjoy a leisurely breakfast with the family, and THEN take themselves off to an event.

 

Few spectators are going to get up at 4am to go stand in the dark and watch a cycle race. 

 

So, sadly, by the time most people are ready and going out, all cycling events are over, the hot dog vendor has gone home and the 20000 th finisher is coming in, okay its great for them and I have all respect, but I personally find little excitement in it.

 

 

 

porky2009-09-30 14:12:23