Rafe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rafeosha) wrote,@ 2006-06-06 15:06:00 |
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My letter to Frank Dobbs and Lake Geneva Extreme Sports
I participated in the Lake Delavan Triathlon today and I am absolutely appalled at how this event was run. As a graduate student I am on a tight budget, and as you must be aware, triathlon is an expensive sport. I spend my summer doing research abroad, so with my budget and my schedule, I only had time for one triathlon this year. One. And, unfortunately for me, I chose yours.
How can you run a triathlon, charge $99 as an entry fee, and be so cavalier about how it is run? Do you not understand how people put so much of themselves into races like this? Even in a race early in the season you are going to have participants who are doing their first ever race, maybe their first attempt at this distance, or even their A race, and you should be ashamed of the shoddy job you have done.
When you give directions at the pre-race meeting, reversing them at the start of the race is not a good idea. Not everybody heard that the Olympic swim course could return between the buoys. I certainly didn’t, and was very confused when everybody turned right around.
As for the bike course, for less than the price of one entry fee you could have produced ample signs to mark the course. Signs bigger than 6 inches by 12 inches, with “Bike Course” or “Triathlon” written on them so that they don’t look exactly like the little signs posted to show the direction to house for sale. And are there no universities in Wisconsin? At every university in the nation there are groups of students interested in doing community service. Having a warm body at every turn should not be difficult! And, just so you know, telling those warm bodies which way to point is also important. I was actually directed off the course by a pair of your volunteers, and I sincerely doubt it was their fault.
I read through your entire site, and was at the pre-race meeting, and there was never a single mention of the rules on drafting in this race. I asked several people on the bike, and one response sums up your entire race, “I don’t think this race has any rules.” At least 53 people on a ‘non-standard bike course.’ More than one non-standard bike course since, as you well know, there were people going anywhere between 15 and 42 miles.
It should tell you something that there were only 10 people left in the tent for the Olympic results. I stayed because I wanted to see how you dealt with this issue, and I was once again disappointed. Unless you are planning to compile an email to all of the 83 people in the Olympic race (which somehow I doubt) there are approximately 5 people who heard you offer a spot in any of your races in this year, and I have told two others. As you heard from the outburst following your announcement, this is not a solution, although some people may take it. After this experience, do you really expect people to want to participate in another one of your events? And what do you plan to do for the people who cannot attend your other races, like me, even if they wanted to.
As I said before, I will be out of the country conducting research for the entire summer. Since I cannot attend any of your other events this year, I ask that my entry fee be refunded.
I participated in the Lake Delavan Triathlon today and I am absolutely appalled at how this event was run. As a graduate student I am on a tight budget, and as you must be aware, triathlon is an expensive sport. I spend my summer doing research abroad, so with my budget and my schedule, I only had time for one triathlon this year. One. And, unfortunately for me, I chose yours.
How can you run a triathlon, charge $99 as an entry fee, and be so cavalier about how it is run? Do you not understand how people put so much of themselves into races like this? Even in a race early in the season you are going to have participants who are doing their first ever race, maybe their first attempt at this distance, or even their A race, and you should be ashamed of the shoddy job you have done.
When you give directions at the pre-race meeting, reversing them at the start of the race is not a good idea. Not everybody heard that the Olympic swim course could return between the buoys. I certainly didn’t, and was very confused when everybody turned right around.
As for the bike course, for less than the price of one entry fee you could have produced ample signs to mark the course. Signs bigger than 6 inches by 12 inches, with “Bike Course” or “Triathlon” written on them so that they don’t look exactly like the little signs posted to show the direction to house for sale. And are there no universities in Wisconsin? At every university in the nation there are groups of students interested in doing community service. Having a warm body at every turn should not be difficult! And, just so you know, telling those warm bodies which way to point is also important. I was actually directed off the course by a pair of your volunteers, and I sincerely doubt it was their fault.
I read through your entire site, and was at the pre-race meeting, and there was never a single mention of the rules on drafting in this race. I asked several people on the bike, and one response sums up your entire race, “I don’t think this race has any rules.” At least 53 people on a ‘non-standard bike course.’ More than one non-standard bike course since, as you well know, there were people going anywhere between 15 and 42 miles.
It should tell you something that there were only 10 people left in the tent for the Olympic results. I stayed because I wanted to see how you dealt with this issue, and I was once again disappointed. Unless you are planning to compile an email to all of the 83 people in the Olympic race (which somehow I doubt) there are approximately 5 people who heard you offer a spot in any of your races in this year, and I have told two others. As you heard from the outburst following your announcement, this is not a solution, although some people may take it. After this experience, do you really expect people to want to participate in another one of your events? And what do you plan to do for the people who cannot attend your other races, like me, even if they wanted to.
As I said before, I will be out of the country conducting research for the entire summer. Since I cannot attend any of your other events this year, I ask that my entry fee be refunded.
