On to something a little more important yet lighthearted. I think it is time I introduced everyone to a couple of friends of mine. I think I should admit right up front that these are imaginary friends. They have been with me for years and taught me many things. My hope is that their stories will be as educational and entertaining for you as they have been for me. The first introduction I would like to make is Richard Harda. I have known Richard for about 20 years now. His main purpose in life is to screw up. A quick example of something Richard would do is to try running with no socks for the first time during a race and end up with blisters so bad he finished the race with shoes full of blood. The lessons from Richard will be that you can do things the easy way or you can do them the Harda way. You will also realize when you do something the Harda way that we all have a little Dick in us. Dick is, of course, just short for Richard.
The second friend you need to meet is Billy Bo Jim Bob, and as you may have guessed he is a redneck. Billy Bo first appeared one day when a bunch of friends and I were skipping school, hanging out at a lake, drinking beer and telling lies. To the best of my recolection the lie he appeared in had to do with having a flat tire on the Ford Sedan Delivery I was living in back during the great depression. I didn't have a jack and Billy Bo came by and lifted up the vehicle while I changed the tire. Not only did does he have that freakish strength, he has a wisdom that seems to evade most of us who participate in sport. His main job is to point out how silly the things we do seem to rational people. When I get obsessed with running a 100 mile trail race where the prize is a belt buckle. I tend to loose track of everything else in life. Billy Bo would say something along the lines of "sit your ass down, drink a beer, enjoy life and I will go to Wal Mart and buy you a belt buckle".
You can learn the same lessons about the sports that we do from many different sources. They seem to always be presented in much the same way. Hopefully with the help of my friends we can do it with a little more entertainment value.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Athletes, Money, and Rules
Some days make me question what the hell I am doing this for. Life would be much simpler to get a real job and just punch a clock.
Most days I know why I do it. For the athletes. In the process of putting on all these events I have given up all training myself and gone broke. The only pleasure in doing it is the athletes. When someone shows up for their first race, totally unsure of themselves or what they are doing, the excitement they have when they finish is great. To see that person develop as an athlete is even better, but to see that athlete grow as a person is priceless. There are several athletes out there who I watched struggle through their fist race who have now not only developed into good athletes, but great people. They have become mentors to newer athletes and are always there to help whenever needed.
Yesterday at the Shelbyville Chiropractic Triathlon was one of those days when a few people really made me want to hang it all up.
Leading up to the event everything was looking great. So much so that when the State Parks called needing help with a 5K I was able to send a couple of people and some computers over to score the race for them. No problems they work well with me and I was happy to lend a couple of hands.
As is often the case Cynthia and I stayed up all night getting things set up for the race. Ever notice that most races have an organization involved such as a charity or university. That's because when you do it yourself you do everything, but sleep.
Things started to go a little off on race morning. We had a ball team committed to volunteering for the race. They called early that morning to let us know that their game had gotten rained out the night before and they were making it up that morning. OK, now that sucked. But, you do what you have to do and they had a game to play. We just adjusted fire. Half the volunteers gone and paying two people to go work a free job. Not good.
The next problem was traffic control. The park gave us their on duty Park Ranger and we Hired all the off duty ones. Cynthia had a meeting with them several days before the race and everyone knew their duties. At 8:00 on race morning one of the Rangers tells us that they will not stop traffic at the traffic light and the athletes must obey the light. Not good. Actually USAT rules state very clearly that athletes must obey all applicable traffic laws. The winner of a Triathlon out in California years ago was actually disqualified for running a stop sign and lost a big chunk of prize money. We of course did not want this light to be an issue so we made a desperate call to the Sheriff and were able to get on duty officers to cover the intersection. The problem was that if an emergency arose some place else the officers would have to respond.
The first issue that arose is an easy one to address. At least for me. One athlete came up to me and complained of no mike markers on the run. He was 100% correct. The problem with that part of our conversation was that I have mile markers for a 10K and I could not find them the night before. Cynthia complained about it. So when I get an athlete complaint I have to admit that that she was right. First she kicks my untrained ass in a marathon and now I have to say those dreaded words "you were right". This athlete made the comment before knowing that I had the signs in some location unknown to me that he was a professional person and would be willing to pay more to do races with more of those type things.
I love people with money, and wish I could be more like them. The problem is this, for every person who comes up and says they would pay more to do a race I have 10 complain that races are already to expensive. Many people, myself included do very few races because of the cost.
So what to do? Seems like a simple case of supply and demand. Kentucky is a small market for triathlon. Most states average races have more participants than our largest (excluding Ironman of course). So to increase the cost of races to improve them reduces the number of people who can do them which starts a circle of needing to charge more to cover expenses, which excludes even more etc, etc.
The answer to better races while not making them overly exclusive is more sponsorship revenue. That is an easy answer but a hard thing to accomplish. First of all I am not a great salesman. Secondly sponsors want things we have already touched on. They want numbers which are hard to get in a small market. Or they want to be tied to a charity or large organization in an overt way. Last year we donated more money from our races than we were able to keep for ourselves. As an example half of all profit from yesterdays race goes to Shelby County Parks. We also pay volunteer groups at all our races. These groups range from high school sports teams to TNT athletes. Sponsors do not get acknowledgement for those types of donations so they are meaningless to them. Two people trying to help a church youth group and 200 triathletes really does not mean shit to a sponsor.
Let that be a lesson to everyone out there. If you do a race that Headfirst Performance or anybody else puts on and you see or hear the name of a sponsor support that sponsor if at all possible, because they are making your passion possible. Even if you have no need for their product or service send a note or an email of thanks for sponsoring the event.
Any help with sponsorship ideas, leads etc from anybody is greatly appreciated.
Now the biggie the question of rules.
We had an issue with a turn on the course. The issue was that several people took it and should not have. The best I can tell is 11 people took the wrong turn and all of these people came up and admitted it. The funny thing from my standpoint is that all these people are fast. They normally win races outright or at least win their age groups. None of the slower athletes missed took the turn or at least corrected their mistake when they did. I seem to recall from a past time in my life when I could be competitive that there is a lot going on in your mind that makes it easy to miss details.
Almost all the athletes who took the turn were very gracious. I'll speak of the those that were not in a bit. What we decdto do was to create a separate division for those that took the turn and just make it a shorter race. That was the best way we could think of to appease as many people as possible.
Now lets get into rules. I heard after the race that one of the athletes who made the turn was going to have me shut down because I do not follow the rules. OK granted there were some rules not followed and lets take a look at them.
I broke the rule that says that anybody cutting the course should be disqualified. I decided to make as many people happy as possible.
Actually there is a rule saying that it is the responsibility of the athlete to know the course. We posted a map on the website. had individual maps at the race, posted a large map, and posted written instructions. At the pre race meeting we covered everything. Athletes were told to follow on white arrows on the ground and each turn would be marked by a plastic arrow stuck in the ground. Athletes were informed that on the particular road they would be riding they would go all the way to Bagdad and take a right at the fire station onto 395. They were told there would be a volunteer and someone taking photos at the turn. At the turn they made there was no white arrow, no plastic arrow, no town, no fire station, no 395, no volunteer and no photos.
I admit in a perfect world there would have been a volunteer at every possible side road,dirt road,and driveway, This is not a perfect world and did I mention the volunteers who could not show up.
That's one I broke, but that is not even the one I am supposed to get in trouble for.
The first one is that I did not ask every person for an ID at registration. Guilty as charged. Even though I know 90% of you personally I am supposed to ask you for your proof of ID at every race. Which means in this particular case that I had to make you stand in line for longer because we had no more volunteers (did I mention that?). That would have meant we start the race late. Late even for me. everybody loves that. You guys, the fire department water patrol, the volunteers on the course and the people who run the lake. Everyone who expects things to happen on schedule.
That's two. I am really starting to feel like a terrible person.
Thirdly I am accused of violating some type of rule when I announced that the sheriff's officers may have to leave in case of an emergency. As I pointed out earlier if that was to happen there would still be a Park Ranger in uniform with a car with flashing lights at the intersection, who would make sure the traffic signal was followed by everyone. My announcement included athletes must follow directions of the official at this intersection. Remember the rule about applicable traffic rules?
Fairly certain I did nothing there. Makes me feel a little better about myself.
So that's it. I will be out of business because I did not disqualify people or ask everyone for an ID. Do I really want to be in business if that is the case.
But wait there were a few more rules broke.
There are only two of the most commonly violated rules on the USAT list that mean automatic disqualification.
One involves not wearing a helmet. We had someone fly out of T1 with no helmet. A volunteer stopped them and they came back to get it. A simple oversight. I made the call that the time they spent going back to get the helmet was a sufficient penalty.
Shit, I guess I just never disqualify enough people.
The other automatic disqualification reads like this "Foul, harsh, argumentative or abusive language or other unsportsmanlike conduct directed at race officials, USA Triathlon officials, volunteers, spectators or fellow athletes is forbidden"
In any business there will be complaints from time to time. Most of the time these these complaints are presented in a civil manner and handled in the same way. Of course there are exceptions to that.
We had one person who came into T2 screaming and yelling. They made a very public showing of there complaint. Later I found out that this same person went off at a volunteer on the course. The volunteer was not a triathlete so was not very impressed with being yelled out and told of the athlete's resume which somehow gave them the right to yell.
Did I mention the same person who is going to have me shut down for the small rules is the one who broke this last one. Funny thing that.
Why do I do this again?
Most days I know why I do it. For the athletes. In the process of putting on all these events I have given up all training myself and gone broke. The only pleasure in doing it is the athletes. When someone shows up for their first race, totally unsure of themselves or what they are doing, the excitement they have when they finish is great. To see that person develop as an athlete is even better, but to see that athlete grow as a person is priceless. There are several athletes out there who I watched struggle through their fist race who have now not only developed into good athletes, but great people. They have become mentors to newer athletes and are always there to help whenever needed.
Yesterday at the Shelbyville Chiropractic Triathlon was one of those days when a few people really made me want to hang it all up.
Leading up to the event everything was looking great. So much so that when the State Parks called needing help with a 5K I was able to send a couple of people and some computers over to score the race for them. No problems they work well with me and I was happy to lend a couple of hands.
As is often the case Cynthia and I stayed up all night getting things set up for the race. Ever notice that most races have an organization involved such as a charity or university. That's because when you do it yourself you do everything, but sleep.
Things started to go a little off on race morning. We had a ball team committed to volunteering for the race. They called early that morning to let us know that their game had gotten rained out the night before and they were making it up that morning. OK, now that sucked. But, you do what you have to do and they had a game to play. We just adjusted fire. Half the volunteers gone and paying two people to go work a free job. Not good.
The next problem was traffic control. The park gave us their on duty Park Ranger and we Hired all the off duty ones. Cynthia had a meeting with them several days before the race and everyone knew their duties. At 8:00 on race morning one of the Rangers tells us that they will not stop traffic at the traffic light and the athletes must obey the light. Not good. Actually USAT rules state very clearly that athletes must obey all applicable traffic laws. The winner of a Triathlon out in California years ago was actually disqualified for running a stop sign and lost a big chunk of prize money. We of course did not want this light to be an issue so we made a desperate call to the Sheriff and were able to get on duty officers to cover the intersection. The problem was that if an emergency arose some place else the officers would have to respond.
The first issue that arose is an easy one to address. At least for me. One athlete came up to me and complained of no mike markers on the run. He was 100% correct. The problem with that part of our conversation was that I have mile markers for a 10K and I could not find them the night before. Cynthia complained about it. So when I get an athlete complaint I have to admit that that she was right. First she kicks my untrained ass in a marathon and now I have to say those dreaded words "you were right". This athlete made the comment before knowing that I had the signs in some location unknown to me that he was a professional person and would be willing to pay more to do races with more of those type things.
I love people with money, and wish I could be more like them. The problem is this, for every person who comes up and says they would pay more to do a race I have 10 complain that races are already to expensive. Many people, myself included do very few races because of the cost.
So what to do? Seems like a simple case of supply and demand. Kentucky is a small market for triathlon. Most states average races have more participants than our largest (excluding Ironman of course). So to increase the cost of races to improve them reduces the number of people who can do them which starts a circle of needing to charge more to cover expenses, which excludes even more etc, etc.
The answer to better races while not making them overly exclusive is more sponsorship revenue. That is an easy answer but a hard thing to accomplish. First of all I am not a great salesman. Secondly sponsors want things we have already touched on. They want numbers which are hard to get in a small market. Or they want to be tied to a charity or large organization in an overt way. Last year we donated more money from our races than we were able to keep for ourselves. As an example half of all profit from yesterdays race goes to Shelby County Parks. We also pay volunteer groups at all our races. These groups range from high school sports teams to TNT athletes. Sponsors do not get acknowledgement for those types of donations so they are meaningless to them. Two people trying to help a church youth group and 200 triathletes really does not mean shit to a sponsor.
Let that be a lesson to everyone out there. If you do a race that Headfirst Performance or anybody else puts on and you see or hear the name of a sponsor support that sponsor if at all possible, because they are making your passion possible. Even if you have no need for their product or service send a note or an email of thanks for sponsoring the event.
Any help with sponsorship ideas, leads etc from anybody is greatly appreciated.
Now the biggie the question of rules.
We had an issue with a turn on the course. The issue was that several people took it and should not have. The best I can tell is 11 people took the wrong turn and all of these people came up and admitted it. The funny thing from my standpoint is that all these people are fast. They normally win races outright or at least win their age groups. None of the slower athletes missed took the turn or at least corrected their mistake when they did. I seem to recall from a past time in my life when I could be competitive that there is a lot going on in your mind that makes it easy to miss details.
Almost all the athletes who took the turn were very gracious. I'll speak of the those that were not in a bit. What we decdto do was to create a separate division for those that took the turn and just make it a shorter race. That was the best way we could think of to appease as many people as possible.
Now lets get into rules. I heard after the race that one of the athletes who made the turn was going to have me shut down because I do not follow the rules. OK granted there were some rules not followed and lets take a look at them.
I broke the rule that says that anybody cutting the course should be disqualified. I decided to make as many people happy as possible.
Actually there is a rule saying that it is the responsibility of the athlete to know the course. We posted a map on the website. had individual maps at the race, posted a large map, and posted written instructions. At the pre race meeting we covered everything. Athletes were told to follow on white arrows on the ground and each turn would be marked by a plastic arrow stuck in the ground. Athletes were informed that on the particular road they would be riding they would go all the way to Bagdad and take a right at the fire station onto 395. They were told there would be a volunteer and someone taking photos at the turn. At the turn they made there was no white arrow, no plastic arrow, no town, no fire station, no 395, no volunteer and no photos.
I admit in a perfect world there would have been a volunteer at every possible side road,dirt road,and driveway, This is not a perfect world and did I mention the volunteers who could not show up.
That's one I broke, but that is not even the one I am supposed to get in trouble for.
The first one is that I did not ask every person for an ID at registration. Guilty as charged. Even though I know 90% of you personally I am supposed to ask you for your proof of ID at every race. Which means in this particular case that I had to make you stand in line for longer because we had no more volunteers (did I mention that?). That would have meant we start the race late. Late even for me. everybody loves that. You guys, the fire department water patrol, the volunteers on the course and the people who run the lake. Everyone who expects things to happen on schedule.
That's two. I am really starting to feel like a terrible person.
Thirdly I am accused of violating some type of rule when I announced that the sheriff's officers may have to leave in case of an emergency. As I pointed out earlier if that was to happen there would still be a Park Ranger in uniform with a car with flashing lights at the intersection, who would make sure the traffic signal was followed by everyone. My announcement included athletes must follow directions of the official at this intersection. Remember the rule about applicable traffic rules?
Fairly certain I did nothing there. Makes me feel a little better about myself.
So that's it. I will be out of business because I did not disqualify people or ask everyone for an ID. Do I really want to be in business if that is the case.
But wait there were a few more rules broke.
There are only two of the most commonly violated rules on the USAT list that mean automatic disqualification.
One involves not wearing a helmet. We had someone fly out of T1 with no helmet. A volunteer stopped them and they came back to get it. A simple oversight. I made the call that the time they spent going back to get the helmet was a sufficient penalty.
Shit, I guess I just never disqualify enough people.
The other automatic disqualification reads like this "Foul, harsh, argumentative or abusive language or other unsportsmanlike conduct directed at race officials, USA Triathlon officials, volunteers, spectators or fellow athletes is forbidden"
In any business there will be complaints from time to time. Most of the time these these complaints are presented in a civil manner and handled in the same way. Of course there are exceptions to that.
We had one person who came into T2 screaming and yelling. They made a very public showing of there complaint. Later I found out that this same person went off at a volunteer on the course. The volunteer was not a triathlete so was not very impressed with being yelled out and told of the athlete's resume which somehow gave them the right to yell.
Did I mention the same person who is going to have me shut down for the small rules is the one who broke this last one. Funny thing that.
Why do I do this again?
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