Ring Of Kerry Charity Cycle 2016 - **no entry requests/offers**

terrydel

Macy0161 wrote: »

Just got the PFO email (not spammed or any of the other bs excuses that have been given for the delays in the mail).

At least I finally know, even if it does make me even more peed off with the extension they gave for registration. I doubt I'll ever bother entering again.

Yep, not just saying this cos I didnt get in, but its an absolute joke of a setup, theyve ****ed it up royally and should be embarassed by it.

Leroy42

terrydel wrote: »

Yep, not just saying this cos I didnt get in, but its an absolute joke of a setup, theyve ****ed it up royally and should be embarassed by it.

No doubting there is some administration issues over the sending out of the e-mails, but screwing up royally?

They held a lottery, people were notified to join the lottery and many got in and some didn't. They brought in the buddy system so at least you were guaranteed if you got a place you would be with your buddy, you can't expect them to cover everyone in a group if they all apply separately or even allow for more than 1 buddy.
Annoying about the lateness of the e-mails but its only a few days rather than weeks

terrydel

J o e wrote: »

Same here.

Would be interesting to hear how many entries they received. If they already had over the quota at the deadline, it's very bad form to extend the deadline just to grab the extra tenners.

Would be borderline illegal no!!
I'd love to see an audit of the whole process. Seems theyd have had to go out of their way to make a bigger bollix of it than they did.

Macy0161

Leroy42 wrote: »

No, I understand that by extending the deadline they may well have increased the total number of entries and thus decreased the changes of 'winning'.

This is exactly my issue with it though. If they hadn't extended (the long publicised) deadline, our chances would have been better. Not guaranteed, but better, given the numbers of late entries managed to crash their system (again). Although given subsequent processes as well, perhaps it doesn't take much to crash their system.

Anyway, I guess this is irrelevant now - I didn't get in through this process, and I won't be entering the process again, so they can do what they like next and subsequent years as far as I'm concerned.

terrydel

Leroy42 wrote: »

No doubting there is some administration issues over the sending out of the e-mails, but screwing up royally?

They held a lottery, people were notified to join the lottery and many got in and some didn't. They brought in the buddy system so at least you were guaranteed if you got a place you would be with your buddy, you can't expect them to cover everyone in a group if they all apply separately or even allow for more than 1 buddy.
Annoying about the lateness of the e-mails but its only a few days rather than weeks

The email 'issues' smacks of a ****up to me and we havent heard the full story/
And its an even bigger pain when you have paid a non-refundable fee.
And if they extended the deadline despite already having more than the max number of entries required, then they really would deserve a slap. Their complete silence on facebook over the last 24 hours has been very shoddy too.

jon1981

Apparently you have to register by Monday if you have been successful?

I gather a fair few tickets will go back into circulation, I know of one group of 3 where only 1 person in the group was successful, they won't bother going now and will likely sell it. I'm sure there are many more in that situation.

keano25

After cycling the last 5 ROKS I received this today. Thanks to the committee and enjoy the day guys.

The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle would like to take this opportunity to thank you for entering our Lottery system for places in our 2016 charity cycle. Your support and interest in our fundraising event is most appreciated.

 

As you are aware, due to the large numbers of people wanting to be part of this special occasion, we introduced a Lottery system this year to give everyone interested an equal opportunity of entry. Unfortunately, your entry was not successful on this occasion.

 

In the event that any allocated places become available over the next month, we will be in touch again. If not, we hope that you have an enjoyable year cycling and that you will have the opportunity to join us on future charity cycles.

 

Thanks,
The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle Committee

 

Weepsie

I assume that it's a relatively small team of volunteers that does this, and that accounts for some of the issues in communication. The main thing that would have caused me to gripe is the deadline extension. Fair enough if it was open reg and they needed to make up numbers, or people were having difficulties registering, but as it was a lottery advertised for quite some time, I would have challenged them there and then by moving the goalposts in the way they did.

It'd be like buying a lotto ticket, and then they decide to add another 25 balls (well not exactly like), but by having it as a lottery, they should not have been allowed to deviate from their date.

Oh and givin people only a week to register then is also a bit of faff.

Think they need to adopt a different approach, non refundable deposit/holding fee but it guarantees a spot. Do it even earlier. Then payments in another 1 or 2 installments, which if missed, a waiting list can be used.

jon1981

Would an organisation such as ticketmaster not be willing to help out there? Surely they could provide a scalable performant booking portal for a fractional cost or near zero given it's for charity? ROK is clearly one of the biggest charity events in the country, or maybe I'm deluded in thinking they would be that charitable?

keano25

It's a pity there wasn't some sort of loyalty system to people who have been raising money for the cycle in past years.

spookwoman

Would be interesting to see if the people how many of the people who complained got places. Also as someone said how many entered and if the extended the deadline due to numbers down

Boscoirl

Best of luck to everyone who got in, hope ye enjoy the day.

I am off to get the miles under my belt for the ring of beara

cavan4sam

spookwoman wrote:

Would be interesting to see if the people how many of the people who complained got places. Also as someone said how many entered and if the extended the deadline due to numbers down

I'm one of the complainers
Now dont get me wrong i have my place and I'm looking forward to the day itself but the whole registration process leaves a bitter taste .
Its a huge event raising a huge amount of money for charity which is brilliant
But its high time they sorted the sorry mess of registration or made it a 2 day event to accommodate everyone

FMG

I had intended to do the ROK but got laid off in work so will not be using my entry. Is it transferrable ?

Weepsie

cavan4sam wrote: »

I'm one of the complainers
Now dont get me wrong i have my place and I'm looking forward to the day itself but the whole registration process leaves a bitter taste .
Its a huge event raising a huge amount of money for charity which is brilliant
But its high time they sorted the sorry mess of registration or made it a 2 day event to accommodate everyone

Whereas it raises an awful lot of money for charities, and businesses in the area, it probably also causes a massive inconvenience to those who live in the area. Most are gracious enough to be inconvenienced for the days around it as is, but they may well have a take it or leave it approach.

The ring is there every day for you to cycle if you want to, and their are other sportives in the area. So long as they take any constructive feedback on board, and approach registration differently, they'll hopefully get it right.

Spudgun

I got my email today I'm looking forward to it I'd say there will be a great buzz around the place

Macy0161

Are the codes transferable? If I managed to get hold of a code/ link and go in using that code, can I enter my own details rather than the name who was successful in the lottery can anyone confirm?

iwillhtfu

Macy0161 wrote: »

Are the codes transferable? If I managed to get hold of a code/ link and go in using that code, can I enter my own details rather than the name who was successful in the lottery can anyone confirm?

Is imagine you'd have to enter under the successful applicant and then transfer names afterwards.

Although that would make common sense so you never know

10 Carrolls

Macy0161 wrote: »

Are the codes transferable? If I managed to get hold of a code/ link and go in using that code, can I enter my own details rather than the name who was successful in the lottery can anyone confirm?

The following is on the facebook page this morning, it looks ok.

Hi Pat, apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Yes, as long as the code is used within the specified time limit and the new user of the code changes the account details to correspond with name of new fundraiser. Regards, The Ring Of Kerry Charity Cycle

Masala

MODS..... maybe it be a good idea to start a separate thread on Requests for Spare Tickets somewhere else rather than this thread getting swamped with same.

just a thought!

Weepsie

Masala wrote: »

MODS..... maybe it be a good idea to start a separate thread on Requests for Spare Tickets somewhere else rather than this thread getting swamped with same.

just a thought!

Just start one in the adverts section

Beasty

No entry requests or offers in the main forum. Thread was already started in the Cycling Adverts forum (as per charter). please use that as any requests/offers here will be deleted (I'll move the ones already posted)

spookwoman

cavan4sam wrote: »

spookwoman wrote:

Would be interesting to see if the people how many of the people who complained got places. Also as someone said how many entered and if the extended the deadline due to numbers down

I'm one of the complainers
Now dont get me wrong i have my place and I'm looking forward to the day itself but the whole registration process leaves a bitter taste .
Its a huge event raising a huge amount of money for charity which is brilliant
But its high time they sorted the sorry mess of registration or made it a 2 day event to accommodate everyone

Add your reply here.
They have gotten too big for their boots and its no longer charity when its squeezing every last cent out of people when it's already too expensive. I didnt bother and I doubt I will ever take part in it again after the committees behavior. I'm down for the tour de conemara have my place booked etc. and its not even a 100 for the lot

terrydel

spookwoman wrote: »

Add your reply here.
They have gotten too big for their boots and its no longer charity when its squeezing every last cent out of people when it's already too expensive. I didnt bother and I doubt I will ever take part in it again after the committees behavior. I'm down for the tour de conemara have my place booked etc. and its not even a 100 for the lot

Spot on. I've never done it, but after a holiday on the Beara Penisula in November, I decided I'd love to do it and cycle those routes.
In my humble opinion, the whole set up regarding registration is a complete mess, something that should not be difficult and yet theyve made it so.
Lack of communication also unforgiveable. It seems greed has become the primary driver of the event.
I wont be making any further attempt to gain entry.

iwillhtfu

Tour de burren is another great spin although it was more like swimming for most of it last year but still a great day out.

The ROK is a nice cycle but it's the route that makes it a nice cycle to be honest I did it last year the majority on my own met up with a mate about 40k from the finish.

To be honest the throngs of cyclists from know it alls to newbies and the lads complaining about people going to fast people, going to slow, people overtaking etc. I wouldn't be in a rush back to this particular cycle.

If I were to do it again I'd probably do it the day before then spin out to a couple of the land marks points (off the main route) on the day to watch the cyclists then hang around Sat night the buzz in the town is good craic.

In other words the route is much better than the event if ya get me.

Congrats to all that got in I didn't apply this year as I'd rather support charities local to me. I'd agree with the complainers though it is a shambles of an entry system and every year the same supporters are out telling all it's all volunteers and thry'll take on any feedback.

I think at this point the feedback is the volunteers do a great job but are out of their depth get an event specific company to organise entry and cover the fee in the ticket price which imo is already exorbitant taking in ticket/accom/food/merriment.

Hope all those that get in have a great day and hopefully the sun is shining and winds are in your favour.

Roll on 2017 entry it's almost a copy and paste thread each year

Whats happening

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I think at this point the feedback is the volunteers do a great job but are out of their depth get an event specific company to organise entry and cover the fee in the ticket price which imo is already exorbitant taking in ticket/accom/food/merriment.

That's exactly it, good job done no doubt, but when your event grows year on years and has raised €1.85m last year alone it's time to pay for a specific skills set to come in and organise on your behalf, especially the communication, before the people wanting to take part do indeed take their custom elsewhere

ford2600

iwillhtfu wrote: »

In other words the route is much better than the event if ya get me.

Ride it outside of event and tell me it's a lovely route. Not pleasant in sections with traffic

It has some really stunning sections, Glenbeigh to Caherciveen along with the two major climbs but
*Killarney Killorglin is pretty dull(much nicer road on opposite side of river)
*Castlecove to Kenmare is draggy and nothing to get excited about.

This route is a spectacular way of seeing best of Iveragh in a day's cycle
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/11612185

Be warned the lap of Caragh lake isn't exactly flat..

ROK is a great event and unique in calendar, probably a victim of it's own success

terrydel

Whats happening wrote: »

That's exactly it, good job done no doubt, but when your event grows year on years and has raised €1.85m last year alone it's time to pay for a specific skills set to come in and organise on your behalf, especially the communication, before the people wanting to take part do indeed take their custom elsewhere

What exactly are Eventmaster doing for them do you know?
Are they at fault here?

If they had 11001 on the deadline day for registration, and the limit was 11000, then there should have been no extension. I dont know if this ahs been the case, but I really hope not.

iwillhtfu

ford2600 wrote: »

Ride it outside of event and tell me it's a lovely route. Not pleasant in sections with traffic

No different from any other route that's on a main road in a tourist area.

The route doesn't change regardless.

Of course there's a million and one nicer places to cycle. What's your point?:rolleyes:

Macy0161

terrydel wrote: »

If they had 11001 on the deadline day for registration, and the limit was 11000, then there should have been no extension. I dont know if this ahs been the case, but I really hope not.

As I understand it, the lottery was for the 11,000 minus whatever is already allocated to the specific charities, so it was probably a good bit less than 11,000 (I think I read it was 6,000 places but I could be just pulling it of the air) .