Caroline Kearney Triathlon

boysinblack

Extremely disappointed with how Midland Tri club are running Caroline Kearney this year. Announced on Friday that they are turning the their 65 euro to enter triathlon into a duathlon offering now refunds or deferral. Will now not respond to anyone’s messages on the race!

To top it all off Celtic Warrior triathlon was run in lillyput on Saturday and had a swim! The race orgibaisers posted the elicoli numbers which where at safe levels!!

peter kern

Sometimes its good to trust a race that has done a vert good job for many years....
If races make early decisoms people complain if races make late deciso.s people complain. Such as uk and Hamburg people complain. Race whats on offer and all is good.

boysinblack wrote: »

Extremely disappointed with how Midland Tri club are running Caroline Kearney this year. Announced on Friday that they are turning the their 65 euro to enter triathlon into a duathlon offering now refunds or deferral. Will now not respond to anyone’s messages on the race!

To top it all off Celtic Warrior triathlon was run in lillyput on Saturday and had a swim! The race orgibaisers posted the elicoli numbers which where at safe levels!!

EC1000

boysinblack wrote: »

Extremely disappointed with how Midland Tri club are running Caroline Kearney this year. Announced on Friday that they are turning the their 65 euro to enter triathlon into a duathlon offering now refunds or deferral. Will now not respond to anyone’s messages on the race!

To top it all off Celtic Warrior triathlon was run in lillyput on Saturday and had a swim! The race orgibaisers posted the elicoli numbers which where at safe levels!!

Believe me when I say that this decision was not taken lightly and was only taken when no other option was available. The ecoli numbers differ depending on where exactly the tests are completed (and they are numerous and frequent). The alternative entry/exit does not work for the numbers involved in CK.

The committee have been working tirelessly all weekend to ensure that everything is in place to run a good event next weekend. As you will be aware, cancellation of a swim in triathlon is not unheard of and was taken with the interests of competitors in mind. I have been at races where the swim has been cancelled on the morning itself but the decision was made to be transparent and allow people to prepare properly. It is still a NS race with NS points on offer.

Btw, i am not on the committee this year and do not purport to speak for the committee.

Jellofish

Are they offering refunds/deferrals? I can't see anything on their website or Facebook page about how to get one?

Bertje14

As I fully understand that this can happen the communication from CK has been poor.

1 mail and 1 facebook post to say it changes. They only mentioned poor water quality. What it was/is, has still not being communicated. At this stage we all know but officially we don't.

Not information on refunds or transfers. Well not that I could see. I wasn't really looking as I am still racing.

It is disappointing but hey worse things can happen. Look at Tyrone look at Top of the Mourne. At least we still have a race but yes communication has been pretty poor.

Looking forward to race briefing today.

boysinblack

EC1000 wrote: »

Believe me when I say that this decision was not taken lightly and was only taken when no other option was available. The ecoli numbers differ depending on where exactly the tests are completed (and they are numerous and frequent). The alternative entry/exit does not work for the numbers involved in CK.

The committee have been working tirelessly all weekend to ensure that everything is in place to run a good event next weekend. As you will be aware, cancellation of a swim in triathlon is not unheard of and was taken with the interests of competitors in mind. I have been at races where the swim has been cancelled on the morning itself but the decision was made to be transparent and allow people to prepare properly. It is still a NS race with NS points on offer.

Btw, i am not on the committee this year and do not purport to speak for the committee.

You make some very good points in the above that I was not aware of, the real issue now has become the lack of communication from the committee. The points above need to be communicated to the general public. The fact celtic warrior went ahead and the annoyance at fact that midlands tri club weren't responding on email or facebook was all people where talking about in loughrea at the weekend.

Bertje14

not only in Loughrea I can tell you that. Plus the amount of people that have dropped out because of the swim being cancelled is beyond believe.

I don't agree with it like someone else said here you race what you get in front of you.

having said that in some cases i can understand it. if you have an injury looming and you have IM 70.3 coming up.

i know a very annoyed clubmember that has to do it because he needs to get standard distance in for his NS. Still he will do it.

EC1000

boysinblack wrote: »

the real issue now has become the lack of communication from the committee. The points above need to be communicated to the general public. The fact celtic warrior went ahead and the annoyance at fact that midlands tri club weren't responding on email or facebook was all people where talking about in loughrea at the weekend.

I'll bow out here as I don't want to step on anyone's toes. However, it was communicated last week by email to each competitor and then social media so I'm not sure what else is needed? The water readings are publicly available online if people want to know the exact levels.

Bertje14

people are just pissed off because the swim is cancelled. I don't think you are stepping on anybody's toes to be honest. if you are they have very long toes

don't forget that some people are very happy with the swim being cancelled as well :D:D:D

Like **** this happens as well. Move on. Race if you want/can. If you don't want to or can't don't. Yes is 65 euro down the drain if you don't. That is unfortunate but hey...worse things in life. you could be injured and you can't race at all.

dapower

Not sure what more they can do - I think they've handled it as best they can, reacting to circumstances. (a) they notified people at least 2 weeks before, confirming more than 1 week before (b) a bathing ban is in place by the county council, so they have said the water is polluted with bacteria (c) for safety/insurance reasons, I guess they couldn't allow people swim (d) if you want to swim at your own risk anytime, go for it. 
Yes everyone wants to do a triathlon - but the organisers have put months into this. Look at all the races that have had forced changes due to roadworks, weather or other events - Kilkee, IM Dun Laoghaire, Blessington, DCT, Top of the Mourne, Tyrone. It creates a lot of unplanned work for a team, so I respect their decision. Btw, I'm not racing so have no vested interest.
Water quality results available for all on www.beaches.ie - https://www.beaches.ie/find-a-beach/#/beach/IESHBWL25_188_0100

RacoonQueen

I've never seen so many entries available for a race. Lots of people have no interest in a long duathlon it seems, at least they have been given time to transfer anyway and/or enter alternative race.

Bertje14

I get a feeling there is a bit of snobbery as well. In the sense that is a duathlon I am not doing that.

toomuchdetail

It was a tough decision for the organisers and I believe the decision made was the best option available to them .An option on a deferral to next year would have worked better than having no options other than to race or lose out . I was looking forward to it but would struggle with driving from Mayo for a duathlon. I would have thought that the run would have been shorter to start with than a 5k run based on what IM Hamburg did with their 6k run to start instead of the 3.8k swim. Midland put on a good show so I am sure it will be a great summer duathlon.

RacoonQueen

Bertje14 wrote: »

I get a feeling there is a bit of snobbery as well. In the sense that is a duathlon I am not doing that.

Ah I don't think so. Duathlon is a different baby. I was mulling over doing CK but once there was no swim I had no interest. Many triathletes traditionally hate running so the extra run won't appeal to them. I wouldn't call what I'm currently doing 'running' so the extra run doesn't appeal to me.
But look, tough call for CK and many people probably think they made it too early but if they'd waited till Wednesday or Thursday to make the call people would have been pissed off. No win situation.

Bertje14

I am not holding it against them. They did what they had to do and they did it to the best of their abilities.

For myself I am happy when I am out of the water. Of the 3 I probably prefer the bike the best. Running is running isn't it

I just didn't expect so many people to drop out to be honest. If you look at the Phoenix Park Duathlons. They are always well attended.

I say the 5k is throwing a lot of people of considering they only did 6k to cancel swim in IM Hamburg.

Ah sure it will be an experience. Did a recce on the distance last Saturday and I found it quit though.

I let you all know how it went anyway :D:D

RacoonQueen

Generally when a run is cancelled the run distance selected should take people around the same time as it would to do the swim - 20-30mins for 5k seems about right to match a 1500m swim. But 15k is a lot of running for a lot of triathletes.

Bertje14

well you will be running 6 more in 70.3 :D:D:D:D:D

peter kern

Bertje14 wrote: »

people are just pissed off because the swim is cancelled. I don't think you are stepping on anybody's toes to be honest. if you are they have very long toes

don't forget that some people are very happy with the swim being cancelled as well :D:D:D

Like **** this happens as well. Move on. Race if you want/can. If you don't want to or can't don't. Yes is 65 euro down the drain if you don't. That is unfortunate but hey...worse things in life. you could be injured and you can't race at all.

its extremly unlikely that sombody that can do an oly race could not do and oly duathlon... a duathlon is harder but its still managable especially for many people who are weak swimmers .



as for ironman now most people cant run 42 k off the bike so if you would let them run 14 k which would be similar to 3.8 swim that would not work for many .so in a way it makes perfect sense to have just a 6 k run instead of swim.

boysinblack

Over 200 people not started today in CK speaks for itself ...

Bertje14

I am just back from doing it. Lord that was though

EC1000

boysinblack wrote: »

Over 200 people not started today in CK speaks for itself ...

Care to elaborate? Did you race?

Bertje14

EC1000 wrote: »

Care to elaborate? Did you race?

I did and hey what can I say. The organization was great but weird kind of atmosphere. The "love" wasnt there.

Race was though. A lot of people not happy afterwards. Thinking of skipping this one next year.

If it would be duathlon again i wouldnt race it. It is a different animal.

That is my take on it.

griffin100

What were people not happy with, the duathlon or the tough course?

EC1000

Bertje14 wrote: »

I did and hey what can I say. The organization was great but weird kind of atmosphere. The "love" wasnt there.

Race was though. A lot of people not happy afterwards. Thinking of skipping this one next year.

If it would be duathlon again i wouldnt race it. It is a different animal.

That is my take on it.

Agreed, the atmosphere was definitely more muted, a duathlon doesn't have the same atmosphere as a triathlon.

First time in 11 editions that swim was cancelled so would hope it's a once off. Wouldn't enter a duathlon myself either but you have to deal with the unexpected. Two IM races had cancelled swims recently also. Hope you were happy with your time and thanks for feedback.

Bertje14

EC1000 wrote: »

Agreed, the atmosphere was definitely more muted, a duathlon doesn't have the same atmosphere as a triathlon.

First time in 11 editions that swim was cancelled so would hope it's a once off. Wouldn't enter a duathlon myself either but you have to deal with the unexpected. Two IM races had cancelled swims recently also. Hope you were happy with your time and thanks for feedback.

I am happy enough just very sore legs ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜

Bertje14

griffin100 wrote: »

What were people not happy with, the duathlon or the tough course?

Duathlon i would reckon.

griffin100

Bertje14 wrote: »

Duathlon i would reckon.

As part of a race organisation committee having to change to a duathlon is one of our nightmare scenarios, especially if the call has to be made on the day. At least there was some notice and a choice to pull out here.

EC1000

griffin100 wrote: »

As part of a race organisation committee having to change to a duathlon is one of our nightmare scenarios, especially if the call has to be made on the day. At least there was some notice and a choice to pull out here.

I can't put it better than my wife's response to a particularly ill thought out comment on our races Facebook page.


Greg, thank you for your feedback above. I was one of the small committee tasked with organising CK Tri this year. Unfortunately the decision whether or not to proceed with the swim this year was not in our hands as mandated by our governing body.
Assuming you have been involved in organising triathlons previously, you will be aware that all race costs, regardless of numbers on the day (e.g. traffic management, timing comp., t-shirts, goody bag materials, equipment hire, toilets, barriers, order of Malta, road closures....etc.) are locked in and committed approximately 8 weeks prior to race day. Therefore we were put in an extremely difficult decision whereby refunds would have left a huge financial hole which our small club could not absorb. Deferrals are similar as you cannot pay this year's expenses with next year's revenue.

You will be glad to know that each year MTC gives substantial donations not only to each local club who assist us with equipment and marshals, we also pay a substantial financial contribution to a local charity as can be seen from the local press each year. Last year's chosen charity was a local cancer care facility called LARCC. Unfortunately, the cancellation of a swim does not lower our expenses in any way as all water craft and personnel are volunteers.

It might be fair to say that communication of the above was not overly clear in the last week or so but you will appreciate that our small committee was overwhelmed trying to ensure that appropriate alternatives were put in place at short notice to ensure that a successful duathlon was run on the day. We all have day jobs and families to look after also.

Hope the above gives you an idea of our reasons for our actions and decisions of the last few days which have taken a toll on all involved. We really, really did try our best so apologies if it came across as arrogant, it was not intended to be so.

Yours in sport,
Julie

griffin100

For the most part triathletes (and a lot of other sports people as well) get to engage in their hobby because other people are willing to give up their time and expertise to give something back to their sport.

We'd all be very stuck for races if all we had to choose from were commercially run events. I don't have any issue with commercial events, but at least with club races any profit or surplus goes to a club where it's used for the betterment of members, or in some cases to a charity.

It's easy to criticise a race organiser, and sometimes they deserve criticism (and I include the race I'm involved in here), but there comes a point when a race committee or volunteer marshals will just go feck it and that'll be the end of that race. I've read some race reports over the years on this forum where people talk about roaring at and bollocking marshals and it makes me angry. I've said this elsewhere but marshals in my opinion make or break a race - too few and an event can't run or chaos could reign. It takes almost 100 volunteer marshals to run the sprint distance race I'm involved in, without them that would be another race off the calendar.

loudeac

Yes indeed a very muted atmosphere @CK. .As always a well marshalled course and friendly Marshall's. What did concern me is the reduction in AG prizes compared to other years. After all the bank balance would of been pretty healthy with all the DNS.
One of the best Triathlons around.

Bertje14

Look at the end of the day nobody wanted this swim to get cancelled.  I think the biggest problem has been that Celtic Warrior went out the weekend before.
At this stage we all know why they could and CK couldn't.
It is just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.  CK has always been a great event and will continue to be so.  All I know is that people might not be so quick to book it next year to avoid the disappointment afterwards.
Being part of a race committee myself I know that deferrals and refunds are always difficult so I wouldn't hold that against to committee.