Sorry folks, but this has annoyed me.

A good friend and riding buddy of mine won the womens GT7 a few weeks back, after following a very hard training plan all based on this one event. As can happen at lap type events, there was a bit of confusion at the end as to who actually won, and first prize, a bottle of champagne and a set of hope wheels were given to the wrong person (you know who you are if you read this).

When confronted, the girl had the brass neck to refuse to hand over the prize. My wee pal went up the road empty handed, as she’s not really one for arguing. Organisers have said they’ll give her something for winning, but it’s not really the point IMO, this girl should have shown some decency.

Unbelievable….

The perp???

Seems a bit weird if the results page hasn’t been updated despite the organisers admitting a mistake

The organiser have agreed to give her something for winning?!?!

Yes, that’ll be the first prize, then. Won’t it?

Why haven’t they just MTFUd and got the prize back from the wrong person? Surely this is their cock up and they should sort it? The fact that the other woman is clearly a spoilt brat who probably can’t face the loss of face at handing it back doesn’t really come into it. The organisers should get the prize back. If not, they should match it and give the same prize to your friend.

They can then ban or name and shame the other woman in their own time.

Kind of makes me glad I don’t compete (nor have any intention of doing so).

Oohh forget the pitchforks, time to appease all I reckon.

It is sad but the “winner” does know the difference between winning and (cough) faking it, not that that matters to the organisers it seems.

Kind of makes me glad I don’t compete (nor have any intention of doing so).

thats no excuse, I enter loads of races, never have to worry about someone else stealing my prizes

does seem quite poor by tweedlove
stw official media partners have anything to say?

Yeah that’s just shite. Under or over 40s?

That’s my buddy in that pic Colin.

Wee.
In.
Her.
Shoes.

At one point the girl actually gave her the prize (as you can see from the pic) but came back over claiming that ‘race organisers say I shouldn’t have given it to you’. Stupidly (with hindsight though tbf) she gave her it back….

Sounds like the organisers are the ones you should be having a pop at not the other competitor.

Kimbers.

I never offered it as an excuse(?)

It just brought it home to me that one of the (many, admittedly) reasons I packed in playing cricket was the attitude of a lot of people I played with and against. With them it was never a matter of how they won, just whether they won. Be it outright cheating, verbal abuse or the like.

Don’t get me wrong, I was no pussy, but I didn’t debase myself in the pursuit of winning either.

Allthepies, I disagree. The organisers originally made a mistake, that can happen. This person knows fine well she never won, but still took the prize. To me that’s worse.

Did the organisers definitely tell the other lady that she hadn’t won ?

Mind you though, despite my initially hostile comment, we only have one side of the story so far. Maybe the person under suspicion should at least be given the opportunity to put her side? 😳

I would say that silence would be quite damning as well, mind.

Wee.
In.
Both.
Their.
Shoes?

See, I don’t think they did, I think she came back over and blatantly lied to get Julie to give the prize back. But that’s only my theory. I’d like to think the fact tho organisers have a picture of Julie up as winner, means they acknowledge that she actually bloody won.

There is no ‘other side to the story’

Winner.
Didn’t .
Get.
Prize.
Fact.

So – they’ve updated the info on the website to show who actually won? In that case, the organisers should man up and tell the person involved to hand back the prize.

And the person involved should be handing it over anyway if they know they didn’t deserve it.

Exactly Colin.

See, I don’t think they did,

So if they didn’t tell the other lady she hadn’t won then why should she think that errr, she hadn’t won ? 🙂

Anyway, poor show all round.

At one point the girl actually gave her the prize (as you can see from the pic) but came back over claiming that ‘race organisers say I shouldn’t have given it to you’. Stupidly (with hindsight though tbf) she gave her it back….

Hmm I think you say it yourself there, the other person was told not to give it over, which given the general panic and confusion at the end of the race when they realised the timing company had messed up isn’t too surprising and I could certainly believe it. They realised things weren’t quite right at the time and stopped giving out the prizes after the first couple they did, which was the right thing to do, and even said there might have been some issues to look at with the prizes they had already given out.

I’d get in touch with the organisers before making accusations at individuals on the internet myself, but horses for courses. Its supposed to be a fun event but I guess people might not make the best decisions after 7 hours of racing. Tweedlove emailed me re our prize this week so they are currently looking at it all now the other events have finished.

At the ready

I don’t think that she ‘thinks’ she won. She knows fine well she didn’t, just took the prize as I said earlier.

Not playing the Name, Blame, Shame and Flame game?

I’d get in touch with the organisers before making accusations

Read the opening post.

No, not naming. Wouldn’t take a genius mind.

From Facebook

“Thanks all….however there were issues with the timing system, so I may move down a step or two…..results being worked out again from scratch! Still had a great ride at a great event!!”

Was the other/2nd place woman involved riding an Ibis Mojo by any chance?

Ok, blimey!

There is no other side, then! Publicly hanging someone on the say-so of one other person has always been such a good way to administer justice, hasn’t it?

Anyhow, I do believe you. In this case the organisers need to MTFU. They have been put in a tight situation by their own cock up, but massively exacerbated by the dishonest actions of another person.

They should sort this. Firstly they should sort your friend so that she feels like she has got her just rewards. Then they should take whatever action they see fit against the other party.

It is stuff like this that means at future events competitors will either have to sign an agreement stating they must give back any prizes wrongly awarded, or be left standing around for hours whilst results are checked and double checked.

Another classic example of the few spoiling it for the many.

I really hope your friend gets it sorted. But much, much more importantly, I hope your friend hasn’t had her desire to compete dented by this.

I really hope your friend gets it sorted. But much, much more importantly, I hope your friend hasn’t had her desire to compete dented by this.

Haha, funnily enough, my sentiments to her was basically that this should be her motivation next time!. Anyhow, I’ve said what I wanted, hopefully it gets sorted, and that as said earlier, it was possibly just some bad decision making after a 7 hour event. I’d like to believe that.

OP, 1)were you there? and 2) does your friend know and approve of you basically publically smearing this other person on the internet, its a pretty small community and everyone knows everyone else…

I’m just cringing a bit right now…

Wee.
In.
Both.
Their.
Shoes?

I’m so angry, I have just wee’d in my own shoes.

*sloshes off*

bigjim – Member
its a pretty small community and everyone knows everyone else…
I’m just cringing a bit right now…

All the more reason to hand back what you didn’t win and stop being a **** then.

Haha, funnily enough, my sentiments to her was basically that this should be her motivation next time!.

Good, I hope she takes you up on that!

The thing about this kind of stuff is not necessarily the actions at the time that are the worst bit. The disenchantment of honest competitors faced with cheating is the sadder aspect. Even professional athletes who are bumped up the medal list when a drugs cheat’s record is expunged often feel their victory is irrevocably tainted by the process.

Your friend shouldn’t have to go through some kind of appeal to get her prize because she actually won!

I was involved in one cricket match in my time where my team basically retaliated against blatant cheating by our opposition. We didn’t win anyway, and I felt thoroughly ashamed at the end of a game that finished with us all just getting straight in our cars and driving off with no handshakes, pint after the game, nothing.

The game itself had degenerated in a farce of personal abuse, catches being claimed that had blatantly not carried, shoulder barges by wicket keepers on a dismissed batsman and the like. Threats were being made all over the place. At the time it felt bad, but I didn’t have the courage of my convictions to say anything. We literally lowered ourselves to their level. It was years ago, but it sticks in my mind as it must have just been embarrassing to watch for any onlookers.

Sounds like a right bloody farce.

Have we established if the loser is a thief or is it just that the organisers are rubbish?

Personally I would be embarrassed to come second and then take the prize from the hand of the winner

Sounds like a right bloody farce.

It is a bit, but I feel for the organisers, it was such a great event but the timing company really messed up, but I guess these things happen, life goes on, I guess I’m just not a very serious racer! They did the right thing to stop handing out prizes and wait for the timing company to sort it out, can’t imagine why it took them so long though.

Any statements for the defence, yet?

It would be nice to hear something, even if it breaks with all tradition of the STW forum and is a compete mea culpa and accompanying genuine apology.

Given the balls (sorry) it would take, I might even suggest that any such apology would be redemption(?)

Ultimately, though, it is up to the wronged party to accept or refuse an apology.

So in summary:

– Timing company makes mistakes
– Confusion at the end of a long hard race
– Prize potentially given to the wrong person
– In the confusion, the recipient is told they did, didn’t and then did win again
– Rather than deal in private, OP goes on an internet flaming campaign seemingly without making direct, polite contact with the recipient and organisers to settle amicably.

Regardless of errors/confusion etc, going on a hate campaign like this really isn’t cool.