Whinlatter Challenge rant !!

I did Whinlatter Challenge today and enjoyed it but was not happy with the organisation and what you got,Firstly the parking,you were guided into a fireroad and signs saying ‘one way’but didnt tell you that you parked on the side of the road,everyone was driving right through and back out on the public road,not enough staff !There wasnt even one on one road crossing.There was also a point where we crossed the path of oncoming fellow competitors where there was a marshal but still managed to collide with another rider as neither of us were stopped,a right balls up.
Second,it advertised a feed station,all you got was a drink supplied kindly by Keswick Mountain Bikes and the chap kindly gave me a bar of his own as i had forgot mine.[total balls up on my behalf]
So for 27.50 you got a t shirt and a drink and timing chip which are supplied at about a quid each.Theres about 15 grand taken in entries,i would like to see how much profit there is,theres overheads but not anywhere like 15 grand.Prizes aint much,usually shops give vouchers or you get a mini pump and i arent the only one to think this.By the amount of Challenges and Sportives cropping up its obvious its lucrative.Some entry fees are just a total rip off,getting out of hand.
Last rant,they even took 9.50 off for cancelling you entry.
Some might give me grief but i know a lot of you out there will agree !!!

3/5 not enough petty insults or swearing.
Sounds a fair rant.

Sounds like they need to resolve a few things but if you really think running events is a license to print money then why not have a go yourself?

I agree with lunesdale. These events rob you blind – almost £30 plus loads of petrol to ride a trail centre. I couldn’t ride today. Lost £9.50 from cancelled event. Rode last year – no T-shirt but got a mug. Apt! After March’s late cancellation fiasco I’ve ridden my last Whinlatter Challenge. There are much better days out on the bike to be had.

I thought it was quite well organised. You were completely right about the parking though, I just drove all the way through then parked in the visitor centre. Couldn’t be bothered driving round that track again.

However the Feed station was an absolute joke. They need to get someone with a basic understanding of the English language to explain what constitutes food. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bothered if they provide food or not, I just don’t want them to say they will and then not provide it.

grum – Member

Sounds like they need to resolve a few things but if you really think running events is a license to print money then why not have a go yourself?

plenty of people on here organising for the right reasons

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/10th-anniversary-colne-valley-mtb-challenge-2013

Hit the North

Mary Townley Challenge

http://www.brownbacksracing.co.uk

£27.50 is fairly reasonable for a race of this length IMO. Organisation wasn’t amazing although I believe its for charadee so in that context I’m happy enough. The weather I suspect sapped many people’s sense of humour…

Not forgetting that the course was brilliantly bloody brutal, the best I’ve ever done for a longer distance race that’s for sure which is the MOST important thing I reckon

I wasn’t overly impressed with the organisation, Whinlatters my local trail so knew it was gonna be reasonably tough, but when its advertised as approx 30 mile over 3 laps (10 mile per lap) and you put your first lap in and its nearly 12.3 mile thats nearly an extra 7 mile, quite abit over the 30 mile !!
I was also a bit miffed at the way they brought in a cut off point after 2 laps, no word of this on the website or in any of the details before the race, they stopped folk starting their 3rd lap 20 mins after the 1st rider finished … how does that work when the start is staggered over 45 mins !?!?
The marshalls who were there were all friendly and done a top job in the p*ssing down rain, only prob was that there wasn’t many of them on half of the course, there were 2 marshalls within 1 mile of the start then that was it for another 6 mile. I came across a guy who’d came off and broke his arm just after the first main climb, he had a hell of a long wait to get rescued due to there being no marshalls anywhere nearby to report it to, pretty bad seeing as the weather was shocking and it was advertised as being “well marshalled”.
Anyway, what i did do i enjoyed it, just wish i’d been allowed to finsish what i entered !

I’ve done my share of volunteer marshalling at various mtb events over the years and in my experience most of the organisers are in it for the love of the sport – putting in a lot of time and energy and often taking a lot of flak for very little or no return.

That said, the organisers of the wmbc haven’t done themselves many favours with the late cancellation of the original event (and communications to the contrary up to the last minute) and their attitude to their customers- after riding the event for the last three years I dared email them (politely) to ask the reasoning behind their decision to only offer a partial refund – as they didn’t offer any explanation in their mailout – I got an immediate reply refunding the whole amount 🙂 and telling me never to enter any of their events again 🙁

Now I know they had a nightmare with the weather etc but chucking the toys out of the pram prob isn’t the ideal way to deal with it… I wouldn’t be entering it again even if I wasn’t barred 🙂

Ps. I wasn’t aware it’s for charity? Would deserve more leeway if so but still…

I was surprised by the cut-off change too. TBH I was kinda glad as I was freezing by that point. Still it would’ve been good to know ahead of time.

lunesdale – Member

So for 27.50 you got a t shirt and a drink and timing chip which are supplied at about a quid each.

And the use of the trails, the planning etc.

Re marshalls- what you saw was one marshall, for one minute, out of a long day, so it’s not fair to judge. Once you’ve been stood herding sheep for hours, it gets old and it’s easy to slip. Also, just because there’s a marshall there doesn’t absolve you from the need to think for yourself, if you collide with another rider that’s not the marshall’s fault- they’re there to smooth the flows but not to prevent that!

I got an immediate reply refunding the whole amount and telling me never to enter any of their events again

I could share an illuminating email exchange with someone else in the mountain bike world that shows this kind of attitude isn’t unique

Re marshalls- what you saw was one marshall, for one minute, out of a long day, so it’s not fair to judge. Once you’ve been stood herding sheep for hours, it gets old and it’s easy to slip. Also, just because there’s a marshall there doesn’t absolve you from the need to think for yourself, if you collide with another rider that’s not the marshall’s fault- they’re there to smooth the flows but not to prevent that!

Obviously marshalls aren’t gonna stop anyone from crashing and injuring themselves, but you do need marshalls there to report accidents to and for them to be able to get help to folk who are seriously injured.

I’m glad I couldn’t make the re arranged date after the March cancallation and moved my entry to 2014

Maybe they will learn form this and get it right for next year

Double post sorry

Woodentop – Member

Obviously marshalls aren’t gonna stop anyone from crashing and injuring themselves, but you do need marshalls there to report accidents to and for them to be able to get help to folk who are seriously injured.

Yup, but was referring specifically to the guys who managed to collide because the marshall didn’t tell them it’s not a good idea to ride into each other.

Does sound like they were a bit shorthanded tbh- it’s always hard to get crew and it’s pretty common for people to not turn up when the weather isn’t great (I’m a **** marshall, so I can’t take any high moral ground here- sorry Hels!) But it is still no good.

Can i just mention me and my missus both did this today, i did 3 laps missus did 2, we both got round o.k but 13 mile laps insted of quoted 10 miles is a bit much if all you have in your tank is what your prepared for. also the feed station did not even have a roten old bannana to munch on, and apparently i was the only person to complain about this to the oraniser at the end. this was the 4th time i have done this event and it will be the last, we paid £57.50 for the 2 of us and that is poor value, other event put on a far better spred. route was still good.

lunesdale, we spoke out on the trail. good work. steve

Northwind were you there? I think after 3 laps of passing the same marshall points only to not see any marshalls on any of the laps, its safe to make a judgement. I commended one young lad who had stayed at hjs post through the entire event and he agreed about other marshalls who’d given up. The crossing point mentioned above involved a steep singletrack descent with a 20mph exit accross steep fire road climb. Lunacy. If someone had there head down climbing they wouldnt have seen the descenders coming and crossing the path. In the end the marshalls were stopping those who were climbing to let through those coming down.

If it’s an enduro ‘challenge’ as opposed to a race, why would they stop you from completing it, even if you were a tad on a slow side (although 20 mins down on the whippets over 26 miles doesn’t sound that slow!)?

BenjiM – Member

If someone had there head down climbing they wouldnt have seen the descenders coming and crossing the path

People should keep their bloomin eyes open! Just because you’re in an organised event doesn’t mean you can switch your brain off or defer responsibility for your actions.

Signing and taping should be designed to reduce contention though, tbh if a junction is unsafe without the constant action of a marshall then it’s unsafe full stop. Different issue though.

As someone involved in cancelling an event in Jan, you do get a very few people who are determined to make you miserable. A surprising number of bar-room lawyers with 20:20 hindsight seem to come out of the woodwork after the event. Perhaps our poster’s polite email above was just an unfortunate straw that broke the tired camel’s back? Not excusing, perhaps just explaining.

….but if you really think running events is a license to print money then why not have a go yourself?

It appears to me that a small number of event organisers, both MTB and road, do consider them a licence to print money. I’ve seen a fair number of events with no food on food stations, very poor organisation and/or very little in return for quite high entry fees. Let’s take the food station thing, you get the same number of bars/cakes as there are riders and let them have 1 each…not difficult.

Like has been said above, there are lots of great events and many of these are run not for profit – the Rough Ride is a good example. BUT there appears to be a few who see the increase in popularity of cycling over the past few years as an opportunity to fleece people.

I don’t see any reason to pay anybody else just so you can ride.

With the exception of HtN which is brilliant

Got to be said after 5 wmbc rides this was a tough one
13 mile laps not good I only found out at the end I thought I was getting old
After 2 laps they stopped us blessing in disguise really I was shattered
Like a few have already mentioned food stop means just that not just fluids
They could learn a lot from the port du soleil utter classic
Rant over cheers

Perhaps our poster’s polite email above was just an unfortunate straw that broke the tired camel’s back? Not excusing, perhaps just explaining.

Not really Stever,i finished top 20 in the 2 lapper with a puncture [ ok,was going for 3 and started in Elite but fitness was an issue and had 2 stents fitted due to a heart attack last year so decided to be happy with 2 in reasonable shape !!! ] 60 will be my next completed decade on this planet if i make it!
I have wanted to vent my opinions about some of these events for a while and by the responce i wasnt the only one ! don,t get me wrong though,all events arent alike.
BenjiM, agree with you,lunacy to have passing tracks,accident waiting to happen.Marshal should have been told to stop the climbing rider,didnt know what he was doing.
Steve 520,yea we got a point or 2 across,i think organiser needs this link sending,cheers.

I rode the Whinlatter Enduro last year for the first time, as preperation/training for the Dyfi enduro which I’ve entered every year for the last 12 years (except the 3rd and 4th as I was in NZ).
I was expecting something similar to Dyfi.

But, to coin a phrase, OMFG!!!! Worlds apart in terms of organistion, trail enjoyment and general ambience. There’s a reason Dyfi sells out in 20 minutes as its is much, much, much, much better. And costs less to enter! Enjoyable trails, entertainment as you ride, real food at the feed station (flapjack, fruitcake, energy drink, bananas and sausage rolls!) served by extremely friendly people. And there’s space to park….

I will never, ever, ride the Whinalatter Challenge again. I’d rather give £30 to charity and spin on a turbo trainer for 3 hours staring at a blank wall.

Just having a read of the ‘race report’ on the website, ends with them saying …

As the weather showed no sign of easing and with riders and marshals starting to look very cold and wet, the event Safety Officer and Race Director decided to call an early end to proceedings. A very challenging day with some fantastic mountain biking, the organisors are just hoping for much kinder weather next year…

Race Organisers – WMBC 2013

Still annoyed they cut it short, they knew what the forecast was gonna be so should’ve been preppered for it, isn’t the point of the Whinlatter Challange to be a Challange !!!

Still annoyed they cut it short, they knew what the forecast was gonna be so should’ve been preppered for it, isn’t the point of the Whinlatter Challange to be a Challange !!!

They have a responsibility for riders and the marshals, sounds like it was a sensible thing to do to me.