PLEASE! And thanks for this update!

Agreed! I swore he wouldn't respond to my email. I now have a fresh new outlook on the 2007 Boston Triathlon!

BTW, I thanked him for doing the right thing in refunding the athletes that signed up on Saturday and appreciated his time in responding to me.

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Yep, it is so easy for me to start down the dark side and assume the half empty. I try to fight now to use the force and stay on the half full side.



Great job getting to the bottom of this is a very professional way!!!!!! Great ST example. :o)



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

I responded:

Dave,

Thank you for responding to my email. I am sorry that the day turned out the way it did and I understand the decision that was made was a difficult one.

I got a comp'ed entry to the age group race for agreeing to volunteer right after my race to escort a pro woman after crossing the finish line for drug testing.

When I came in, and I think you saw me, I had a pink Elite triathlon bike. I remember turning around and seeing you standing in the corner with2 other men. This was about 2:30, the women at the registration table tried to collect $100 from me for the entry fee. They went in the back to check the volunteer list to see if I was on there. This is when I turned and noticed you standing there.

Then, when I decided to not do the race and take my bike back out of transition and return my chip, (around 3pm) people were at that table filling out forms and exchanges going on that I could see. Also I did not hear either of the women working the table state anything to fact that the race could possibly be cancelled at that point.

This just bothered me all day Sunday and Monday. Thank you for refunding the people who signed up on Saturday. It's the right thing to do.

Again, I appreciate you responding to my email I'm sure you've been put through a meat grinder all week.

Elaine DeBitetto

and he wrote me back again: Elaine...thanks for this. Again, I think we only collected one or two entry fees, but, by error. I think the folks you are referring to who were filling out forms were filling out the USAT license forms. I intend to refund 100% of these one day license fees to all those who paid them...just looking into the easiest way to do this without it turning into an administrative nightmare. However, I think I have it figured out. Anyway, please know that my integrity and credibility mean more to me than any amount of money. We all work for money, but I've been doing this for over 25 years because I love what I do. You nor anyone else can't imagine what it did to me to cancel this...first time ever. It's bother me so much that I am seriously thinking of never attempting to direct another triathlon again and I've done over 150 of them including the Triathlon World Championship, the Goodwill Games Triathlon, World Cup races, etc. This one really stings. Not sure I want to take this risk anymore. Yes, athletes invested their entry fee and I feel really bad about this but I invest hundreds of hours and a lot of energy. Last year, I lost over $40K on this race. So, imagine what this now feels like. It would have been so much easier to fire the gun and just let people fend for themselves. I just didn't want to see anyone get hurt at any price. I had one guy write me and say, "you suck, I nor any of my friends will ever do one of your races ever again...I hope you are happy." Nice. No, I am not happy. Thanks...Dave

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I forgot to tell you, I checked out your website. You have a lot of FUN TOYS! The water skiing looks like a BLAST! :)

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Yep, I love toys. I always thought that if I had enough toys, I could get my daughters boyfriends to be at my house, and could keep an eye on them. :o)

If you, or any other ST person is in the area, give me a call. Great training area most of the time. But, toys are always ready to be used.



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Thanks, Elaine.

That really helps. What nightmare for him! I think lots of people were still unsure of how to feel about this one. Glad to have some more facts. Thanks again for sharing.

Wow, i guess dave does get my get out of jail free card. I was sad to hear about the cancellation, especially since I enjoyed participating last year. I guess he is taking a LOT of heat, but ultimately, yeah, nobody died, which I g uess is pretty darn important. I guess it's hard since a lot of people lost hard earned money including the RD that day :(

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berndog
How did we all get sucked into this crazy sport anyway?!!

What about the pros? I think USAT dropped the ball big time on this one. Many of these folks incurred substantial fees to get themselves here, and half of the prize money is now being yanked...



The USA Triathlon Haul to the Great Wall Series has gone from five events to four after inclement weather forced the cancellation of the Boston Triathlon last weekend. (See explanation of the cancellation below)

In response, USA Triathlon is increasing the prize purse for the final race of the elite series, The Westchester Triathlon in Rye, N.Y., scheduled for Sunday, September 17.

Half of Boston’s $20,000 prize purse will be evenly dispersed among the elite athletes who picked up their race packets for that event. The other half will go toward increasing the Westchester prize purse to $30,000 ($15,000 each for the men’s and women’s elite races). And prizes will now be awarded 10 deep in each race (from five deep for other series events).

Prize Purse Breakdown:
1st $3,750
2nd $3,000
3rd $2,250
4th $1,500
5th $1,200
6th $1,050
7th $900
8th $600
9th $450
10th $300

RIghteously indignant .. no you've got good points here. I was also interested to see farther down Dave quoted saying he lost $40k on this event last year, and the possibility of a fiasco 'partnering' with Disney is sadly, quite believable. <sigh>

I emailed the general contact and got quite reasonable responses from both she and Dave. I understand their position and surely I'd never want to be in their shoes making a call like that. For certain, no decision had a happy outcome for DSME that Saturday. Aind I expressed my understanding of thier rationale.

Which doesn't really imply agreement. I thought and still think that the decision shoulda been saved for Sunday morning. (and yes as a volunteer I woulda probably felt different).

And Sunday morning I personally didn't see conditions that warranted closing the race. I rode the course and saw the water conditions when I went to collect my bike from the transition. Now Dave specifically cited in his email concerns for first-time racers, and for pros pushing too hard. and for mixed vehicle+race traffic on the route (and I'm still unclear on how traffic was going to be managed, I thought the roads in question were to be closed).

Anyhow, Dave saw the same course in the morning and believed he'd made the correct call. My perspective is different, I ride both motorcycle and bike in the city in all sorts of weather and I know damned well that I better not be caught making a turn or braking over such.

Was there enough wind / traction risk to say disk wheels could not be used? sure. Reason to cancel the bike, sorry I dissent.

Anyhow I told DM I understand and support his decision, believing that yes, I proxied him that decision, he had the right to make it, I entered into a contract agreeing to that.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda? damned right. If they do this next year, I hope they indeed will have better contingencies. It would be sad if DM chooses to never do a tri again (so-quoted in another post in this thread).

However, the thing that continues to gnaw is the amazing hyperbole, yeah he gets the get out of jail card, but dammit why does every element of the decision have to be cast as dire/drastic, and why does the damned rationale change so often (the things he cited in email were not in the official announcement).

To tick these off

"urban tri" -- I'm sorry, and this is logistically more difficult than the NYC tri? which is clearly better organized -- and yes it's got triple the participants and nearly double the entry fee, but Boston's hardly the only tri run in an urban setting.
"8-9 foot waves" -- plain bullshit
"no one died" -- well come on, bike helmets are required
"tunnel collapse" -- puhleeze
"run-bike-run PRO format would exceed time permission from authorities" -- poor planning, sorry that's a dropped ball on the organizer's part, yes, it's hurricaine season, have a plan.
"CAPITALZING UNSAFE all over the announcements" -- more hyperbole

And finaly:

"Hundreds of hours we invested" -- yes, this is true, but don't trot this out to entrants all of whom have invested hundreds of hours of training into participating in a few race events for the season.

I personally would feel better if they'd just acknowledged it was a judgement call, the spin control may help with convincing themselves but it only ticks me off. And for sure it was a judgement call with a lot of difficult variables, and some holes in the contingency planning.

I plan to enter again for next year, I hated losing the $85, but it looks like a hell of a fun course and RD's deserve my support in both rain and shine.

[snip]

welcome to the forum. you're lucid and you spell well, traits not always apparent among some in our beloved family. i hope we have you involved as well on topics less painful to bostonians.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

thanks and yes, slowtwitch and trifuel are among my most favorite sites, not just here for furor

Im sure the RD is a great guy and Im sure he took this decision very seriously. However, I think we need to clarify what we mean by the "right decision".

The decision he made to call the race was probably "right" for between 3-5% of the field who were intimidated by the conditions; 8-9ft chop (which everyone seems to agree is a gross exaggeration) steel bridge grates, etc. There may be safety question for some of these folks.

But what about the rest of us that regularly train and ride in all conditions? That felt they could race safely? Was that decision "right" for us?

No disrespect, but I think that we need to encourage individuals to make these decisions for themselves or else don't be surprised to see the sport become reduced to the lowest common denominator. If this means not supporting RDs who are inclined to call races, so be it........

slowman that's one of the best posts I've ever read. I seriously doubt anyone here criticizing Dave ever had to make a decision like that.
It's hard enough to know what oneself is capable of handling safely - how difficult must it be to make that decision for hundreds or thousands of others.

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"the trouble with normal is - it always gets worse"

- Cockburn