I just sent this message to J&A at caliman@japroductions.com. I'd urge anyone else that is pissed off about this last-minute change to express themselve to J&A as well. With enough support they may reconsider.
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Hello- I received your newsletter in the mail a few days ago, and was surprised to see that you have changed what you plan to serve at the aid stations from Cytomax to Amino Vital. While I realize that you have sponsorship considerations to deal with, a change like this within 3 weeks of the race date is completely unacceptable. Race nutrition is a critical element to success in a long-course tri, and I, along with every other athlete, have been working for months to optimize my nutrition strategy utilizing Cytomax. To put the timing of this into perspective for you, my last long ride before tapering for this event is this weekend. One long ride is not sufficient to validate that a new drink will work on race day. Perhaps you have not thought out this element of the race-day logistics, but by making this change you have essentially forced a great number of people that do not feel comfortable making a last-minute change like this to provide all their own nutrition/hydration for race day. I cringe to think what the special needs stops will look like on race day with nearly every participant stopping to pick up their drinks since no one will be drinking what you are serving at the aid stations. Is this really what you intended? All other J&A races that I have ever attended have been extremely well run, and I'm sure that CaliMan will be no exception, but frankly this change seems very poorly thought-out, and is blatantly in J&A's interests at the expense of the athletes that have worked very hard for months to prepare for this race. I really urge you to reconsider and perhaps serve both Cytomax and Amino Vital at the aid stations and give athletes the choice.
Regards,
John Katsoudas
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Hello- I received your newsletter in the mail a few days ago, and was surprised to see that you have changed what you plan to serve at the aid stations from Cytomax to Amino Vital. While I realize that you have sponsorship considerations to deal with, a change like this within 3 weeks of the race date is completely unacceptable. Race nutrition is a critical element to success in a long-course tri, and I, along with every other athlete, have been working for months to optimize my nutrition strategy utilizing Cytomax. To put the timing of this into perspective for you, my last long ride before tapering for this event is this weekend. One long ride is not sufficient to validate that a new drink will work on race day. Perhaps you have not thought out this element of the race-day logistics, but by making this change you have essentially forced a great number of people that do not feel comfortable making a last-minute change like this to provide all their own nutrition/hydration for race day. I cringe to think what the special needs stops will look like on race day with nearly every participant stopping to pick up their drinks since no one will be drinking what you are serving at the aid stations. Is this really what you intended? All other J&A races that I have ever attended have been extremely well run, and I'm sure that CaliMan will be no exception, but frankly this change seems very poorly thought-out, and is blatantly in J&A's interests at the expense of the athletes that have worked very hard for months to prepare for this race. I really urge you to reconsider and perhaps serve both Cytomax and Amino Vital at the aid stations and give athletes the choice.
Regards,
John Katsoudas