COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ( Aug. 2 2007 )
USA Triathlon announced today that sanctioning and event insurance for the upcoming Lake Geneva Triathlon, September 8, 2007, have been withdrawn. The reason for this unprecedented action by the governing body is the documented failure of the event’s organizer to comply with federation requirements.
“Upon investigation it was observed and documented that several key requirements for USA Triathlon sanction approval were not met,” said Kathy Matejka, event services director for USA Triathlon. “USAT has a fundamental responsibility to ensure that race directors are providing basic safety, security and fairness at sanctioned events. Our members and all race participants must have full confidence in these principles."
The prohibition extends to all events produced and directed by the Lake Geneva Extreme Sports, an organization that has produced four USA Triathlon sanctioned events each of the past two years.
Questions should be directed to USAT Sanctioning.
I had heard that Frank Dobbs still plans on holding the race if he can get another insurance carrier.
I have no idea what it takes to satisfy an insurance company in an event like this, but if I would think it would be hard to get if the governing body withdrew their insurance because the race was deemed unsafe.
I’ve not done one of LGE’s races because of his reputation but this new is not a shock, especially with the amount of recent swim accidents this year in Fla.
At the Delevan race this year I think there were about 30 guys who ended up biking an extra 8 or 10 miles or so because the course was so poorly marked. That and I’m pretty sure we swam through some really bad water. There was an algae bloom right off the beach with all kinds of dead fish in it.
Yeah, I have about 5 of them. Terrible races, but they were so damn convenient. I was planning on doing Lake Geneva this year then going up to Madison to watch. I wonder if the race will go off as planned.
Wow–the Delavan bike course marking was bad again? In 2006, only 2 out of 82 riders reportedly rode the correct course. Guessing based on ride times, the RD issued 2 sets of results for the Oly–1 for people he believed covered the official course and 1 for those who did not. That was also the year that the lake smelled like an open sewer and multiple racers came down with swimmer’s itch.
I managed to not get lost, but my buddy did. I think he missed a turn and almost ended up in Fontana. He met some guys coming back the other way and they all rode back together looking for the turn they missed, collecting other riders on the way back.
I didn’t get swimmers itch, but the lake was pretty bad this year. The sewer smell was defiantly there.
i do love my coffee mug…(which, I should add, I didn’t actually get at the race because they “ran out” like they couldn’t count the number of podium slots ahead of time? like they aren’t the same number every race? surprisingly, dobbs actually mailed it to me after i e-mailed him a couple of times. hey, i don’t place very often, ok?) …but i’d never to another LGES race. we’re all lucky our bikes didn’t get stolen.
Terrible races, but they were so damn convenient. I was planning on doing Lake Geneva this year then going up to Madison to watch. I wonder if the race will go off as planned.
I’ve been looking for a race to fill this void but would also like to make it back home to watch IM. Anyone one else heard about this race? http://www.burritounion10hourtri.com/
It’s a 10 hour race. As many sprint distance races that you can do consecutively for 10 hours. They have 2 person option where you take turns doing the course!
It’s the 1st year for that race, but Rod is a pretty experienced race director and all around good guy. I’d imagine that the race will be pretty good. Plus Burrito Union is a very cool restaurant/bar and Duluth is a lot of fun.
Sounds like a cool race. My conditioning is not ready for something like that and it’s a little bit too far away. I just want a simple sprint somewhere between Chicago and Madison on Saturday the 8th.
I did the first Lake Geneva Triathlon in 1989 and have returned now and again, always hoping to see some improvement. The last straw was Lake Delavan in 2006. I have learned to avoid those races. It is a shame, because that area is great to race and train in.
Yea this blows I live just north of L.G, it was a great race to do in the fall as an end to the season. Really sucks because I may not be able to do Chicago either. Franks races were not run well at all I did delavan last year, the lake was disgusting and I got swimmers itch, and I grew up on delavan Lake! It was only a matter of time before the sanctioning was pulled. I never got lost, but I also knew all the roads so that was never an issue. Just the disorganization really pissed me off, reg. was a problem every year. Oh well, enuff ranting, hopefully the race will get picked up by someone else. There was a group up here(WI) that was slightly interested in taking the race over because of the great location. Maybe we will have renew the interest???
I had thought about doing the same thing – racing Lake Geneva on Sat and watching/volunteering at IMWI on Sun. I’m doing Halfmax the next week now so I didn’t sign up for L.G., and now I’m glad I didn’t. In fact, from what I’ve read, it sounds like I picked one of the best half-IM races over one of the worst.
For those that do not have an option on another race. I e-mailed Frank Dobbs, the race is on, he stated that he has another insurance carrier. We shall see… to be continued.
Me too. Still have my pink sweatshirt. I remember standing in the rain under the eave of the library(?) waiting for the swim to start. I remember my friend asking whether he thought they would start the swim while it was raining. Duh. I think they shortened the swim, which was fine with me. I also remember finishing the 10k race running thru people’s back yards along the lakefront. That was my 10k PR for an Oly (37 ish).