Originally published at: Ultraman Florida Champ Eventually DQ’d After Back and Forth Over Camera Use - Slowtwitch News
The Ultraman community is generally extremely close-knit and positive, but that vibe has been shaken over the last couple of days after the first man across the line at Ultraman Florida last month posted a video explaining why he was giving up on his quest to complete all five Ultraman events this year. In the video, Steven Keller, a 39-year-old from Virginia Beach, VA, said that he was withdrawing after a disagreement with the Ultraman Board of Directors that eventually saw him disqualified from the race in Florida.
Keller’s video led to lots of posts criticizing the decision. We contacted three members of the Ultraman Board, who weren’t able to comment on any of the confidential discussions that took place during board meetings. A couple of board members did have issues with some of the statements made by Keller in the video, though. Here’s what we’ve been able to gather through our conversations with Keller and the board members.
Ultraman Florida Race Weekend
A short time before the start of his first of five Ultraman events planned for 2025, Keller (the winner of Ultraman Florida in 2020 and Ultraman Arizona in 2022) found someone who was willing to help with videos from his races. With that in mind, he mounted a camera on his handlebars for the two days of cycling at the Ultraman race. (Day 1 involves a 6.2-mile swim followed by a 90-mile bike, Day 2 includes a 171.4-mile ride.) According to Keller, no-one would have known that he had a camera on his bike through the first day of riding, but at that night he posted a video from the day’s racing on Instagram, which was liked and shared by the Ultraman Florida race organizers. Keller said that Ultraman Florida race director Jen McVeay was aware of the camera for the second day of biking.
While that might be the case, the Ultraman rules (including for the Florida event) clearly state that:
Filming of the event will not be permitted whether for personal or commercial purposes unless prior written authorization is obtained from Event Organizers. Such authorization may be withheld if the filming is in conflict with the granting of other film rights and/or registered logo use.
According to Sheryl Cobb, the Co-Race Director of the Ultraman World Championship, “The Board has documentation showing that no prior approval was granted.”
Post-Race Reaction
After the videos were posted, Ultraman Canada race director Brad Sawa received queries from athletes asking if having a camera on the bike was allowed. During a subsequent board meeting the issue was discussed. While the specifics of the meeting remain confidential, both Keller and Cobb have confirmed that after the meeting they had a call about the issue, and offer conflicting versions of the conversation.
Keller said that until Cobb pointed it out, he didn’t realize that mounting a camera to his bars was violating a rule.
“The first thing out of my mouth was ‘I did not know that was a rule,'” he said. “That’s on me.”
According to Keller, he was told that he should take videos down and post an apology to the board. In his video post he said that he had been told that Sawa was the one pushing for him to be penalized, and that he was told that the penalty would be decided “based on the quality of the apology.”
Cobb disputes that take.
“I did speak to Steven and when he asked about a penalty, I told him the precedent for this type of rule violation was a DQ,” she wrote in an emailed response to our questions. “I also told him that the Board asks him to take down the videos and send the Board an apology that did not need to be a video and should just be an email. I did NOT confirm that Brad Sawa was pushing for the penalty because he wasn’t. Brad offered a possible compromise to a DQ penalty. I also told him that he had made a nice video about why he keeps coming back to Ultraman and that was a net gain for the brand, but then, posting video of him violating a rule was a loss for a net zero gain for the brand. Steven did not apologize. He stated, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’ Steven was not offered an ultimatum. He was told there would be a penalty regardless of what he did as he had violated a rule. The consensus of the Board was to give him a significant time penalty rather than a DQ had he taken the opportunity to be accountable for his actions.”
Rather than take down the videos and send an apology to the Board, Keller decided to withdraw from the remaining Ultraman events that he’d registered for – the race organizers received that email roughly 14 hours after his call with Cobb.
Which brings us to Monday morning, just days before he was to have competed at Ultraman Arizona, when Keller posted his video, which he said was prompted when he saw that the results had been changed on the Ultraman Florida site. McVeay confirms the results were posted on Sunday night, but other members of the board said the results weren’t changed until after Keller’s post.
Aftermath
The end result, in many aspects, has been a lose-lose for both Keller and the Ultraman series. This was the last thing the Ultraman brand wanted to be dealing with at all, let alone heading into this weekend’s race in Arizona. For Keller, who not only competes in Ultraman races but coaches a number of Ultraman athletes, the split puts him “in a bind.”
You don’t gear up to compete in five Ultramans in one year unless you’re passionate about the sport. You certainly don’t put on an Ultraman unless you have a deep love of the endeavour, either. Neither Keller or the Ultraman organizers are remotely happy about this situation.
