Last weekend at IM 70.3 UK I had to sit though the most amateurish, ill-prepared race briefing ever. It was the Canadian announcer guy who apparently flies round the world doing this stuff, but practice has either made him lazy or he’s just no good. His opening line was, “Last week I was in California and only 50 people came along to the briefing…” - they’d obviously suffered him before.
If I’m giving an IM race briefing to 1000 people, my objectives would be:
- Tell them what they need to know to stay safe
- Tell them what they need to know to stay within the rules
- Tell them what might be different on this course from other races they’ve done that they should watch out for
- Help them get excited, create some brother/sisterhood in the tent, shake some nerves and create a buzz
- Take a reasonable amount of time, given that lots of them have family waiting outside
Given that I was presenting to 1000 people, I’d probably have practiced a couple of times - maybe even written some brief notes so I didn’t miss anything important (call me over-analytical…)
This boy just rambled, laughed at himself, jumped from swim to run, back to swim and maybe dropped some bike stuff in along the way. Just woeful, and after an hour athletes simply started walking out on him, really deflating the vibe of the whole event.
So I’m wondering:
a) Was anyone else there - am I being harsh?
b) Is this a typical performance? (this is only my 3rd WTC event - others were much better)
c) Can I have his job, 'cause I think I could blow his performance out of the water (more than I did on that crazy-hilly bike leg…)
CHeers,
Phil / UK