Statement regarding cancellation of the 40th Cape Town Cycle Tour from David Bellairs

With regards to the protest action, TIA (this is Africa) its only going to get worse....

With regards to insurance, I know my cyclessure policy has some add on event insurance if you cannot participate. Not sure the T&C of that and if it would pay in this case but may be worth looking into if you have bike insurance.

For us who live out of Cape Doctor land entering the CTCC is a gamble. The outcome of the gamble is for the entrants account. I took the gamble in 2009 and 2010 and will not throw the dice again.

The shortened race again highlighted the gamble.

Should the race have continued and cyclist injured, the organizers would face law suits and and not forgetting angry hubbers posting angry insults at the organizers.

It is a beautiful race to do and if I lived in Cape Town I would enter every year cause all it would cost me is race entry.

Don't be a sore loser when a gamble does not go your way.

Last night was full moon. Some hubbers turned into werewolves and were howling at the moon

Without a doubt the correct call was made. I for one was extremely disappointed but after seeing videos of the start and how people were literally blown off their bikes, you can't blame the organisers for doing what they did. Had they gone ahead with the race and people had damaged bikes and hospital bills because of it, I'm sure they would have moaned just as much as the bulk of the moaners and groaners are doing in this forum. See you all at the 2018 CTCT!

My contention is that the start chute is in the wrong place. The organisers know this as 2009 experienced the same problems.

And with the wind being a known factor from forecasts they were so arrogant they did NOTHING to eliminate this risk.

So I can and will blame the organisers for not making changes that would have made the start safer.  The only change we've seen at the start in a number of years is a new checking in system. Nothing that adds to safety.

To Davis Bellairs and team....

Well done , I take my hat off to you

That was a hard decision, but the right one...

Thanks

Made easier by the refusal to move the start to a safe area out of a known wind tunnel where the design of the Civic Centre creates a vortex and amplifies the effect of the wind.

I honestly don't think it was a hard decision at all. Once they worked out there would be no cost to them it was very easy.

I think the problem here lies with society. People do not take responsibility for their own actions and tend to blame (sue) others. The decision of CTCT was to cover themselves because people nowadays cannot think for themselves and live with the consequences.

Why not move the start closer towards the stadium, then we could start on the highway and miss the wind tunnel by the Civic Centre completely?  Worst case, they move the finish slightly back and have a neutral coast back to the stadium?

See the current start on Hertzog Boulevard... if we started slightly further back and joined onto the highway sooner...

Die Rooimiere comes to mind when speaking of security companies

Easy decision. Organizers still make a huge profit without the event even taking place. So they win, everyone else loses.

There is a lot of bashing of the organizers, use of words like "arrogant" and general whingeing of a galactic proportion.  This from some local rocket scientists who obviously know where and how to start the biggest cycle event in the world.

To these people I say:  PLEASE exercise your free market right to not enter this race.  If the event and its organizers are so hell-bent on wrecking YOUR special day, then please PUNISH them by withholding your magic entry price, which I am sure will make them change everything to comply with your demands.

To the other entrants who graciously accepted that a perfect storm of really cr@ppy circumstances ended the race, and chose to be adult about it - big up guys.  And then those selfless cyclists who kicked in to help distribute food and drinks to fire victims - NICE ONE.  You help sway the tide to show cyclists CAN be decent and caring people, not these self-entitled crybaby spoilt brats that tend to dominate social media when they are so inconvenienced by gale force winds, wild fires and dangerous protests.

Some perspective please, people

There should have been more options for the day not just the one they executed with the last option being the 47km M3 loop. I wonder if the organisers ever intended to have the race ???? They had foreknowledge of the issues but no real action plans.

There should have been more options for the day not just the one they executed with the last option being the 47km M3 loop. I wonder if the organisers ever intended to have the race ???? They had foreknowledge of the issues but no real action plans.

Absolutely! I am sure this was going through their heads the whole time! After 40 years of putting this race on they must be sick of it, and I am sure that any little excuse would have sufficed to cancel the event.  Maybe something for Carte Blanche, I am sure

There should have been more options for the day not just the one they executed with the last option being the 47km M3 loop. I wonder if the organisers ever intended to have the race ???? They had foreknowledge of the issues but no real action plans.

Post of the day (and that is quite an achievement). The logic is unmatchable...

Why not move the start closer towards the stadium, then we could start on the highway and miss the wind tunnel by the Civic Centre completely?  Worst case, they move the finish slightly back and have a neutral coast back to the stadium?

 

See the current start on Hertzog Boulevard... if we started slightly further back and joined onto the highway sooner...

Too much traffic problems will be caused if you cut-off traffic flow through Buitengracht.

There is a lot of bashing of the organizers, use of words like "arrogant" and general whingeing of a galactic proportion.  This from some local rocket scientists who obviously know where and how to start the biggest cycle event in the world.

 

To these people I say:  PLEASE exercise your free market right to not enter this race.  If the event and its organizers are so hell-bent on wrecking YOUR special day, then please PUNISH them by withholding your magic entry price, which I am sure will make them change everything to comply with your demands.

 

To the other entrants who graciously accepted that a perfect storm of really cr@ppy circumstances ended the race, and chose to be adult about it - big up guys.  And then those selfless cyclists who kicked in to help distribute food and drinks to fire victims - NICE ONE.  You help sway the tide to show cyclists CAN be decent and caring people, not these self-entitled crybaby spoilt brats that tend to dominate social media when they are so inconvenienced by gale force winds, wild fires and dangerous protests.

 

Some perspective please, people

The arrogance of the organisers is not taking into account forecasts of strong winds while keeping the start in a place known to accentuate the effect of strong wind.  And then using those very same known problems as a valid excuse to cancel an event with 35,000 participants.

I'm glad you find this pisspoor attitude to known problems acceptable. I don't.

Agree Dale. Safety considerations and financial considerations should never compete.

 

Organisers cannot be held hostage by finances not to make a safety call.

 

I have no problem forfeiting my entry fees today

If you have ever attended a PPA AGM you will know they have quite a lot of dough in the bank. So I see no reason why they can't carry entries over to next year. 

What special medal? The mythical medal for those who did both the 55mtb race and the road race...

 

Has anyone ever actually seen one of these? Like seen it?

I am missing the 2016 one, they said they will resend it.

I think the hub is the perfect place for cyclists to be very concerned about the cancellation today.

 

I'm racing almost every one of the 52 weekends we have in a year, and trust me, money is or can't be a moaning point. I loose more money from not being able to attend an event from illness than a cancellation caused by force majore... more so some of my stage events run in excess of R8k just for entry fees, before flights accommodation and other logistical considerations. I've had to bail on one or two of those too, I don't complain, you learn to cope as an occupational hazard.

 

The real reason worth being worried though, and worth a debate, is that there is a pattern emerging around events being effected by protest action which threatens our common interest / Passion for cycling.

Yes so it makes 100% sense for the CTCT to blame the weather and not give the protesters even a mention.

If you even just give a small mention that the protests could have been the reason you giving the protesters exactly what they where trying to archive and goodbye all future events.

they must have saved a packet on the coke and water that they did not distribute to those needy fire victims . i say use that money wisely and have better security on the route next year and better contingency plans to avoid the same fiasco next year 35 000 bottles of coke and 35 000 bottles of water do the sum of what was distributed and what was not . least they can do that wont cost a cent more is to give all 2017 entrants a automatic entry to 2018 ride .

There should have been more options for the day not just the one they executed with the last option being the 47km M3 loop. I wonder if the organisers ever intended to have the race ???? They had foreknowledge of the issues but no real action plans.

I don't think you have any idea of what it takes to pull off an event involving city officials, Emergency services and traffic control. There are laws and by-laws governing massive public participation events like this. Besides the fact that the wind decided that it would prove the meteorologists wrong on the day and put on a show of near gale.

But nothing will change the minds of those who feel aggrieved by the cancellation right. The organisers suck at making this race happen thats why it is the first one ever that has been canceled, because they have no clue. The other 39 were all flukes.

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The arrogance of the organisers is not taking into account forecasts of strong winds while keeping the start in a place known to accentuate the effect of strong wind.  And then using those very same known problems as a valid excuse to cancel an event with 35,000 participants.

 

I'm glad you find this pisspoor attitude to known problems acceptable. I don't.

You have dominated this thread with a constant stream of repetitive bashing of the organizers, and sure, you are entitled to your opinion. 

My question is: How is it that you seem to know so much about the state of mind of the organizers?  Are you part of the organizing committee?  Did they take votes or decisions in which you witnessed first hand this outrageously dismissive arrogance that you believe to be so obvious? 

And seeing that is so clear  that the organizers are  inept, incompetent and useless (read: arrogant),  then it will be a slam dunk to wrench the event away to be staged  PROPERLY  by someone who obviously knows how to do it better?

I look forward to the 2018 Carbon29er Cape Cycle Tour.  It will be GRAND!

Snip

Besides the fact that the wind decided that it would prove the meteorologists wrong on the day and put on a show of near gale.

snip

You clearly did not look at ONE weather forecast between March 1 and today if the wind was a surprise to you.

Or you are cut from the same cloth as the organisers who hoped to ignore the forecast wind by holding the start in the EXACT spot where the wind is the worst in central Cape Town.

My contention is that the start chute is in the wrong place. The organisers know this as 2009 experienced the same problems.

 

And with the wind being a known factor from forecasts they were so arrogant they did NOTHING to eliminate this risk.

 

So I can and will blame the organisers for not making changes that would have made the start safer.  The only change we've seen at the start in a number of years is a new checking in system. Nothing that adds to safety.

 

You are of course 100% correct. In hindsight the starting chute was at the wrong place.

Pity that you & all the clever hubbers who knew of this and all the other problems all along are only sharing this brilliant insights with us after the race. (I'm re-reading this thread to find the pre-race posts suggestions that the starting chute should be moved, maybe you can point me to one of them)

AFAIK nobody (or at least nobody who posted on this thread) were expecting worse conditions than 2009. We all thought the wind would be a nuisance but not as bad as in 2009.

Up until now the starting venue worked fine (except for 2009), changing it would not have saved the race yesterday anyway. 

Too much traffic problems will be caused if you cut-off traffic flow through Buitengracht.

That is what I also thought would prevent them from using that start point (of course if the unfinished highway was completed, it would work

You are of course 100% correct. In hindsight the starting chute was at the wrong place.

 

Pity that you & all the clever hubbers who knew of this and all the other problems all along are only sharing this brilliant insights with us after the race. (I'm re-reading this thread to find the pre-race posts suggestions that the starting chute should be moved, maybe you can point me to one of them)

 

AFAIK nobody (or at least nobody who posted on this thread) were expecting worse conditions than 2009. We all thought the wind would be a nuisance but not as bad as in 2009.

 

Up until now the starting venue worked fine (except for 2009), changing it would not have saved the race yesterday anyway. 

"by letting the protesters win" bla bla bla "I trained all year..." bla bla

All I see is entitlement. The decision to cancel the largest timed bicycle ride in the world was not made easily.

Apart from that the protesters have tried other avenues to communicate but have been ignored. By us, by the government, by everyone.

Those left homeless with all their belongings burnt with nothing, nowhere to go... they chose this. It is their fault your 3 hours of fame was cut short.... NO

The protesters want water and other, beyond basic services which have been denied them. Their plea has fallen on deaf ears for years now.

I do think OMTOM will be sabotaged, maybe CTCT next year as well. Until people are heard. Until we address the WHY and not just react.

I am appalled by some of the comments on here. I do not condone the destruction of property but this goes far beyond lowering fees or decolonising science. 

Go home and have a good think about why you feel you can be angry and disgusted, when your loss gave thousands of people food, water and support in their hour of need.

Don't get me started on why we as a public sector have to wait for tragedy to supply said things, but rather, for now, look at yourself and ask some serious questions.

Not riding the Argus or the assistance of thousands who really need it. Albeit temoprarily.