"Kurgan Gringioni" wrote in message t...
"Bob Schwartz" wrote in message
...
Eric Hollenbeck wrote:
"Online registration simply proved too difficult for some to
comprehend. The night before the race, we had about five guys show up
with transaction reports that had been automatically sent to them."

I laugh my ass off when I hear promoters complain how difficult it is
when riders don't register in advance. I still have a start list,
PRINTED and SOLD to spectators after all riders had registered
"on-site", for the 1992 East Flanders Provincial Amateur Road
Championships. From rider number 1 (Danny Annaert) to number 461
(Patrick Verhertstraten), each riders name and hometown are listed
along with sponsors from around the Province. I bought this start list
for about a buck after the race had been on for about 20 minutes. Did
I, or any of the serious spectators, care that it was one color?

Although I agree almost entirely with the complaints and analysis
about masters currently adversely affecting the sport, promoters
should challenge themselves to search for reasonable sponsorship,
charge low, affordable entry fees (if any at all) and register
exclusively "on-site". That is before they write about riders not
being "professional".

Never organized a race, have you?

Never hit on someone for sponsorship money for a race, have you?

Never even been within 50 kilometers of a race organization meeting,
have you?

Never compiled a race budget, have you?

Never worked at a registration table, have you?

I wouldn't bet on any of that - Hollenbeck's been around for awhile.

The race in question is a national championship run under UCI rules,
the race requires a startlist the day before and riders are required
to register as a team for the elite race. Plus pre-registration gives
an organizer some security and an idea of numbers to handle logistics
(like parking, officials, neutral support - did you even think of
these things ?).

If 461 riders did ride the East Flanders champs, if it took a minute
to register each one, it would take over 7 man hours. Did someone type
in 461 names and hometowns ? Obviously they have the money or
personnel or system to pull it off, none of that exists here. Plus,
I'm guessing they didn't have to process fees in Flanders, but this
isn't Belgium.

-Amit