I'll check for you
I'll check for you
ignore my rant John Schofield has just agreed to put straight in the bank. was surprised to get an answer today. I have gone from concerned to impressed!!!Originally Posted by Witton Park
still wondering what happenned to a new date??
It's finding a date.
We have a full road closure - so you have to leave around 8 weeks to be able to implement a new closure.
In March we would then be treading on the toes of some other races - such as Trafford 10K, Northern 12 & 6 Stage, big XC races as well - and local races such as Roddlesworth.
April is very congested as well with National Road Relays, Salford 10K and the Easter Weekend of course and we rely on around 60 club volunteers to put the race on so getting them out is also a consideration.
If we re-arranged we would not want to go up against another local race and possibly do harm to another organisers revenue as they are often the lifeblood of clubs - the RV10K certainly is for us.
So it will be next year at the same time - or it will be at a revised date - this is being discussed at the moment.
I received no notification it was cancelled, no email after to say why, & have received no refund.
Ok, there was a bit of slush, & they felt they had to cancel last minute.
But you'd think we'd at least get an email & a refund. Especially as some of us had a wasted 200 mile round trip.
HI Ria,
It wasn't a bit of slush - it was ice either side of the bridge, where a milk tanker was stuck.
Were you postal entry? If so, the race organiser and his wife spent most of last week issuing cheques, getting them signed, rearranging a bank mandate that normally requires the signatures of 2 committee members and getting them all ready to post. I think you might appreciate that doing this for 500 different entrants is quite a task.
Information was posted on http://www.ukresults.net/ on the day of the race immediately after the cancellation. It was also posted on the Harriers website "News and Info" http://www.blackburnharriers.co.uk/b...ex.htm~content and on the Northern Athletics website at http://www.noeaa-athletics.org.uk/
I'm not sure whether you are inferring that you expect a personal communication or not, but it was put out in to the public domain as early as 8:30am on the morning of the race and of course some people were already on their way.
Regrettably I'm not sure we could have done any more, but if you think we could have, please be more specific as we rely on feedback both good and bad. In the vast majority of cases the athletes have been very supportive including one athlete who travelled from Bedford and stayed overnight in Burnley. He called me on the morning of the race and said he fully understood that there was little esle we could do in the circumstances.
You should get your cheque in the post shortly. If online entry, they are being done as well and some have already received them.
The info on the website late the night before said the race was DEFINATELY going ahead. I saw from the weather forecast that sleet was forecast that night, so I would have thought if the organisers had an idea they would want to cancel this because of the sleet, then they would have put a warning on the website to say check at 7am before setting out. No such warning was given, so I left at 7am for a wasted journey.
Yes I entered by post, & a month on have still received no refund. And received no email to explain if & when refunds were being given, until I emailed to ask.
I feel if you cancel a race on the morning, you should send a bulk email to everyone, explaining why, & telling them when, or if, refunds are being given.
If you only put a post on a website saying refunds will be given, then obviously people are going to start asking what's happening after an entire month.
Had you emailed us straight away saying refunds would take 2 months, then fine. But I'd heard nothing.
The course wasn't unrunnable. Dozens of us ran it without incident. It was just a bit of slush that was melting.
I'm bored of this nanny state, with everyone telling me I can't do anything because it's not safe!
They'll be banning all trail races soon, because mud is slippy. And of course fell races should be banned, because grass can be slippy when wet!
Considering so many of us had made the journey, I feel those of us that wanted to run should have been allowed, with those thinking it was too icy being given refunds if they wanted.
I sign a disclaimer, & I'm an adult & can take responsibility for myself.
Hi Everyone,
5 athletes ran around the course today and it is in great nick to race, the roads are clear. At this moment in time the race goes ahead.
The weather is more of the same for Friday through to Sunday and although the course will be checked every day, the situation is unlikely to change during the weekend.
On the BBC and Met Office websites there is a band of rain moving in from the West on Sunday night with South Westerly winds. Temperatures look set to rise with Monday forecast 3 - 6C.
There is a concern here though - there is a likelyhood of some snow initially on Sunday night as the rain band arrives, but it seems it will turn to rain.
Our instinct is that the conditions will be fine to race, but we also realise that we have substantial runners travelling a long way to the race. So we feel that it is prudent to advise that at the moment we are full steam ahead for Monday, with a hint of caution on what Sunday night may bring.
We will monitor the course daily in the meantime as well as the weather forecasts and endeavour to keep you all fully informed.
See above the statement that was issued before the race and was published on UKresults and on some forums.
Note the next to the last paragraph - advising of the hint of caution for those travelling longer distances.
Here's a quote taken from the eightlane forum posted by England International Dave Norman. An Altrincham athlete and a race organiser himself.
A group of us still travelled to the race to meet for a group tempo run. This didn't end up happening because the road surface was far too dangerous. The correct decision was made, and I feel for the organising team as I had to go through exactly the same process for the Trafford 10k back in February.
Anyone looking for a fast 10k in the new year, Trafford 10k is on March 13th 2011. This is the race where Chris Thompson ran a solo 28:02. I will start a thread for the race in the next couple of weeks.
If you remember the forecast, you will note that it was forecast to fall further north - in the Lune Valley and Lake District. I got up at 7:00am to send to of my family off to marshall and also to run in the race myself with my daughter.
I looked out the window and breathed a sigh of relief.
No snow at all - a light frost - and I live 7 miles from the race route.
After the decision had been taken, the RV Council team that are there to observe advised that they would have enforced a cancellation anyway if we had decided to go ahead.
Note that an attempt to delay the start time would not have been feasible as the road closure lasts only until 1:00pm latest.
So just to summarise ref the fitness of the route and timing of the decsion - at 6:00am the course was runnable and there wasn't snow - at 7:00am it had a covering and there was a milk tanker stuck on the bridge - by 7:30 discussions were taking place about what could be done to get the race on and by 8:15 I had a call to ask if I could get the word out - which I did - the race could not have been run - if BBH had taken the reckless view that we go ahead the Council would have blocked that
Now to your issues that are personal to you.
Many people have expressed surprise that there is a refund at all - but we want to be straight. We had a process to go to after cancellation which was to investigate the options available for re-arranging the race, the consequences of that and clearly there are many parties to check with on the logistics of this. It is not a decision that can be taken by a couple of the RV race committee and it clearly didn't help that it was over the holiday period as key people were not contactable.
We could pick a few dates as possibilities - but were they acceptable to RV Council and other interested parties?
For those who paid online all the money was returned within a few days of the full cancellation decision. For postal entries we had to secure over 500 cheques - we don't tend to have that many as you can imagine. We also had to get a special mandate arranged to allow 1 signature on the cheques. They have then all had to be written individually and put in letters to send.
So I am sorry if the delay was an issue to you - but you are the only one I have come across with such a grievance.
Communication - you seem to have been checking the website - that being the case you will have been kept up to speed - so why the need for a personal email? The website had all the relevant info you needed.
Or did you take a decision to avoid the website after the event?
If it were a trail race we would have run most probably - but people tend to come equipped for off-road running then don't they - studded footwear etc.
This had nothing to do with Nanny State - this had something to do with a sensible decision that was made with great reluctance.
It may be OK to potter round the course at a slower pace but for anyone running round at 5 - 8 minute mile pace it was totally impossible; that is around half of the field.
This is an event run by an amateur club to raise funds that go in to junior athletics - it has hit the club for over £5000.
You are in a minority of one Ria. I can only say that the reaction of all the athletes that I have been in touch with has been excellent, but of course in all walks of life you find selfish, inconsiderate and small-minded people don't you?
Most of the people on here would probably wonder why your are moaning. You turned up - had your run and got your refund.
I smell a wind up WP
The loss of revenue to the club is a big hit to take - I know how important the revenue from events is, especially the main one of the year.
It is unfortunate that people had wasted journeys and the vast majority are understanding of the situation. One thing I can see as perhaps helpful for future events is having a mailing list of entants put together in an Outlook group so as soon as it is known the event is off the group email could be sent as this could be picked up via mobile for those already en-route.............? Obviously no use to the probable majority who do not have the latest mobiles but it's bases covered for no expense.
Just a thought.
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