Fitz’s forced to move aside for Mont

[Ross]

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Pedal Power has been forced to move its popular Fitz’s Challenge event following the rescheduling of the Mont 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race which was washed out by rain in early April.

Self Propelled Enterprises, the company that runs the Mont 24 Hour at first offered entrants a discounted entry to next year’s race or a few similar events but, after backlash from customers, opted to reschedule the 24 Hour event to 25-26 October, the same weekend as the Fitz’s Challenge.

Executive Officer of Pedal Power, John Armstrong, said that although he can sympathise with event organisers, he is disappointed there was no consultation.

“Fitz’s Challenge is a well-known, popular event that’s been running for over 20 years. Last year saw a record number of people on the ACT roads in one day. Once we found out about the conflicting date for the Mont 24 Hour, we made contact with the organisers but they weren’t prepared to budge,” explained John.

The Fitz’s team is very concerned about the impact on their event.

“Ours is a not-for-profit organisation, not a private company. We rely on the events we run to fund our cycling advocacy activities. The Fitz’s Challenge alone has raised over $100,000 for the Kid’s Cancer Project – the charity associated with the Fit’s Challenge. We’re concerned that many people who normally do Fitz’s Challenge will opt out because they’ve already paid for their entry into an event happening a week later. We feel a little like we’ve been ambushed – that they have put their profits ahead of our fund-raising,” said John.

Pedal Power urges everyone to mark Sunday 19 October for the 2014 Fitz’s Challenge in your calendar now and invites those who are already paid up for the Mont 24 Hour to consider also riding Fitz’s. Registrations will open on 1 June.

[trailgumby]

I'm not sure what to think of this. It certainly hasn't endeared Pedal Power to me. It misrepresents the situation SPE found itself in - they would clearly have preferred the first two options, and re-running it was a distant last.

SPE's main concern was to avoid conflicting with other mountain bike events in order to keep their customers happy and avoid having to answer to Fair Trading despite making it clear in the terms and conditions that reruns and refunds were not available if the event were washed out. They will be very likely to make a loss, so I'm not sure how John Armstrong can say with a straight face "that they have put their profits ahead of our fund-raising."

I doubt there would have been much impact on Fitz's Challenge, which is a road event. If mtb events had to "consult" and fit around road events, there'd be very few weekends left in the calendar.

[chucknitro]

Long range target - had "locked" Fitz's in for the first time and booked accommodation! Not real happy..

[biker jk]

Now Fitz's Challenge is the same day as Around the Bay in a Day. I know a guy who does both but can't this year.

[Ross]

I'm not sure what to think of this. It certainly hasn't endeared Pedal Power to me. It misrepresents the situation SPE found itself in - they would clearly have preferred the first two options, and re-running it was a distant last.

SPE's main concern was to avoid conflicting with other mountain bike events in order to keep their customers happy and avoid having to answer to Fair Trading despite making it clear in the terms and conditions that reruns and refunds were not available if the event were washed out. They will be very likely to make a loss, so I'm not sure how John Armstrong can say with a straight face "that they have put their profits ahead of our fund-raising."

I doubt there would have been much impact on Fitz's Challenge, which is a road event. If mtb events had to "consult" and fit around road events, there'd be very few weekends left in the calendar.

It seems PP were left with no other choice but to change the date of risk potentially losing a lot of money. I'm sure there are a lot of people who ride MTBs and roadies and do both events.

As for SPE, you can't just put a disclaimer in small print saying if event is cancelled then bad luck no refund, there are consumer laws that say different, as they have found out when someone called them out on it. Fair enough though that you couldn't expect them to change the date again.

I still fail to see how SPE would lose money. They don't have to pay police, TAMS or marshalls like a road race would need to do. They say they didn't pay insurance because it was too dear. The track I believe is private property (?) so they may have had to pay the owner something, not sure if they would be required to pay seeing how the event was cancelled and the track wasn't used. How many entrants were there? How much was the entry fee?

I would of thought PP might have checked on ATB and tried not to schedule a clash but there may well be other events (even non-cycling) on around that time so this may of been the only suitable time.

[trailgumby]

There are a lot of costs for infrastructure that needs to be set up in the days before the event and then pulled out again afterwards- It can't be left there for 6 months until the event takes place.

Toilets, showers, emergency services, first aid, food service, generators, on-track photography systems, etc all of which have to be hired and then manned and which he will have to pay for twice. Then there is the cost of trailwork, bunting and trail markers, timing equipment manned hire... I'm sure there will be others.

[biker jk]

Pedal Power has changed Fitz's back to the original date of October 26. Good on them!

[Ross]

Interesting. Wonder why that is?

[chucknitro]

Interesting. Wonder why that is?

Don't really care. Registered before they change it again!!!

[Ross]

Iwas talking to a mate about this and he thought the changed date might of clashed with Around The Bay.