Can Free State pull off a successful SA Cycling Championship?
Recently a number of local riders smashed into two bricks lying on the shoulder of the N1 just outside Bloemfontein, this despite being chaperoned by a Commissaire. Instead of removing the bricks from the road, or communicating a warning, the following bunch ploughed into the same road hazard, leading to one rider ripping part of her ear and sustaining head injuries. If this was a one off blapse it might be excusable, but unfortunately, there’s more.
There seems to be disorganization and confusion locally. This week I have received numerous emails about a proposed time trial route, but no one seems to know exactly which one it is. Is it on the Kimberley Road starting from Bains Lodge, or on the Bultfontein Road as proposed earlier?
In terms of administering an actual race, I have my doubts whether the local officials have the ability to deal with, how can I put it, an unscripted situation. The reason I am a little concerned is that I participated in last year’s Road Championships (just provincials mind you), and while the official distance was communicated to us as 120km, it was changed at the last minute (meaning, while the cyclists were gathering to start).
Of course, at the 50km turnaround point no one seemed to know to call me back and what made it more confusing (and compelling for me to continue) was that the route had beacons beyond the 50km mark. Even after cycling 5km then 10km beyond the newly established turnaround, no one had either noticed I had gone beyond the new turnaround point, and no one was sent to bring me back. I hope there’ll be more attention paid to the far more complex route through Bloem’s suburbia.
I can’t speak for this years event because there was such a terrific mess (I prefer the Afrikaans word ‘gemors’) made of my license, that I arrived at the event without one. A meeting was made by the heads of state and some of my club officials and in their wisdom they decided I shouldn’t be allowed to ride without a license. This may make perfect sense, except the contact person they provided (on the entry form) had no idea whether a license, or even a temporary license was even necessary (or would be available on the day) when I called her. She also undertook to call me back but failed to do so.
Now when a sporting body that is meant to promote, serve and protect its sportsmen not only fails to perform a basic function (such as to merely inform prospective participants of its own rules), but then punishes would-be competitors for being left in the dark, well I wonder how a more important event like SA Cycling Champs (to be held in Bloemfontein from June 1st) can be conducted successfully.
Of course today I am a very disappointed cyclist, having taken my annual leave last month to go and train for important events like today’s, and then to find that people who said ‘It’s taken care of’ didn’t take care of anything at all. I made a few calls today to complain about the state of affairs, and I believe I stated a reasonable if somewhat emotional case for promoting the sport, and treating people like myself with a measure of humanity, rather than just throwing the rule book at them, and worse, being unfriendly and unhelpful. During one conversation one official, a tall woman, later apologized, but then these seemingly harmless jabs on my part resulted in a late night call from my own cycling Club saying that following the phone calls made (obviously calls were then made behind my back), they want to distance themselves from me and cancel my cycling membership. This obviously makes getting a license (in order to compete at SA Cycling Championships) impossible. It also makes the process of following up on those officials in the club who made promises and then forgot about them, impossible to establish accountability. And worst of all, it makes the pursuit of cycling, which this brou hah ha is all about, far less enjoyable. In fact, it turns sport into a political, bureaucratic mess. So I have to wonder, if you have clubs and officials confused and ignorant and unsure and sabotaging one another, what are the prospects for a professional Championships in these sleepy, grudge-filled vlaktes?
Today when I attempted to beat the odds, to compete in the provincial championships, and each official seemed not to want to listen or even consider the possibility (of competing without a license), it reminded me of a cricket umpire suddenly facing a bowler, and fielders screaming “HOWZAAAAAAT.” Infuriated audiences for many years watched slow motion replays that showed just how defective some of these decisions were. How long did it take cricket boards worldwide to concede that any unclear decision would be logically and far easily settled using television as a third umpire? An obscenely long time. People are loathe to make exceptions, or to admit that they may be making a mistake. And the longer they take the harder it is to admit an error isn’t it? They prefer a decision that is firm, even if it completely and utterly wrong.
Speaking of which, Swimming South Africa is currently giving Roland Schoeman the short end of the stick. He cannot afford to get back to South Africa, to compete at Nationals (since he has no money – the trip to Melbourne cost him R50 000). Swimming South Africa have responded by threatening to slash his salary. That helps! This is how the world’s fastest swimmer is being treated by a South African sport’s body.
I hope that someone somewhere can wake up those people in charge who sleepwalk into the future, with very few cares besides their own. I certainly can’t do it by myself. They certainly don’t seem to care about the people they represent, whether they be cyclists or swimmers. This mental malaise is everywhere mind you. I think Presidents ought not to send their countrymen to war unless they have served in a war, and people on sports councils ought to have achieved something in the sport to be able to play a constructive role. Otherwise their role, and intentions (in something they know very little about) seems to be a twisted kind of voyeurism. A sense of: I am too old, and in any case not good enough. You who are not, need to feel what that’s like. There may be some justice in that, if a particular sick kind.
In South Africa we need far more promotion of sport than a focus on punishments for violations of the fineprint.
It should be made very clear that those who serve, should serve. And that policy stems from constituents, not from those merely in positions to implement them. These same people who do nothing but paperwork, who stand up and oppose, should be prevented from contaminating the hearts and minds of people who love what they are doing. Words on a piece of paper ought not to be the most important thing on any given day. Human beings, for which those words were made, ought to have the sense to know that.
Recently a number of local riders smashed into two bricks lying on the shoulder of the N1 just outside Bloemfontein, this despite being chaperoned by a Commissaire. Instead of removing the bricks from the road, or communicating a warning, the following bunch ploughed into the same road hazard, leading to one rider ripping part of her ear and sustaining head injuries. If this was a one off blapse it might be excusable, but unfortunately, there’s more.
There seems to be disorganization and confusion locally. This week I have received numerous emails about a proposed time trial route, but no one seems to know exactly which one it is. Is it on the Kimberley Road starting from Bains Lodge, or on the Bultfontein Road as proposed earlier?
In terms of administering an actual race, I have my doubts whether the local officials have the ability to deal with, how can I put it, an unscripted situation. The reason I am a little concerned is that I participated in last year’s Road Championships (just provincials mind you), and while the official distance was communicated to us as 120km, it was changed at the last minute (meaning, while the cyclists were gathering to start).
Of course, at the 50km turnaround point no one seemed to know to call me back and what made it more confusing (and compelling for me to continue) was that the route had beacons beyond the 50km mark. Even after cycling 5km then 10km beyond the newly established turnaround, no one had either noticed I had gone beyond the new turnaround point, and no one was sent to bring me back. I hope there’ll be more attention paid to the far more complex route through Bloem’s suburbia.
I can’t speak for this years event because there was such a terrific mess (I prefer the Afrikaans word ‘gemors’) made of my license, that I arrived at the event without one. A meeting was made by the heads of state and some of my club officials and in their wisdom they decided I shouldn’t be allowed to ride without a license. This may make perfect sense, except the contact person they provided (on the entry form) had no idea whether a license, or even a temporary license was even necessary (or would be available on the day) when I called her. She also undertook to call me back but failed to do so.
Now when a sporting body that is meant to promote, serve and protect its sportsmen not only fails to perform a basic function (such as to merely inform prospective participants of its own rules), but then punishes would-be competitors for being left in the dark, well I wonder how a more important event like SA Cycling Champs (to be held in Bloemfontein from June 1st) can be conducted successfully.
Of course today I am a very disappointed cyclist, having taken my annual leave last month to go and train for important events like today’s, and then to find that people who said ‘It’s taken care of’ didn’t take care of anything at all. I made a few calls today to complain about the state of affairs, and I believe I stated a reasonable if somewhat emotional case for promoting the sport, and treating people like myself with a measure of humanity, rather than just throwing the rule book at them, and worse, being unfriendly and unhelpful. During one conversation one official, a tall woman, later apologized, but then these seemingly harmless jabs on my part resulted in a late night call from my own cycling Club saying that following the phone calls made (obviously calls were then made behind my back), they want to distance themselves from me and cancel my cycling membership. This obviously makes getting a license (in order to compete at SA Cycling Championships) impossible. It also makes the process of following up on those officials in the club who made promises and then forgot about them, impossible to establish accountability. And worst of all, it makes the pursuit of cycling, which this brou hah ha is all about, far less enjoyable. In fact, it turns sport into a political, bureaucratic mess. So I have to wonder, if you have clubs and officials confused and ignorant and unsure and sabotaging one another, what are the prospects for a professional Championships in these sleepy, grudge-filled vlaktes?
Today when I attempted to beat the odds, to compete in the provincial championships, and each official seemed not to want to listen or even consider the possibility (of competing without a license), it reminded me of a cricket umpire suddenly facing a bowler, and fielders screaming “HOWZAAAAAAT.” Infuriated audiences for many years watched slow motion replays that showed just how defective some of these decisions were. How long did it take cricket boards worldwide to concede that any unclear decision would be logically and far easily settled using television as a third umpire? An obscenely long time. People are loathe to make exceptions, or to admit that they may be making a mistake. And the longer they take the harder it is to admit an error isn’t it? They prefer a decision that is firm, even if it completely and utterly wrong.
Speaking of which, Swimming South Africa is currently giving Roland Schoeman the short end of the stick. He cannot afford to get back to South Africa, to compete at Nationals (since he has no money – the trip to Melbourne cost him R50 000). Swimming South Africa have responded by threatening to slash his salary. That helps! This is how the world’s fastest swimmer is being treated by a South African sport’s body.
I hope that someone somewhere can wake up those people in charge who sleepwalk into the future, with very few cares besides their own. I certainly can’t do it by myself. They certainly don’t seem to care about the people they represent, whether they be cyclists or swimmers. This mental malaise is everywhere mind you. I think Presidents ought not to send their countrymen to war unless they have served in a war, and people on sports councils ought to have achieved something in the sport to be able to play a constructive role. Otherwise their role, and intentions (in something they know very little about) seems to be a twisted kind of voyeurism. A sense of: I am too old, and in any case not good enough. You who are not, need to feel what that’s like. There may be some justice in that, if a particular sick kind.
In South Africa we need far more promotion of sport than a focus on punishments for violations of the fineprint.
It should be made very clear that those who serve, should serve. And that policy stems from constituents, not from those merely in positions to implement them. These same people who do nothing but paperwork, who stand up and oppose, should be prevented from contaminating the hearts and minds of people who love what they are doing. Words on a piece of paper ought not to be the most important thing on any given day. Human beings, for which those words were made, ought to have the sense to know that.
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