Perhaps he had no alternative but this comes across as an utter train wreck - was there literally no contingency in place? Someone asked about a time extension and they got shut down rather decisively. I suspect Audax Club Parisienne would have had to agree a time extension and knowing the way the Audax organisations seem to operate, it'd be a mountain to move... People have invested a shoot ton of time and money to participate on this ride and to abort it without any transparent discussions seems pretty unfair. I feel sorry for all the volunteers and riders.
London Edinburgh London 2025
- Thread starter ianrauk
- Start date
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LucretiaMyReflection
Über Member
- Location
- The Flatlands
There will be a limit to how each control can be extended though, so that will also play a part. Mickleton seems to be sheltering around 120 riders due to the storm without being set up for that many.
A difficult decision either way.
A difficult decision either way.
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
There is the ability to give a time extension, but this was going to be 20+ hours. Facilities, riders and volunteer availability will have affected their decision.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
It would be unreasonable- and some cases impossible- for many riders and volunteers to alter travel plans, take more time off, for controls to be open longer…
My comment was not focused on the cancellation itself but more the the announcement, I felt it needed something like "after consultation with our volunteer team we concluded that we could not safely complete the event within a reasonable time extension". Whatever the words it would have shown the organisers worked on ideas as best they could (I'm sure they did).
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Posted on FB:
"Sadly we didn't make it this time!
We just told riders that we're truncating #LEL25 and inviting them to join us on the ride South tomorrow morning.
After two extended pauses we still didn't have clarity on when it would be safe to let riders head North again. With continuing forecasts of wind gust of over 50 miles per hour over some the most exposed terrain in Britain, it was just too dangerous to continue.
But with rest stops and control points ready for the riders on the return journey, the only choice was to bring the riders home.
So, if you are along the route please grab a moment to welcome back our returning heroes as they battle home through the windy East of England.
And if you know one of our army of helpers, who have gone above and beyond what any volunteer could be asked to do... let them know that they're awesome"
"Sadly we didn't make it this time!
We just told riders that we're truncating #LEL25 and inviting them to join us on the ride South tomorrow morning.
After two extended pauses we still didn't have clarity on when it would be safe to let riders head North again. With continuing forecasts of wind gust of over 50 miles per hour over some the most exposed terrain in Britain, it was just too dangerous to continue.
But with rest stops and control points ready for the riders on the return journey, the only choice was to bring the riders home.
So, if you are along the route please grab a moment to welcome back our returning heroes as they battle home through the windy East of England.
And if you know one of our army of helpers, who have gone above and beyond what any volunteer could be asked to do... let them know that they're awesome"
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Posted by @srw over on YACF:
"It's absolutely the right decision to cancel. It's much easier to allow rider discretion to prevail if you're only offering barebones support. But with schools having to be handed over on Saturday, volunteers and riders (for many of whom this will have been their only experience of a typical British summer, let alone an atypical one) needing to get back to reality at the end of the week and the meeja, hungry lawyers and risk-averse insurance companies waiting to pounce if something goes catastrophically wrong even for one rider, the decision was made much less difficult.
It's actually easy to bounce back from reputational damage if you handle it well. A reasonably open lessons learned exercise, an admission of any mistakes made in handling and comms and an explanation of how you'll manage the next event differently will go a very long way to restoring confidence. So far I haven't seen a bum move."
"It's absolutely the right decision to cancel. It's much easier to allow rider discretion to prevail if you're only offering barebones support. But with schools having to be handed over on Saturday, volunteers and riders (for many of whom this will have been their only experience of a typical British summer, let alone an atypical one) needing to get back to reality at the end of the week and the meeja, hungry lawyers and risk-averse insurance companies waiting to pounce if something goes catastrophically wrong even for one rider, the decision was made much less difficult.
It's actually easy to bounce back from reputational damage if you handle it well. A reasonably open lessons learned exercise, an admission of any mistakes made in handling and comms and an explanation of how you'll manage the next event differently will go a very long way to restoring confidence. So far I haven't seen a bum move."
