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Hell of the Ashdown sportive cancelled – but no refunds for those who entered

Organisers say once costs are covered “a proportion of the money raised” will go to charity

The Hell of the Ashdown sportive, which had been due to take place tomorrow (Sunday) has been cancelled due to the likely impact of Storm Dennis. Catford Cycling Club Ltd, the organisers of the event, have written to entrants informing them of this while expressing regret that they are unable to refund entry fees.

With bad weather already around and many entrants and marshals needing to travel for the event, Catford CC had been under pressure to take a decision as early as possible.

A statement released earlier today reads: “It is with great regret that the Catford Cycling Club Ltd, the organisers of The Hell of the Ashdown, have reassessed the forecast weather conditions for Sunday and taken the decision not to run the event.

“We have made every attempt to try to continue to run the event, and we apologise for the disappointment this will cause to many participants, but the safety of the riders, marshals and other road users must be paramount in any decisions we make.

“As with any similar events, many financial commitments to running the event have already been made by the club and therefore, as set out in our terms and conditions, we regret we are unable to refund your entry fee.

“Once these costs are covered we will, of course, continue to donate a proportion of the money raised to our charity partner, The Chartwell Cancer Trust.

“Once again, we are sorry that this will cause disappointment to the many entrants at this year's event.”

Catford Cycling Club were last year persuaded to redistribute the prize money for their annual hill climb after initially offering £300 for the overall winner and just £75 for the first female.

After it became apparent the majority of hill climbers were in favour of a redistribution, Catford CC scrapped prizes for 'overall' winners, and instead offered £100 for the 1st place male and 1st place female, restructuring prize money for veteran and junior finishers in a similar way.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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28 comments

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peted76 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Seems this is just one of the many reliability rides and sportifs planned which were cancelled this weekend. A shame but predicable with the storms.

On the good news side of things, my local https://starleysportive.co.uk/ was called off, but the organisers have got a new date fixed in (April) and have told everyone they have automatic entry to the new date event! Huzzah! 

 

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CJ19 | 4 years ago
1 like

It would be interesting to know what the expenses are and how much goes to charity as a portion, with the entry of £30 and 1500 riders, £45,000.00 is a lot of money...

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Hills for Fun replied to CJ19 | 4 years ago
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CJ19 wrote:

It would be interesting to know what the expenses are and how much goes to charity as a portion, with the entry of £30 and 1500 riders, £45,000.00 is a lot of money...

 

Exactly this. Catford CC should be making public the costs they have incurred and the amount they are giving to charity. Indeed, it would be good to know what proportion goes to charity from this event every year

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crazy-legs replied to Hills for Fun | 4 years ago
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Why? They're not public sector, there's no obligation to make their financial records open to scrutiny. They might want to do that for the people who actually entered and have "lost" £30 but frankly, why should anyone else care?

If you did not enter it and don't like what they're doing with the no refunds policy, make a mental note never to enter that event.

If you did enter it and don't like their policy then (a) you should have read the T&Cs better because it is there and (b) take it up with the organisers directly rather than shout on social media / forums about it.

And if you're not bothered either way (whether you entered the event or not) then you can take comfort in the fact that lots of people have made a sort of involuntary donation to charity.

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Hills for Fun replied to crazy-legs | 4 years ago
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Other events I have entered that have been cancelled have either rolled over the entry to another event in their stable or to the same event the following year, even though the terms and conditions often say they don't have to, as in this case.

I'm more than happy for the entry fees to be donated to charity, but the statement they issued said that they would take money for costs already incurred, then give a proportion of the rest to charity. All I'd like to know is how much that is. If it's £40,000, happy days. If it's £5,000 I'm not sure that's ethical.

Also, I have taken this up with the organisers but they haven't got back to me.......

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
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If you paid by credit card, there is the option to make a claim as the issuer is liable where a good or service does not materialize.

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Sniffer replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
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I believe there is a £100 minimum for claims on credit cards, so unless you have bought for a few it won't cover in this case.

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LastBoyScout replied to Sniffer | 4 years ago
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This is Section 75 and it applies when the "value of goods" is >£100, i.e. £100.01 or more.

You only have to have paid 1p of that on a credit card for it to apply - you could have paid the rest in cash, cheque, cabbages or whatever.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purcha...

You are right that you would have to have paid for several members, but in this case, however, the terms and conditions of the event may take precedence.

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Joe Totale | 4 years ago
3 likes

Ashdown is a great ride, I've ridden it the last two years and should have been riding it today.

I fully support their decision to cancel and also what they're doing with the money. It's a fairly small sportive run by volunteers, it's nothing like Ride London or Velo South and you can't compare the two. If Catford CC gave out refunds they'd be severely out of pocket and probably would never risk running another event.

One thing the article should point out is that entry was £30 so it's certainly not as expensive as other sportives. 

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Hills for Fun replied to Joe Totale | 4 years ago
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Yes it would be great if they were donating all the proceeds (£40,000 or so) to charity. Does anyone know what "proportion" is going to be given to charity by the club? If it a small amount then that's not so impressive

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Judge dreadful | 4 years ago
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Ahhhh sportives, you've gotta love 'em.

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AfterPeak | 4 years ago
2 likes

I am one of those that lost out. I am fine with it. Last year you could see how much effort goes into it. But I am surprised they couldn't have a backup date for this. Moving it to next weekend can't have been that much effort. It's not even a closed roads event.

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Joe Totale replied to AfterPeak | 4 years ago
1 like

You'd never clear it with the Police in such short notice, they usually need to be notified months in advance. 

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roadmanshaq | 4 years ago
4 likes

Usual comments section armchair organisers out in force. Organising an event let alone a sportive is a huge undertaking, highly intensive in volunteer energies and finances. These are unrecoverable funds - the money has been spent. If you enter a community run event especially this time of year, whether it's an audax or whatever else, you note the terms and conditions and if it can't happen for safety reasons then that's just bad luck.

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WDG replied to roadmanshaq | 4 years ago
1 like

roadmanshaq wrote:

Usual comments section armchair organisers out in force. Organising an event let alone a sportive is a huge undertaking, highly intensive in volunteer energies and finances. These are unrecoverable funds - the money has been spent. If you enter a community run event especially this time of year, whether it's an audax or whatever else, you note the terms and conditions and if it can't happen for safety reasons then that's just bad luck.

I accept the fact that a lot of work has gone into it, but this sort of event is designed to make money, be it for the club or charity or whoever.  The way this is set up is ensuring the organiser can't lose, which is a risk you should be prepared to bear if you decide to run such an event, which given it's in the middle of winter means that there's an increased probability it won't run.  I have seen other organisers offer free entry for a future event, this seems like a fairer outcome.

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roadmanshaq replied to WDG | 4 years ago
7 likes

WDG wrote:

I accept the fact that a lot of work has gone into it, but this sort of event is designed to make money, be it for the club or charity or whoever. 

Nope. It's to do nothing of the kind. The surpluses are given to local charities but the entry fees are to cover the cost of the event which include indoor sheltered areas, safety marshals and mechanical support as well as the timing system. This is all money that's been spent even if the event is cancelled on safety grounds. There is no money to get all these resources in for the next iteration of the sportive without people paying to register.

 

Maybe educate yourself before you start lecturing cycling clubs on how to organise community events.

http://www.hellgb.co.uk/

 

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Derk Davies replied to roadmanshaq | 4 years ago
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Audax's cancelled? The Mayo 200 happened yesterday on the west coast of Ireland. Thats why I love audaxing, you don't seem to get these problems you just turn up and ride it whatever happens. And if something goes wrong you sort it out.

If you like sportives this seems to be the sort of thing you have to put up with. Fair enough decision in this case as it seems to be a smaller club run event. To busy for me so I just help out on a couple. 

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roadmanshaq replied to Derk Davies | 4 years ago
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Tim K wrote:

Audax's cancelled? The Mayo 200 happened yesterday on the west coast of Ireland. Thats why I love audaxing, you don't seem to get these problems you just turn up and ride it whatever happens. And if something goes wrong you sort it out.

 

Lots of organisers cancel on safety grounds. Others go ahead regardless. There's no rule.

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Chris Hayes replied to Derk Davies | 4 years ago
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I guess that as long as you're riding with a tailwind then it doens't matter  1 

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Cupov | 4 years ago
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I've never really got the sportive thing anyway....but in February it makes even less sense.

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essexian | 4 years ago
2 likes

Surprised that they don't have insurance for weather matters.

Quite poor form if they don't as, well its winter and the weather can be crap so it would be sensible to have cover.

 

 

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Awavey replied to essexian | 4 years ago
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Yes I'm assuming it's an insurance or lack of it issue,I guess the small print you agreed to when signing up covers them though...

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crazy-legs replied to essexian | 4 years ago
2 likes

Cancellation insurance is incredibly expensive - I'd guess even more so in mid-February where it's highly like that the weather will be shit.

That event always puzzles me - somehow the organisers have managed to turn a bog-standard 100km club reliability ride into a £35/person Sportive which sells out every time. Funny old world.

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roadmanshaq replied to crazy-legs | 4 years ago
8 likes

crazy-legs wrote:

Cancellation insurance is incredibly expensive - I'd guess even more so in mid-February where it's highly like that the weather will be shit.

That event always puzzles me - somehow the organisers have managed to turn a bog-standard 100km club reliability ride into a £35/person Sportive which sells out every time. Funny old world.

They've done it by putting on catered indoor accommodation, mechanical support coverage, marshals, and a timing system. Maybe you should educate yourself before mouthing off online about how an acclaimed community event is 'bog standard'.

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crazy-legs replied to roadmanshaq | 4 years ago
2 likes

The original iterations of that event WERE bog standard club reliability rides - that was what the entire thing started as! Yes, I know they've added extras and "converted" it to a Sportive, I've ridden it a couple of times (happily paying the money to do so).

I didn't mean it puzzles me in a bad way, I think it's a triumph of marketing and in these days of cash-strapped clubs losing membership, it's great that Catford CC (and local charities) get some money out of it. It's interesting how some Sportives sell out every time (Fred Whitton, HotA,...) while a few others struggle along for a few years barely breaking even never mind having enough left to give to club funds or charity before falling by the wayside.

And yes, I know how much refunds cost in time and effort (and sometimes, bank/card charges) to process so I'm not entirely surprised they've said no refunds - it's the marketing of that they'll need to cover off to minimise the complaints.

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andyp replied to roadmanshaq | 4 years ago
3 likes

That's twice in one thread you've suggested that someone educates themselves, despite not knowing the slightest thing about them. Maybe you should educate yourself on how to not come across as arrogant?

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atlaz replied to essexian | 4 years ago
5 likes

Why bother with insurance if you can just cancel it and not give the money back? 

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alexuk | 4 years ago
1 like

Sensible - its brutal anyway, but in a storm its just too much!

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