So COVID 19 and your sportive

awavey

Im surprised no-ones mentioned Ride London yet... ?

lincolndave

The Lincoln gran prix sportive ,and the lincoln gran prix have been cancelled, hopefully to be run later in the year

daniel_b

awavey said:

Im surprised no-ones mentioned Ride London yet... ?

That just occurred to me yesterday too, searched online, but nothing out there.
Guess it's too far away to make a decision now.

I have an airbnb booked, but can cancel at short notice.

awavey

daniel_b said:

awavey said:

Im surprised no-ones mentioned Ride London yet... ?

That just occurred to me yesterday too, searched online, but nothing out there.
Guess it's too far away to make a decision now.

I have an airbnb booked, but can cancel at short notice.

Yes dont get me wrong I wasnt expecting a decision this early,they havent even cancelled Velo Brum yet, I was just surprised no one seems to have mentioned it yet not in cycling press,here, anywhere really

wattsm666

I booked the EuroTunnel last week to get to Etape, but really don’t think it will happen.

Thankfully it is a fully refundable booking as is the hotel.

Darius_Jedburgh

Looks like this weekend's Velo 29 Daffodil Sportive has now been cancelled. I thought they were pushing their luck a bit. How many would have turned up?

sherer

im hoping even if this doesnt happen I can maybe get a few days in the Alps instead. I have flights booked so want to do something.

It's a long way off so who knows what will happen

awavey

Velo Birmingham cancelled, I wonder where that leaves nationals this year then

whyamihere

Velo Birmingham has been cancelled and refunds won't be given...

sherer

whyamihere said:

Velo Birmingham has been cancelled and refunds won't be given...

whats the reason behind no refund ? When Velo south was called off the other year we all got a refund

lettingthedaysgoby

It's all laid out in the statement. But put basically, if you want there to be even a fighting chance of a Velo 2021, they'll need the money.

I'm fine with it tbh, I work in the events industry and know how decimated it all is over this.

whyamihere

lettingthedaysgoby said:

It's all laid out in the statement. But put basically, if you want there to be even a fighting chance of a Velo 2021, they'll need the money.

I'm fine with it tbh, I work in the events industry and know how decimated it all is over this.

I think there would be better ways of dealing with it, maybe a voucher for a future event or something, which is what Velo29 have done for the Cheshire Cat. I fully understand that if the insurance isn't covering it, they'll go out of business if they have to return all the entry fees, but it's an expensive event and a lot of people will be out of pocket and will be hesitant to give the company even more money to enter the next ride.

ugo.santalucia

The reality is that they will go out of business anyway and people will be left out of pocket for nothing

slowmart

Forgive my uncharitable view of Active Sport and Entertainment

1) they weren’t insured for this but included the possibility in their terms and conditions?

2) they are keeping the full amount. So without running the event they have the full value of entries so I can’t see any financial hardship for the company in this scenario. Yes they’ve incurred up front costs
but not to the value of the full entry fee. They were full and opened the event to extra riders with the net outcome of incrementally increasing their cost base but greatly improving their bottom line.

3) the entry fee is too low to trigger s75 of the Consumer Credit act

4) the statement was weak and said more in what it didn’t say,
It leaves a bad and I won’t be entering any events supported by this company or directors if they start again as their good name in my opinion is tarnished

yorkshireraw

Struggle Dales not announced yet, but as it's the late May bank holiday weekend it seems very unlikely. Puncheur in Sussex moved back from April to Oct 4th. Was also supposed to be off to Flanders but fair play to Sports Tours they sorted out options including a refund pretty quickly.

fenix

In the current climate - losing the cash that we've put down for such fripperies as sportives should be the least of our worries.

I've lost theatre tickets already and they are offering refunds - but if we all take them - there won't be a theatre after this.

slowmart

The Freds cancelled and entries have been transferred to 2021.

ugo.santalucia

fenix said:

In the current climate - losing the cash that we've put down for such fripperies as sportives should be the least of our worries.

I've lost theatre tickets already and they are offering refunds - but if we all take them - there won't be a theatre after this.

Many things they could do without offering a full refund... they could for instance transfer entries to 2021 and explain that next year's edition will be run a lower budget, because of Covid-19, so no goodie bags, no food on offer and no other silly frills like electronic time keeping and all sorts. Keep the roads closed only where is really needed and generally keep costs under control.

fenix

If they can transfer entries and still keep afloat then that's fine. But if they can't - I'd rather they kept my cash and were there for me next year.

ugo.santalucia

fenix said:

If they can transfer entries and still keep afloat then that's fine. But if they can't - I'd rather they kept my cash and were there for me next year.

But you know they won't... their business model is too fragile... they have so far been able to deliver 2 events out of the 5 they planned, they probably need to be able to run 100% of them if they want to stay in business and it looks like they are a long way from achieving that.
As for a 20,000 entries event happening in 2021... I'd say no chance.. people think we'll all be vaccinated by then, but I recall we thought the same about HIV in the late 80s, just a question of a few months before the vaccine... 30 years (and 100 million deaths) later we are still waiting

carbonclem

Seems that ASO have cancelled their sportives for the year (L'Etape, Paris-Roubaix etc) and have offered vouchers to the value of your spend that are valid for 18 months ... it seems if they don't hold them by then they will refund.

mrb123

carbonclem said:

Seems that ASO have cancelled their sportives for the year (L'Etape, Paris-Roubaix etc) and have offered vouchers to the value of your spend that are valid for 18 months ... it seems if they don't hold them by then they will refund.

I believe that approach is consistent with a new law brought in by the French to assist businesses over there.

carbonclem

mrb123 said:

carbonclem said:

Seems that ASO have cancelled their sportives for the year (L'Etape, Paris-Roubaix etc) and have offered vouchers to the value of your spend that are valid for 18 months ... it seems if they don't hold them by then they will refund.

I believe that approach is consistent with a new law brought in by the French to assist businesses over there.

Yes, it also seems L’etape may still be on?
I gave a Tour of Flanders sportive place pending so am awaiting news from them now.

durhamwasp

Gent Wevelgem was obviously postponed, but i'm starting to get optimistic about heading over to Oudenaarde or Valkenburg in September for a long weekend of cycling, following some signed routes.
Other option is to find a base in the middle of some Paris-Roubaix sectors and do a couple of our own loops taking in some sectors. Anyone done similar?