Race Previews
Saving North Mankato...
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Tuesday, 06 September 2011 03:00
ED. Chris Crocker, the Mankato Multisport Club's Head Honcho / Big Cheese / sharp dresser (photo L), sent this letter addressing the future of the North Mankato, a 14-year institution, to fellow club members. This situation should be of interest to all Minnesota multisport enthusiasts.
Club members,
I've received a few questions trying to clarify the situation with the North Mankato Triathlon. Here are the high points:
The North Kato tri belongs under North Mankato Fun Days. North Mankato Fun Days is run by the Civic and Commerce Committee, which is an unelected group of folks from North Mankato that the City council has put in charge of commerce issues. The race is not run by the city council, and the Civic and Commerce Committee is not run by the city council either.
* There are two major outstanding issues with the race currently. One has to do with the size of the race, and the other has to do with who the new director will be....
* The North Mankato Tri is currently part of the Minnesota tri series, which is a series of 10 races in Minnesota that is run by Pickle Events that also includes some of the most popular and well respected races in the state: http://www.pickleevents.com/series/trimn/
o Being a part of the tri series carries with it a great deal of prestige and brings a level of competitor to our area that we would never otherwise get
* Even before the current director stepped down, Pickle Events had told the race director that the North Kato Tri needs to grow SLIGHTLY in size in order to remain in the series
o The race currently is capped at 275, Pickle Events wants the race at 350 or more. Only 75 more athletes. Very easily accommodated given the race's logistics.
o Now that we have no race director, Pickle Events is requiring that whoever takes over the race must have sufficient experience running races that Pickle Events can feel assured that the race will be a high quality event. Makes sense. They like the North Kato tri, but need to know that it will be worth traveling across the state to race at.
+ Pickle gave the City of North Mankato until mid August to meet all of these requirements, or be forced out the series
+ Mark Bongers of Final Stretch, Inc (Mankato Marathon, Rochester tri, Liberty tri, Waseca tri, etc) has been trying to contact North Mankato because he wants to run the race, but the city officials will not even return his phone calls.
I have been talking with the president of the Civic and Commerce (Denny Kemp) about growing the race to accommodate the 350 racers requirement that Pickle has requested to stay in the series, and he reported to me that he went to the Civic and Commerce Committee and they decided to keep the race smaller, and in fact was perfectly happy if the race shrank to the size of Elysian or the Lake Crystal tri's.
I've also spoken on several occasions to the Treasurer of Civic and Commerce, Wendell Sande, and he too is set on not letting the race grow. He has drawn what appears to be an arbitrary line in the sand at 275 racers, stating that any race that takes place in North Mankato over 275 will be required to pay for police services and will not have the support of the city. So while other cities beg for events, and welcome them with open arms, North Mankato is actively working to prevent them.
So here's the pitch folks, we are on the verge of getting kicked out one of the most important tri series in the region, and we only need to do TWO THINGS to save the race:
1. Raise the racer numbers to 350 (only 75 more athletes), very easily done
2. Assign an respected race director so that Pickle Events can be assured we will have a quality event, we already have Final Stretch calling them and they won't even return their phone calls.
Unfortunately there is a very small group of individuals that are keeping this from happening, and I actually suspect that there are really probably just a select few individuals on the committee that feel strongly about keeping the race from moving forward. We have all worked hard to see our triathlon community grow and thrive, but I think that we may be witnessing what amounts to the beginning of the end of the North Mankato tri in the next week or so. So write the committee members TODAY: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1llAh43L1hGtltuZnSbASoFiG4CYm72nea7DqUG-dg3CsMkRXfNUo_u26KqBR&hl=en
or hold your peace if our beloved race looks like shadow of its former self in a couple years!
Respectfully,
Crocker
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Chris Crocker
Greater Mankato Multisport Club,LLC
