Everyone involved on the day of the first ever Sportive Kinross and I have to include here too 'the rain', by rain I mean "noun 1 a condensed moisture falling as separate water droplets from the atmosphere" seemed to enjoy the day. Enjoyment despite the presence of copious amounts of wind assisted rain (the rain obviously enjoyed falling), a lengthy delay at the start due to some ill judged motoring manoeuvre resulting in a car being rolled on the route (before the start fortunately) and some rather cold weather augmented by the the wind. I should add the the sun did play a cameo role towards the end of the day so I guess it had the last laugh in terms of the weather.
The police were very happy, the First Aid people, the Community Campus, the Charity Partner, the participants, the guys from the Roundtable who helped Marshall, we the organisers even enjoyed ourselves too. I think the swimming pool were a bit hacked off until we stopped people using their carpark other than them everyone else was pretty happy. The response we got from our post event survey was both extensive and very positive. So we sat down and took a look at what we need to do for 2012 to make it at least as good if not better. Our conclusion was the main change had to be an alteration to the Red route (see map below for new routes). But I hear you ask what has that got to do with a list of who enjoyed the day!!! Stay with me ;-)
The police were very happy, the First Aid people, the Community Campus, the Charity Partner, the participants, the guys from the Roundtable who helped Marshall, we the organisers even enjoyed ourselves too. I think the swimming pool were a bit hacked off until we stopped people using their carpark other than them everyone else was pretty happy. The response we got from our post event survey was both extensive and very positive. So we sat down and took a look at what we need to do for 2012 to make it at least as good if not better. Our conclusion was the main change had to be an alteration to the Red route (see map below for new routes). But I hear you ask what has that got to do with a list of who enjoyed the day!!! Stay with me ;-)
View Sportive Kinross 2012 in a larger map
Having presented the proposed route changes to the 'Golf Club' i.e. cycle club committee (of which I am now Chairman) we pressed ahead and set up a meeting with our good friends the officers of the local council and the very excellent local constabulary. The last time we met the council was back in December and I have to confess we never held the planned further meeting with them (this was mainly due to the unbelievably bad weather we had over the winter). We liaised by email and held a further meeting with the Police who would ultimately be the authority on the ground. I never realised one of the said officials had not received a copy of the minutes of the December meeting, this is the meeting we did not follow up on with a further meeting. This oversight of no minutes to un-named but aforementioned official (not due to us I hasten to add) was to prove a serious bone of contention at the planned meeting for the 2012 event / was up of 2011. I had (naively on reflection after my initial meeting with the council, see Part 4 of Sportive Kinross the Directors cut) anticipated our discussions would be a warm and friendly affair, one of mutual back slapping and appreciation of a successful event which all parties (council especially with their sterling efforts in sweeping large chunks of the route) had contributed too making it such a success.
We had arranged to hold the meeting at the excellent Green Hotel in Kinross. Unusually for me I arrived early. On arriving there was no one about, "Mmm", I wondered, "I'm early" I reassured myself. The time of the meeting approached and passed and still no one arrived. Then our Police liaison appeared, apologised for being late, explained she would be unable to stay or at least would not be available for an hour or so as there was "...a riot in Milnathort". Intrigue, anyone who knows Milnathort would not associate it with civil unrest of any sort. Said officer exited stage right. My colleague Trev appeared (our learned Webmaster the man who does all the great work with the website) but no council officials. Eventually they arrived, apologised for being late, looked disappointed that it is but myself and Trev to meet them. I explain about the Police officers 'little local difficulty' and advised I had not invited the other councils as their interest was marginal. The irritation was palpable before said official entered into a 10 or so minute salvo where various things were complained about which lead me to ask the question
"...would they prefer if we did not bother organising a further event?" This brought some order to the meeting. Trev then presented our proposals for the Red route revisions which take out the very isolated section north of Auchterarder, shortens the route but with the inclusion of a tougher climb which appears to be a Cat 3 in TDF terms which will enhance the challenge for the Red route riders. Having ridden the route I can confirm the second climb up Col du Dunning or Dunning Common as it would be in local parlance does indeed enhance the challenge with its 275m height gain and average gradient of 5.1%. The riders from last years Black route will know all about this of course!
Meanwhile, we are out looking for sponsors and media interest, a bit of TV coverage would be good and I hope we will be in a position to talk about the possibility of TV coverage come December.
