Mistakes are common. Everyone makes them. Regardless of how big or small the mistake, what makes you a man is the ability to accept these mistake and apologize for them. Many people REFUSE to admit mistake and instead argue, but the Ateneo Blue Diamond Race organizer accepted the mistakes made. In their defense though, several of these mistakes were not their fault. Had it not been for the bad weather, it might have turned out differently.
I know a lot of us wish something better had happened that day. A lot of us wish that they could have anticipated the events that would take place. Some of us even wish that they just rescheduled the run. But then again, I’m sure others would also be annoyed if it were rescheduled. I’m sure if they pushed through with their original plans, someone might have gotten hurt. So let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt and be glad that we survived! Every experience, whether GOOD or BAD is one worth learning from.
Anyway, I emailed the group to share our sentiments and here was their response:
ADBR Answers to all your questions:
Dear runners,
We shall be answering the following concerns, Claiming of Finisher Medals, Race Results, water Stations, Portalets, signages, Fireworks and Gunstart.
First: we understand that the heavy rain and strong winds around 4:30 AM prevented runners from attending the event. We were able to record those who participated during the event. This means that those who attended received their medals already.
Those who registered but failed to attend may still get their Singlets and Medals. We will just schedule designated time for the pick up.
Second: Race Results
The registration details of the late registrants and onsite registrants were not encoded yet as our sockets and wiring connections at the venue set up were soaked with water. Rain droplets cause discoloration on the information details that you wrote on the reg fees. THis is the reason why we safe keep them immediately upon registration
The ADBR Group will encode this by the start of the business day. Let us give time for our staff to rest after the traumatic typhoon like winds and heavy rains that hit the vicinity of SM MOA. While the weather forecasts indicated that there would be rain showers only due to the typhoon up north, we deem it was still manageable. At around 11:00 PM of August 27 the weather turned out to be typhoon like. But it stopped at around 2:00 AM until 4:00 AM so we were still able to set up the race arch and the clocks.
Third: Water Stations
First of all, we have enough suppliers for the water. The problem is that there was a delay in the delivery due to bad weather. We could have addressed the problem. We were having technical difficulty because the weather turned out to be typhoon like. With this in mind, our concentration was on reinforcing the set up that we have. We removed all structures that could be blown off easily and cause hazard to cars and people around the area.
In addition, one hydration sponsor and other sponsors declined to pursue with the set up as they also have contracted event agency or company employees to protect. This made them decide to back out during the event considering the weather. Some suppliers also had delays in delivering their water supplies. We know that preparing the water is very important.
However, our immediate concern was of paramount importance to us. We need to devote our management and man power to reinforce the set up when strong winds and heavy rains started hitting around 4:30 AM. We want to avoid injuries that may be caused by flying objects.
Sorry for the delay in the delivery of additional water supply. Absent that typhoon, we should have complied with everything that you need.
Fourth: No Portalets
Human nature needs to be addressed asap. However, the supplier and the organizers would not want to risk having our portalets blown off by the wind. It is important to note that portalets are just placed on the ground. The winds at the open area can easily blow it off. You could just imagine, you are in the portalet and the strong wind blows it off while your are inside? Or if it is tubmled to one side, the spills would cause terrible inconvenience for all of us.
Our remedy then was to ask our sponsor outlets to open earlier so we can make use of their restrooms. Again, due to the bad weather, one mall tenant sponsor informed us that they opted
to open on a much later time. We really cannot do much about this as they are also concerned of their employees who would be asked to report earlier even if the weather is not favorable.
The Rest Rooms were opened during the race. The Mall tenants are also informed about on-going events to give them the opportunity to serve during the event. The restrooms were quite far from the venue. but this is the best we can do to guarantee total safety.
Fifth: Signages not mounted. Marshals holding it.
We actually have sufficent standees from school. But the wind was really unpredictable. We believe it was better to have the marshals hold them instead to make sure that all streamers
will not be blown away. By assigning one signage to specific marshals, we could verify that no streamer would be left at the streets. In addition, signage mountings were discouraged by the management as they pose serious hazard to motorists and runners when driving along our routes.
We hope that you will understand us. We were really caught in an unexpected and difficult situation. We really appreciate your full support when you came to the event even with the heavy rains and strong winds around 4:30 AM. Your presence was very important to the ADBR Group. You all looked cute during your Aerobic/Warm Up exercises…I hope you enjoyed it.
Sixth: Fireworks and Gun Start
It was raining during the time when we wanted to light it. We really decided not to do it anymore considering the strong winds and heavy rain. For the Gun Start, we would like to apologize that our representatives are not used to firing Gun Starts. They are not used to pulling the trigger. This is the reason why the first did not fire. The second fired but it was after the assistance made by one organizer in pulling the trigger properly to the guest firer. As an added infor to the 5 KM and 10 KM runners, we decided to use the Count down timer instead of the gust firer.
Should you have suggestions and helpful comments please email the ADBR Group through
[email protected]
Again, it was a blessing the weather turned perfect from 5:15 to 7:15..after that it went back to the unpredictable weather condition.
Sincerely,
ADBR Group
There were probably still some mistakes, but hey, nobody’s perfect right? So what do you say we FORGIVE and FORGET guys? What’s done is done! We can only take these experiences and keep them as funny memories that once took place. :)
