I am 100% sure I will suffer some kind of repercussion from this official at the next race for this letter I submitted to USA Cycling this morning.
Dear USA Cycling,
I am a grown woman who works hard for every dollar I earn and I expect to be treated respectfully by USA Cycling Officials when I spend that money on entry fees to USA Cycling sanctioned events. It seems silly that I should have to point that out. My fellow racers and I are tired of showing up to races in South Carolina only to be belittled by one official in particular. Normally, I overlook his belittling but on Sunday he crossed the line by singling me out in front of my peers at the start line for his mistake.
The race flyer all of us riders were given had the Women’s Open start time at 2:35. At 2:25, the announcer said there was 10 minutes until the start of the Women’s race. As we stood at the line, we were given the normal “I’m in charge” speech from @@@@@ and as he tried to start the race I asked that he wait for more riders that were coming to the line. He then yelled at me, asking, “Well, what time does your watch say?” I answered, “2:30.” To which he responded, “And what time does the race start?” As I began to say, “2:35” he went off on a rant berating me for speaking out and about getting to the start line on time. At the end of his rant he looked over and asked, “Is it 2:30, yet? Can I start the race?” He then proceeded to start the race…2 minutes early, which is against USA Cycling rules. I’m not sure why the other officials didn’t point that out to him while he was ranting.
No one participating in these races deserves to be treated like this. My teammates and I spent thousands of dollars to be in Charleston for the weekend. Why should we continue to spend that kind of money only to be treated like children by a USA Cycling Official at the events?
Signed,
Jodi Winterton
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3 comments:
Nice job on the letter! I doubt the idiot even remembers what he said seeing as how he flaps his jaws so much! Dirt Hooker
Thank you for sending that letter. Any official who acts like that is a poor representative of USA Cycling, and should not be working races. The official's manuals go on and on about how to deal with people. Apparently this fellow has not read his manuals. We are very fortunate in GA to have fair, impartial, and reasonable officials. They treat the racers with respect and are therefore respected.
I heard back from USA Cycling within minutes of sending the letter...I was not the only person to complain and a "sit-down" is being planned with the officials to address the issue.
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