I've been kicked out of Ironman UK

Well, it's official. I'm out of Ironman UK. It's been a most bizarre past few days, but the lowdown is that the IMUK race owner, Alison Boon, has taken offense to my posting an e-mail she had sent to me to the TriTalk.co.uk forum. As such, she's sent me a litany of accusatory and berating e-mails and withdrawn me from the race. Thankfully (and surprisingly) she did refund my money, so I suppose I should be happy for that at least.

A little background: I signed up for the race back in December, knowing fully that it would be a new course this year, but believing the IMUK organisation when they said they would have courses organised and the website updated by the end of January. January and February came and went with no update; finally in March they posted a map to the bike course but no other information about the transitions, the run, where the finish line would be or much else. Not only me but a lot of other competitors were getting antsy about it, as was evidenced by the posts to the TriTalk.uk forum. And frankly, judging from the standard set by other IM websites around the world, IMUK's was and still is woefully inadequate, so we did have something to be antsy about. It's now less than 3 months to race day with many questions still left unanswered.

Finally, last week IMUK sent out a mass e-mail with a link promoting an affiliated training programme created "specifically for the 2009 IRONMAN UK course in Bolton". Interesting, since no official info on the run course has been released! I e-mailed them to ask what was going on, and to say that instead of sending me spam trying to sell me something, how about some real information about the course? IMUK's rep Ms. Boon replied with a long list of as-of-then not publicly known information, which I posted chapter and verse to the TriTalk forum in the interest of sharing it with other racers. One of the things she mentioned that struck me as particularly unfair and unprofessional was that there were two different run courses being considered and being "tested" by competitors in the race: meaning that some competitors knew what the run course could be, while others still had no idea. Hmmm.

And that's where it really went wrong. Yep, I'll admit it, I was definitely critical of the IMUK organisation on that forum thread, and I wasn't the only one. But I stand by my opinion that IMUK has been extremely remiss in providing proper info to its competitors this year. The big irony is that the same day they withdrew me from the race, they updated the website with all the same information about the transitions, aid stations, and the run course that had been in the e-mail sent to me, so in a way my mission has been accomplished. Too bad it had to be accomplished like this!

There are two sides to every story, no doubt, and I should have paraphrased rather than posted her e-mail as a direct copy-and-paste to the forum. But that was out of pure laziness rather than malice. And I don't think it should have gotten me kicked out of the race. In the original letter from IMUK's rep Ms. Boon, she said they are kicking me out due to my "overwhelming inability to follow instructions" (i.e, that I didn't notice the confidentiality disclaimer at the bottom of the previous e-mail which stated that the contents could not be reproduced without permission). Nowhere can I see in IMUK's rules or in any Ironman rules anywhere that a competitor should be kicked out for neglecting to adhere to a small-print e-mail disclaimer.

As well -- through my postings to the forum I guess? because I was very definitely polite to her in my e-mails -- she said I was "unacceptably rude" to her organisation. She informed me she isn't going to stand by while I "bring the name of Ironman into disrepute" and "constantly rumour-monger and cast aspersions about her event and the Ironman brand". To top off her letter, she says she's kicking me out in order to avoid my choosing not to follow rules or instructions on race day (apparently she's clairvoyant too).

Subsequent letters from Ms. Boon have included childish rhetoric and nonsensical statements about Freedom of Speech, whether what I posted was "fact", and the interpretation of the race rules. After her first e-mail, I posted to the forum warning another competitor to be careful what he wrote there as it could be construed as a violaton of the Ironman rules, and she then e-mailed me quoting what I said and lambasting me for it. When I replied to say that we would have to agree to disagree about the whole thing, she informed me that there was no need for that, as she knows I was completely in the wrong. Or something like that. It's been difficult to tell what she means at all, between the spelling errors, incoherent rants and general unprofessional tone she's taken with me.

For me, these e-mails have just confirmed what I already suspected about the lack of professionalism in the IMUK organisation. I did call her immediately upon receiving her first e-mail, hoping I could apologise and straighten out what to me was a bad misunderstanding. But she never called back, instead choosing to write those long rambling e-mails justifying her actions. I've since read that IMUK allegedly sued some racers a few years back for writing critical comments about one of their events on a forum, and also for writing to the World Triathlon Corporation to complain about a possible lack of safety in the race. Unbelievable. I think at this point, I need to simply give up and cut my losses. What's that old saying about not trying to argue with fools?

Anyway, with friends like that, who needs enemies, so I'm out of IMUK and it's probably an opportunity more than a crisis. I was really gunning for a Kona slot this year -- hence my desire to know the course as early as possible -- and now I fear that there's no way I could be treated fairly if I did this race. I'm probably lucky to get my money back. This is after all, a race that bascially sells out every year, and people will continue to sign up for it (as it's the only official Ironman race in the UK) regardless of who's running it.

So tell all your friends: be careful when dealing with any races put on by these organisers. I also advise anyone who is considering anything to do with IMUK to do their research before paying their money. Wish I had done that. Instead I'm now lodging official complaints with the WTC, along with various local governments who have paid IMUK to host the event in their jurisdictions.

As for me, I'm not put off from doing an Ironman. In fact, just the opposite: I think Ironman is a fantastic product and I will continue to do races in the future. I've been planning and training for this event for months now, and this is the best shape I've been in for years, so I don't want to give that all up. I'm now thinking about a charity slot for Lake Placid for my "A" race of the season. Will cost a bit extra but it's for a good cause, and it means my family in North America can come and watch. Still gunning for that Kona slot! It's just too bad I won't be able to go for that slot in my adopted country anymore.