I am Paul Singh

As you all probably know, I have been raising money for the Tour of Hope.

Now, if you live anywhere on the eastern seaboard, you know it’s been raining like hell up here. There’s some tropical storm dumping tons of rain on us. Jack and I figured that we would continuously check the website for updates… hoping that we would get some sort of decision as to whether the event was still on for today. Sure enough, it said “event will be held rain or shine.”

So we got up at 4AM this morning and headed out to the 50 mile starting line. We had accepted the fact that we were going to get drenched. We were actually looking forward to raising some awareness about cancer while having some fun at the same time.

We arrived at the starting line at 6AM– exactly 1 hour before the 7AM starting time. As soon as we exited the truck, we heard the announcement that the event had been cancelled. It was evident from the sound of the spokesperson on the P.A. system, that he had no idea what was going on.

We decided at that point to see why everyone was still walking towards the registration tent and began to walk that way. When we got to the front of the check-in line, it became more apparent that this event was a huge clusterfuck. There didn’t seem to be any single authority in charge of the volunteers. I gave the woman my name and she promptly told me that they didn’t have my check-in packet there. I was confused for a second and then realized what these people were doing. They were just grabbing random race packets and giving them to people! C’mon people, how easy is it to just hand people the packets that belong to them? I spent a lot of my own time and money to help this cause out, I expect to atleast get my assigned number plates! Now, before you guys try to give me a hard time about number plates, just realize that our race numbers are the little things that separate us from the people that just watched the event happen.

To make matters a little tougher, the event had 1500 registered participants and the check-in tent was 20′ by 20′ in size. Barely 100 people could fit in that thing. To add insult to injury, the “organizers” KNEW that they had planned an event that would start before sunrise and yet there were no lights in the actual check-in tent. What were they thinking? Volunteers were sitting behind the desks trying to juggle their papers and their flashlights.

Jack and I had done our best to stay informed about the status of the event by looking at their website which hasn’t even been updated since last’s year’s event. The people that “organized” this event knew that this storm had been coming for the past few days and yet they still failed to provide some sort of phone number that participants could call to make sure the event was still on.

I really hope we find a way to cure all forms of cancer someday, but if we want to see that happen sooner rather than later… we better make sure the clowns that “organized” this event don’t get their hands on any of the real research.

I’ll definitely help raise money for the cause again, but don’t expect me to recommend the “Tour of Hope” to anyone ever again unless they really get their act together.

See other blogs about the ride: Tour of Hope

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 8th, 2005 at 10:05 am and is filed under General. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.