The GECCO
June 30th, 2008, 11:01 AM
Lots of people did great things this weekend and while I'm sure a lot of the little extras escaped my attention, and I've probably already forgotten several more ( :oops: ) I want to point out at least a few:
- First and foremost - the riders! We had an excellent turnout this weekend, about 144 racers, and relatively few incidents. While I have absolutely no data to back it up, my gut tells me that this weekends ratio of "number of racers" versus "serious incidents" was VERY low. Crashing is an inevitable by-product of people pushing their limits so there is no shame or blame towards ANYONE who fell, but I think all of our bodies, bikes and pocketbooks enjoy it when the crash count is this low. So, GOOD JOB to the riders!
- The corner staff! We had a lot of first time corner workers this past weekend and they ran with the ball quite seamlessly. Very good communication and cool heads. On a side note, I'm sure that some of this success can be attributed to quality instruction from Head Corner Marshal Nick Gibson on Saturday morning.
- Vinnie's "Crash Cart Assistant" Brandon Johnson (not Nelson....I told you I was forgetting stuff!). Brandon is a qualified EMT, and was at the scene of Derek Burns incident. Afterwards, the Western Ambulance EMT's were very complimentary of his performance. Thank you, Brandon.
- Air Fence Crew Chris Coonshead and Frank DiRanna. An incident during RoRO damaged one of the sections of air fence but they were all over it and got the fence patched quickly to keep the show rolling along. Great job, Frank and Chris!
As I said, there are probably a dozen more things I should be mentioning, but I wanted to acknowledge at least a few of of the people that made this last weekend a great success!
- First and foremost - the riders! We had an excellent turnout this weekend, about 144 racers, and relatively few incidents. While I have absolutely no data to back it up, my gut tells me that this weekends ratio of "number of racers" versus "serious incidents" was VERY low. Crashing is an inevitable by-product of people pushing their limits so there is no shame or blame towards ANYONE who fell, but I think all of our bodies, bikes and pocketbooks enjoy it when the crash count is this low. So, GOOD JOB to the riders!
- The corner staff! We had a lot of first time corner workers this past weekend and they ran with the ball quite seamlessly. Very good communication and cool heads. On a side note, I'm sure that some of this success can be attributed to quality instruction from Head Corner Marshal Nick Gibson on Saturday morning.
- Vinnie's "Crash Cart Assistant" Brandon Johnson (not Nelson....I told you I was forgetting stuff!). Brandon is a qualified EMT, and was at the scene of Derek Burns incident. Afterwards, the Western Ambulance EMT's were very complimentary of his performance. Thank you, Brandon.
- Air Fence Crew Chris Coonshead and Frank DiRanna. An incident during RoRO damaged one of the sections of air fence but they were all over it and got the fence patched quickly to keep the show rolling along. Great job, Frank and Chris!
As I said, there are probably a dozen more things I should be mentioning, but I wanted to acknowledge at least a few of of the people that made this last weekend a great success!