All that brouhaha aside, I've seen breathless posts on IG and elsewhere which are basically press releases by SLT about how this decision somehow ruins the 38 year tradition of Malibu Tri. Granted, i only did it once as the bike leg of a relay (and the whole thing was a crowded shitshow although a great venue) so don't have anything invested in the race, but I am failing to come up with the outrage they're demanding of me.
-Epstein was in charge for the recent portion of that history, not sure who owned prior to 2013 but 2013 - 2017 he certainly put on the race most people remember, Was he in charge in Nautica days? At any rate, SLT is only responsible for 3 of those 38 years, not seeing where they have standing here
-So it's not called the Malibu Tri. OK, frankly I don't care what the races I do are called.
-Loss of SLT - OK, I can see that's a cool option to have at the venue, actually stopped on a long ride to watch in 2021 and it was fun to see. But it wasn't on the Oly day (i think it was sprint day) so many didn't even get to see likely.
-It's now a one day event - this would have congestion and crowd issues, limited to 4K don't know how many were there before. Again, not on my schedule so agnostic here.
-Optics - Epstein sold the permit, it was valid for another 3 years, then he re-acquired the permit. Back room dealings? Welcome to small town politics. But seems he responded to the RFP fair and square and a process was carried out in which Malibu CC gets to make the call they feel is best for the town
-I can't say it's a bad decision to move from SLT ownership to local ownership (or at least more local).
I mean, it's fun to talk about on ST at all, but even if I were a regular participant I don't really see how this is all that bad (other than race consolidation)
-Epstein was in charge for the recent portion of that history, not sure who owned prior to 2013 but 2013 - 2017 he certainly put on the race most people remember, Was he in charge in Nautica days? At any rate, SLT is only responsible for 3 of those 38 years, not seeing where they have standing here
-So it's not called the Malibu Tri. OK, frankly I don't care what the races I do are called.
-Loss of SLT - OK, I can see that's a cool option to have at the venue, actually stopped on a long ride to watch in 2021 and it was fun to see. But it wasn't on the Oly day (i think it was sprint day) so many didn't even get to see likely.
-It's now a one day event - this would have congestion and crowd issues, limited to 4K don't know how many were there before. Again, not on my schedule so agnostic here.
-Optics - Epstein sold the permit, it was valid for another 3 years, then he re-acquired the permit. Back room dealings? Welcome to small town politics. But seems he responded to the RFP fair and square and a process was carried out in which Malibu CC gets to make the call they feel is best for the town
-I can't say it's a bad decision to move from SLT ownership to local ownership (or at least more local).
I mean, it's fun to talk about on ST at all, but even if I were a regular participant I don't really see how this is all that bad (other than race consolidation)