I got an entry form last year that said they would
be handed out before the ride. I'm over 40 so I can't remember anything any more
and don't remember which ride it was. Quite honestly, I think that turned
me off right away.
As someone coming back into this sport after almost
30 years, I made the comment earlier last year about how much completion awards
had changed, and how much I relished my one and only completion as a teenager, a
silver belt buckle from the Nugget Ride in 1974. I got lots of comments on how
you could only wear one belt buckle at a time. That is indeed, very
true.
However, I agree with wanting to stay
AFTER the ride, sit down and hear the awards passed out and the riders come up
and get acknowledged. AND sit and listen while the Ride Managers, Vets and
Volunteers get acknowledged. They should get a big round of applause
at every ride by all attendees. I'll admit that besides being out there to
finish that ride with my trusty steed, I also want to feel everyone else's sense
of pride in finishing and being presented with an award for a job well done and
applaud their effort. I always feel more for my accomplishments when I see
others who have worked hard to gain the same. You get to see people you either
rode with on the trail or only heard of on RideCamp or as a name in the back of
Endurance News ride results. I have to say I was quite disappointed to see all
the people who had left before the awards program at the rides I did
last year. It was kinda like a half-empty feeling. I know there are different
reasons for being in this sport and some are only in it for the year-end points,
others only want to Top Ten and some, like me, are in it for the day-to-day ride
experience, knowing full well, they'll never be able to attend enough rides to
garner year-end standings. It's my dream someday, but I'm smart enough to know
that I will never be able to put the time in required to get to that point. At
least not in the next decade.
I don't have any problems with what kind of
completion awards we're given, even if it's just a piece of paper that I can put
my name on (yeah, the belt buckle was nice and still is and I've introduced a
lot of people to this sport with it over the years since I still wear it), but I
do think it's important to keep completion awards separate and available only to
those who "won." For those of us who might only have a chance to do one or two
rides a year, it's a nice thing to have something to remind you of your efforts.
My first ride after 28 years was rewarded with a coffee mug. I packed
that thing for the trip home like it was a 24% lead crystal bowl. It now
proudly sits in my dining room hutch, unused, like a shrine. My second ride last
year was rewarded with a great feed bucket with locking lid. THAT completion
award gets used every time the trailer pulls out of the yard AND I think of that
ride every time I use it. Maybe some day the completion awards will be so
numerous in my household that it won't matter whether I get one or not. But as a
re-arrival in the sport and I'm sure to any other new member in this sport,
those completion awards mean a lot.
Thanks for listening to the meanderings of an
old/newbie ...
In a message dated 5/29/2003
6:10:08 PM Central Daylight Time, rides2far@xxxxxxxx writes:
I really hate it when they
give them out the night before, and then don't recognize people who
actually completed at the awards
Where is that? I don't think I have ever seen
that. I have seen awards given at the finish line and then if you don't
pass the vet check, they don't hunt you down and take the award back but never
the night before...
