Thousands of amateur cyclists woke up Sunday morning ready to race 99 kilometers on closed roads in Pretoria, South Afrika at the Tshwane Classic gran fondo. Soon they were left disillusioned after receiving a 03:00 text message indication the event was cancelled because things were quite “hectic at Hectic Promotions (the organizer), since they apparently did not have the City of Pretoria’s full support to hold the race on closed roads as advertised.

Oops!

Participants who did not receive or see the text message showed up at the start venue in the morning only to be turned away and told “No Refunds.”

The Hectic Promotions Facebook page quickly blew-up with comments from pissed-off riders:

Clem Harrington: “You are a disgrace. Im not persuaded by your excuses. You would have interdicted the metro if consent was withdrawn. You sold me an entry when your preparations wasn’t in place.”

Leondo Alexander: “We traveled and booked accommodation for this race, i just want my money back, will not eneter this race ever again.”

Johann Stiefenhofer: “There’s going to be lots of annoyed cyclists at the start venue this morning who did not know about the postponement.” 

Michael Nurick: “This a an extremely poor show by Hectic Promotions who need to do the right thing and refund all entrants in full. I suspected something was up yesterday as I heard that there is a sold out music event also taking place at Voortrekker Monument this morning. There is no way that there could have been full road closure around the venue.”

The organizer hopes to reschedule the event at a future unspecified date, which means they will not have to issue refunds since they are just “postponing” the race.

With too many gran fondo organizers ripping-off riders with unscrupulous cancellation/refund policies, Gran Fondo Daily News recommends all riders be cautious when pre-registering and consider opting for same-day on-site registration when possible.

Photos/Media: Hectic Promotions