Triple Threat

Almost 14,000 cyclists turned out for last week’s Hotter N’ Hell event in Wichita Falls to ride the 100-mile bike tour or do other weekend events such as the shorter cycling rides, trail run, mountain bike race or USA Cycling road races.

The Hotter N’ Hell 100 is the largest century ride in the United States, and for many cyclists just completing the 100-mile ride is a capstone achievement.

Some participants, however, want to test themselves even more, and 166 individuals took on the

That’s a total of 124 miles of cycling and running in the August temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees at times.

San Angelo’s Marlon Miller and Mertzon’s Brian Tillman were among 166 Triple Threat racers who successfully completed the three events to earn one of the coveted ‘I Survived the Triple Threat’ trophies.

Tillman, a runner and triathlete who trains on the rural country roads surrounding Mertzon, finished the three event competition in 31st place overall with a cumulative time of 9 hours, 16 minutes.

He finished the mountain bike race in just under 1 hour, 16 minutes; rode the 100 miles Saturday in 5 hours, 56 minutes; and capped off the weekend by running the half marathon trail race in 2 hours, 4 minutes.

“The hardest part was the section of the HHH 100 ride between miles 80 to 95,” said Tillman. “I knew it would be rough going straight into a 15 to 20 mile per hour wind in the heat but, I really paid the price on this section. I had to stop at the rest stop at mile 95, re-hydrate and re-fuel, and still suffered cramps in my legs for those last five miles.”

“I had really thought I could rank higher in the half marathon the next morning, but by the time that race started my legs were just rubber from the previous two days. Still, my time was only about 15 minutes slower than what I think I could have done on fresh legs.’

Miller, who notes that his strongest disciplines are mountain biking and road cycling, finished the Triple Threat competition in 43rd place in 9 hours, 43 minutes.

His 1 hour, 2 minute time in the opening mountain bike event was the fifth-fastest among all Triple Threat competitors, and he solidified his standing in the upper part of the field by riding Saturday’s 100 miler in 6 hours, 6 minutes and then running a 2 hour, 34 minute half marathon on Sunday.

“Although I’ve done the HHH 100 ride on four previous occasions with my best time for the century ride being just under five hours, this was only my second bike-run combined event,” said Miller.

“My training consisted primarily of just riding a lot. Running isn’t my favorite activity. I haven’t ran much since my Army days, so I didn’t start any serious run training until a month or so before this event.”

Remember — hats off to Miller and Tillman for great performances in this year’s grueling Triple Threat event.


Upcoming events
Sept. 13: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org
Sept. 27: Mason Lions Club 5/10K Run, masontxcoc.com
Oct. 4: Shannon Pink Ribbon Run, active.com/san-angelo-tx/running/shannon-pink-ribbon-run-2014-7777655
Oct. 11: Goodyear Race for Celebration, roadlizards.org
Oct. 11: Christoval Vineyards Half Marathon, runintexas.com/christoval
Nov. 1: 30K of the Dinosaur trail race, roadlizards.org
Triple Threat challenge by competing in an 11-mile mountain bike race Friday, the 100-mile bike tour Saturday and then running a 13.1-mile half-marathon trail race on the final day of the event.

Event Insurance

Liability insurance for an event can be a significant expense when organizing a cycling race, fun run

However, given today's lawsuit-crazy society and the city, county or state insurance requirements for most events, liability insurance is something that must always be considered part of an race's budget.

It's a necessary expense and something that will help protect you, your organization and the owner of the race venue in the unfortunate case that an accident occurs during an event.

John Seaton, Risk Manager for the City of San Angelo, says that the city requires race organizers to submit a certificate of insurance with their event application showing a minimum liability insurance coverage of $1,000,000 general aggregate.

"We also ask that the City of San Angelo be included as an additional insured on their policy for the event," says Seaton.

Although there are multiple sources for obtaining event insurance, race organizers typically make insurance decisions based on if the event is sanctioned by a national body or if it's an independent unsanctioned event.

A sanctioned event is one organized under an event permit from a national organization such as USA Cycling, USA Triathlon, or the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA).

These national organizations have insurance programs in place for the events they sanction with the cost of insurance for sanctioned events paid for by fees charged to the event organizer.

In order to be sanctioned, the event must typically be organized by a club that is a member of the national sanctioning body, must comply with very specific safety criteria, and the race promoter must pay race permit and insurance fees as set forth by the organization.

Using USA Cycling as an example of a national sanctioning body, a race promoter must pay an permit fee that ranges from $25 to $700 per day based on the projected number of participants plus $3 per racer per day for insurance coverage. USA Cycling also requires that every sanctioned event use (and pay for) an approved number of race officials licensed by USAC.

In addition, all participants who do not have a USA Cycling annual membership ($70 per year) are required to purchase a one-day racing license which costs $15 per day.

The costs of the permit, insurance, and race official fees are passed on to participants via race entry fees, so it's not uncommon to see entry fees for sanctioned one day events cost $50 or more (not counting the cost of a one-day license fee for non-member participants).

The alternative option for race organizers is to put on an unsanctioned event not affiliated with a national sanctioning body. Unsanctioned does not imply lower quality - instead, it simply means the event is not affiliated with a national organization.

To comply with the insurance requirements of city, county or state governments (or private landowners in many cases), organizers of non-sanctioned events must purchase their own event insurance from an insurance agency.

One of the largest vendors for this type of event insurance is McKay Insurance in Knoxville, Iowa (silentsportsinsurance.com).

McKay and similar agencies do not have event sanctioning fees, race official requirements or require participants to be members of a national sports governing body, but the cost of the liability insurance policy for an event will typically be higher than the insurance fees charged for a sanctioned event.

The insurance fee charged by McKay for a typical one-day cycling event is $4.10 per participant with a $365 minimum premium, with the premium for a running event being $2.20 per participant (also a $365 minimum).

For multi-day events such as a race series, these insurance costs would increase significantly. A recent insurance quote for a five week cycling race series indicated that the cost of liability insurance would be $1,460.

The take-home message for groups planning a cycling, running, or multisport event is that although liability insurance can be expensive, it is almost always required for an event and - most importantly - it serves to protect the organizing group and any additional insured organizations if a lawsuit occurs.

Remember - liability insurance for an event is important, so include the insurance cost in your race budget.

Upcoming Events

Sept 13: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org

Sept 27: Mason Lions Club 5/10K Run,

masontxcoc.com

Oct 4: Shannon Pink Ribbon Run, active.com/san-angelo-tx/running/shannon-pink-ribbon-run-2014-7777655

Oct 11: Goodyear Race for Celebration, roadlizards.org

Nov 1: 30K of the Dinosaur trail race, roadlizards.org

or triathlon event.