Rude spectator? (Page 2)

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Edited by trinigen 2009-08-01 7:59 PM

Sadly I have seen that all to many times at kids tris. Parents timing folks figuring who was in front and behind their kid, screaming I paid for all those swim lessons no walking (swim was in shallow ocean area), and pushing them any way they can to go faster not caring if their child has fun or not and man most of those yelling are triathletes...so sad!

C'mon man, I'm sure it was a joke or atleast along the lines of a joke.  I live in the south and love a good redneck joke.

The latter incident is precisely why some communities have laws against using profane language at sporting events with children.  Back when I umpired baseball, more than once I had to call the police to deal with parents.  Things calmed down a lot after local law was passed and resulting fines were well publicized.

Edited by Oldteen 2009-08-01 10:30 PM

You have to wonder what the parent really hopes to accomplish via these tactics, huh?  I think if I were the RD, I would announce the guy's name and ask the crowd to give him a hand for all the drama.  Perhaps shame him into settling down or just leaving.

 

Don't take it personally, I just lived in NE and found that overall the people were quite a bit more rude than other parts of the country in which I have lived.  My wife lived in R.I. until she and I moved to TX when she was 22. When I gave her the choice between moving to R.I. or PA to live closer to family, she wanted nothing to do with R.I.  The folks you know in the area are probably very nice to you. My generalization was based off of years of living in CT and R.I. compared to CA, TX, and PA.  It's not a personal attack on you though.  I've had enough rudeness when I lived there so I get to take my shots now. 

If it wasn't going to hurt you or your bike, you should have ridden into her

True, maybe some positive encouragement from you or others would be a better route.. I just have a hard time swallowing that a parent could treat their son/daughter that way.. makes me think they must've been huge failures in some fashion earlier in life to take it out on the kids that way..
need a video/pic of that to put on the FAIL site.. PARENT FAIL....

My husband was volunteering at a tri last weekend. His "job" was to stand at one opening of the transition area and direct racers to leave with their gear at another opening. It was a big race so the transition area was very large and  for security purposes they wanted all to exit at one point.

One woman was screaming at him for not letting her leave through his opening and actually said "you are not a triathlete...look at you" My husband is a big guy. He let it slide...ands even tried to explain it was for the security of HER equipment!!!! I told him if it ever happens again to get her number and let the RD know. People like this need to be DQ'd

that is so ! how about "thank you for volunteering?"

along the same lines... at RI70.3, you could only leave through one entrance with your bike.  I saw one woman - a triathlete - screaming and yelling at the volunteers to let her leave through a different entrance. unbelieveable.

Funny you say that.   My biggest run-in was with what I termed a "mainline mom" who crossed in front of my at the Philly half a couple of years ago at the top of a hill in Fairmount park.  Needless to say, I may have left an expletive or two fly in front of her, her toddler, and her mega-strolller that brought me to a dead stop.

Nothing compares to what the riders in the Tour de France have to put up with!

No kidding, I was amazed that people were running out and running up the street with the bikes while on the climbs.  I'm shocked that there are not more accidents because of that.

We are trying to give Philly to NJ but they are afraid that Ed Rendell will come with the land.  Another area on my "least favorite" list. 

Witnessed a few parents who fit this sort of description at a kids triathlon event as well.  I felt bad for the kids, I certainly do not act that way at my kids athletic events.  They perform how they perform, I cheer for them and support them afterward.  I'm not sure what these screaming parents think they are accomplishing by publically belittling their children.  They are in every sport I've ever been associated with though... sad and pathetic.    

My wife is a newbie in this sport just like I am and is learning her way around the transition areas, where to look for me on the swim, bike, run, etc.  She noted one lady with a stroller going up the transition path for the bike at my event yesterday and said some guy was hollering at her to get out of the way.  She wasn't crossing... she was walking down it, like it was some sort of private lane for stroller pushing.  I was very proud to hear my wife say how she is trying to be very respectful of the course and the athletes... some people just get it and some obviously do not.

I have three incidents that come to mind.

The first was in high school, we were having a cross country meet at a local park.  The course was a trail that winds through the woods and at many points is only five feet wide or so.  One woman decided to walk her dog on the trail and got mad and yelled "go have your track race somewhere else!" as we ran by.  On the one hand I understand how she might have accidentally wandered onto the course because there are other connecting trails in the area, on the other, some people just get so upset by minor inconveniences.  I don't get all aggrivated when I'm riding at the park on a morning where there is a bike race.  I just marvel at all the people who are so much faster than me and stay out of their way (one walker did jokingly yell to me once that I was in last place and to hurry it up or I'd get lapped).

Second incident was at the NYC marathon last year where I was a spectator.  While the course came through Ft Greene, two hipsters thought it would be fun to dash across the street, one with her camera in tow to get pictures.  This was a point when the street was just packed with runners and there was no conceivable way they could cross without being a major disruption.  Someone ran into the girl and almost knocked her over and two other runners yelled at them to get off the course.

Finally, during the NYC Tri this year, some guy was rollerblading on the run course in Central Park.  It's like he didn't see all the cones set up, or wonder why ONLY runners with race numbers on were moving in that direction.

With these kinds of incidents I think it comes down to carelessness or people who don't view racing as anything other than a way to clog up their streets for a day.  Afterall, if it ain't important to them, it ain't important to nobody.