Vasbyt 100hr
100hr Vasbyt Vetoes Visuals
Press Release / 29.04.2019
Race HQ sent this mail to team captains:
Vasbyt has deliberately taken a left turn from the conventional social media driven adventure race formula and we encourage you to do the same with regards to your team’s race coverage.
We fully understand the need to repay sponsors with brand awareness; they support you as ambassadors or influencers.
However, nowadays Facebook friends of anyone undertaking an expedition race with a Team Social Media person hashtagging along are led to believe that an Adventure Race – this amazing sport you always talk about - is an event where teams of four
- must first lay out all their equipment and food and photograph it,
- then eat food in transitions,
- change clothing while eating food in transitions,
- inspect their rotting feet while eating food in transitions,
- and then sleep.
Occasionally there will be some action when a team is filmed rolling out from transition.
TAs make for awful pictures and even worse interviews.
Allowing spectators out on the course would counteract the experience we want you to have, which is that of exploration. (Columbus wouldn’t be quite the household name if his aunty was standing on the shore when he arrived.) Besides that, all too often friends misinterpret the word Supporter and bring along with them food, batteries, spare parts and inside information, which counteracts the other experience we want you to have – that of an honest race.
Vasbyt will get the race information out on our page. We will keep sponsors and spouses happy. We will have live tracking thanks to Sportraxs (Michael de Haast and Adrian Vincent Saffy).
But AR is all about what is going on inside your head when you are outside your normal range of comfort. It’s about the moments that no outsider can capture. So live and race in the moment. Relish the rarity of being out of touch. And post about it later. A well-articulated story or properly edited video will be viewed and respected more than crap photos and a live tally of kilometres and blisters just to gather Likes (from your aunty).
We’ve all explained AR to various people and we’ve all been met with that nodding yet uncomprehending blankness and then listened to them telling us about a triathlon they watched. But we’ve also all met those individuals who just get it when you tell them about making it through the darkness. The light shines in their eyes. Your experiences invite them in to the adventure and instil that sense of awe and wonder at the possibilities that exist, and the limits that don’t.
THOSE are the people we want to talk to. We need to speak and write and paint the true picture of Adventure Racing with integrity. This takes effort and courage to be different and some alternative thinking, but only then will it reach the audience who will appreciate it.
Within the constraints of land permissions, Vasbyt gives you the opportunity to explore, to choose, to deviate from what is prescribed. You will be able to look around when you are out there and get that very rare feeling of being a pioneer. So don’t be afraid now to challenge the norm and find a unique line of attack when it comes to telling your team’s story.
In short:
Quality over quantity
Be true to your sponsors – we need them in this sport
Love your aunty
1-5 May 2019
Western Cape
www.vasbyter.co.za
SleepMonsters
