What's happening here? We're in the middle of a Foot and Mouth crisis which is seriously denting the race calendar and when there are races nobody seems to want to do them! As if the pleas for help from Sevenoaks weren't enough, we now get the following from the East London Triathletes:

East London Triathletes Dragonslayer is still ON

Traffic free bike course, off road runs, noon start, showers, parking on site... What more could you want from a duathlon? So, why isn't our race getting more entries?

The Eastway Cycle Centre in London is possibly the perfect venue for a duathlon yet entries are still only dribbling in? We have a mid-morning start so you will not have to get up in the middle of the night. We have on site FREE parking. Changing facilities which include HOT showers. The course is guaranteed to be free of traffic. There appears to be plenty of people willing to moan about races yet when we hire the venue and put on the race the turnout appears to be woefully low. We even have a transition area supplied by our good friends at Human Race.

Just what do I need to do to make the event a success?

The cost is only £20 for BTA athletes and it is mentioned in the Handbook and the latest copy of 220. You have mentioned the race on your site a couple of times and we've been plugging it on the eGroup. Should we charge an arm and a leg for the race, make you register the day before and charge competitors for parking... Would that make it more popular?

I am beginning to despair of the racing community. Brian Martin, Chairman ELT