| Subject: | RE: In Defense of comments from Dave... |
| Date: | 02/15/2000 12:03 AM |
| From: | Nicholas Perera |
|
Well, we've all heard alot of bickering and accusations, but I'd like to thank Mr. Martin for apologizing for his family's comments. Whether taken in or out of context my greatest worry was that the Murrays would take these comments seriously and/or personally, and we would lose them from the OBRA organization. Dave Martin did make one great point, "The OBRA model, as good as it is, still has some problems with respect to integration into the National/International scene. License upgrades and qualifying for UCI events still requires our local OBRA riders to travel outside of the OBRA/California area in order to earn the necessary points." This is true, the integration of the OBRA (and other independent) systems has not been well done, but who is at fault here? It has been well established that it is USAC who is unwilling to negotiate and come to terms with the fact that they are not the only player on the block anymore. If you want to see OBRA points and upgrades count towards your USCF status then write the USCF a letter, they're the ones at fault for what is probably the only drawback of racing in Oregon. Finally, even if the USAC refuses to cooperate in this matter, we must ask ourselves which group is more important: the 99% of racers who are doing this for fun and have no aspirations (or, in my case, no hope) for national or international competition, or the other 1%? -Nick ------------------------------------------------ Nicholas Perera __o =20 Lewis and Clark College-MSC 1591 -\<, =20 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd. (o)/(o) Portland, OR 97219 TeamO =20 (503) 293-1141 On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Martin Clan wrote: =20 It is incorrect to imply that the hard-working and dedicated Murray famil= y has profited from their efforts to improve the OBRA organization. The compensation that they received was minor compared to the extra-ordinary personal costs volunteered to advancing the sport of bicycling in Oregon. =20 The comments of Bonnie were not well focused and they=92ve been taken out= of context, so we apologize to the Murray Family and to the other dedicated members of the OBRA organization. =20 Our comments, in this case, should have been limited to the following: OBRA was forced to create an alternative to the Federation because the Federation had lost its original purpose of support and customer service = for local/regional racing. The OBRA alternative exists due to the extra-ordinary efforts of one family. Any efforts to duplicate the OBRA structure in another part of the country must recognize that this is NOT a simple process. Instead, it wi= ll require a significant amount of organization and follow-through on a larg= e number of details. The OBRA model, as good as it is, still has some problems with respect= to integration into the National/International scene. License upgrades and qualifying for UCI events still requires our local OBRA riders to travel outside of the OBRA/California area in order to earn the necessary points= =85 We have a very long way to go towards resolving these and other issues here in Oregon. Thankfully, we have the Murray Family. But if we ever l= ose their support, where will we be left then? =20 Many thanks, -Dave Martin =20 =20 =20 =20 _____________________________________________________________ Who will win the Oscars? Spout off on our Entertainment list! http://www.topica.com/lists/showbiztalk =20 |
