CCN sat down with Nic Seaton, organizer of the Test of Humanity, to find out more about what drives him and the event.
Can you tell us a little about Test of Humanity and how it came about?
My wife (a professor at Okanagan College) and I went to Ethiopia with a class of students from the College. These students were enrolled in a course called Entrepreneurship and Development in Emerging Nations. The students were required to administer Needs Assessment Surveys for over 30 villages in Ethiopia. From those surveys Canadian Humanitarian assigned a level of priority to each village's requirements and is now in the process of trying to fill those requirements. We really liked what Canadian Humanitarian was doing and felt that they would be a great organization to support. As we are both very much into riding we felt a mountain bike race would be a good fit for a fundraiser.
When did you get the idea for the event?
After sitting down with the folks at the Bike Barn which is the local hang out for cyclists in Penticton, we came up with the idea of an endurance race. At that time the Salty Dog was the only other endurance race in the valley. The key for us was to ensure it would be a race for all ages and abilities and to make pledging a big part of the race.
What is the Canadian Humanitarian Organization-what do they do and how do they make a difference?
Canadian Humanitarian is a non-religious, non-profit organization that provides orphaned and vulnerable children in Ethiopia with access to health care, education, vocational training and the basic necessities of life such as nutrition and shelter. Canadian Humanitarian believes that by providing individuals with literacy and vocational skills it will also provide them with the tools to break the cycle of poverty, and by doing so they will be able to shape their own lives in a positive way.
It's the inaugural event-what's the things that are keeping you up at night right now?
There has been a need for a lot more organizational detail than what I had first expected, but we would like to make this an outstanding annual event that people want to keep coming back to, and the only way you can do that is by investing a lot of time and energy into the organization of the race. I think over time this will ease up as there won't be a requirement in the following years to build trails and a website which all had to be completed this year. Also initially there is the fear that you put all this effort into making a great race and then no one shows up. It certainly doesn't look like this is going to be the case but you still lie awake at night thinking about it!
What are the specific goals for the Test of Humanity?
The Test of Humanity has three main goals:
1. Help break the cycle of poverty in Ethiopia by providing orphaned and vulnerable children with access to an education. By having a strong turnout and racers willing to take on the pledging process we will be able to go a long ways toward reaching this goal.
2. Provide food assistance to those locally that cannot provide for themselves. Included in the registration process we are asking registrants when picking up their race packages that they drop off non-perishable food item(s). These items would be delivered to the South Okanagan food bank. As we also have local folks struggling to make ends meet, we felt it was a necessary requirement to support both local and international relief.
3. To provide an exciting day of mountain bike racing for all ages and abilities. The course has spectacular views and is really fun to ride. It has been built to suite both the novice and expert riders as it is a cardio course and not technically difficult.
Any special advice you have for riders, particularly novice riders?
I think riders will find we have set up the event to accommodate riders of all levels. We also tried to structure the event so the whole family can take part. I would like to think that with the way we have the Elite/Open categories set up that any moderate to expert skilled rider will have a blast on this course. There are lots of banked corners and lots of freewheeling. It is not a technical course but it is certainly a course designed for someone with good cardio. In actual fact one of the final climbs on the 10km loop is aptly named VO2 Max. So if you do not think your cardio is as good as you would like, I would suggest that you team up with someone so you can rest between laps. We have also added a Beginner course which is just one single loop of the Open/Elite loop with absolutely no pressure to go fast, this has been planned to be just a fun 10km ride. The Junior course has a good mix of climbing and freewheeling but again not technical, and the Kids course is a relatively flat course that is really well set up for spectators and parents wanting to support their kids. We set up the race start times so parents and friends could all watch the younger competitors compete in their races first. The final event will be the Elite/Open event, so if there are any teams made up with a husband and wife then they could swap off family duties at each lap change.
With this being the first time for the event, do you have time to ride? What's your current bike/s and what might your next one be?
I have a Cannondale Rush and my wife rides a Cannondale Scalpel but we certainly do not get out as much as we would like. But I think right now that's the price one has to pay in order to ensure the event goes well.
Any closing thoughts and comments?
There will be great trophies for the top three places in each event, and some amazing prizes for the most of amount of money raised through the pledging process. Some of the pledging prices include, a helicopter scenic flight for four, a mountain bike, cases of wine and free hotel rooms for the following year. It's going to be a great event so sign up now and hopefully we will see you there! Check out our website at www.testofhumanity.com and sign up for this year's race on September25th, 2011.
