In the lead up to this yearās Challenge Penticton triathlon, one of the most talked about items wasnāt the race or who was competing, but a mistake made on promotional banners.
Large banners placed around the city promoted the race as āChallenge Pentictionā ā in some cases the extra āiā was covered up with red marker, and in others a circular Challenge logo was used to cover the mistake.
āItās actually an autocorrect mistake we didnāt catch,ā said Michael Brown, a co-owner of the race, along with Kevin Cutjar. He explained they contracted for the banners with a southeast Asia supplier, Quidy Apparel, that is a regular Challenge FamilyĀ contractor, and has appropriate templates for banners and other materials.
āItās a Challenge Family global partner that does a lot of printing for them. Itās a template that they would just change the name of the city in,ā said Brown, who admitted the mistake was made on both sides.
āItās a 50/50 mistake. They sent it to us, and I didnāt recognize it when it came through,ā Brown said. āIt is unfortunate, but it is one of those things that happens sometimes.ā
The mistake, however, raised concerns among residents who shared the pictures on social media of the misprinted banners that were out on display before they were caught. The concerns include whether Challenge Penticton is investing in the community.
When the City of Penticton purchased the Challenge Family license in 2012, leaving a 30-year relationship with Ironman, one of the selling points was that the community, through the local race society, now controlled purchasing. Dan Ashton, who was mayor of Penticton at the time, said it was the intent of the society to engage local merchants and local suppliers.
āIt is only because of an error that it has become quite the talking point,ā said Jason Cox, president of the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce.
āIt uncovered the fact the work was not done locally. As the largest business advocate in the community, it is not something we are excited about,ā continued Cox. āThe event is so well supported by local athletes, by local volunteers, by the local business community in terms of sponsorship, to go overseas to save a few dollars for the banners and materials seems to have not worked out well.ā
Brown said they looked at local suppliers, and in many cases that was who ended up getting the work for their promotional material and other items.
āSherwood Signs is a big supporter of the race and they did 90 per cent of our signage,ā said Brown, who also noted they hired local staff, used the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre for all their catering, used Westminster Rentals and Moduloc Fencing for site setup, along with contracts to other local businesses.
āKevin and I are trying to stay financially viable and sometimes you have to make hard decisions on that, to either be able to put on a race or not. We decided we needed to make sure we put on a race. With that, some stuff had to get outsourced but we tried to do the majority of our stuff locally,āĀ said Brown, who doesnāt want the spelling mistake to take attention away from the race.
āThe event is what matters and the event was amazing. I just think it was an unfortunate printing error, it was a small amount of stuff we got from this company,ā Brown said.
Cox said he remains positive and supportive of the race, but is concerned about not using local suppliers.
āThe event is so well supported by the community, I think that where you can have something done locally, it should be done,ā said Cox. āI really do support it and donāt want to come across as the chamber slamming Challenge for making one mistake.ā
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