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THE IDIOTIC HUMAN STEEPLECHASE

On 4/24/17 the Lake Geneva City Council voted 7 to 1 (Halverson voted no) to exploit the entire Lakeshore Path.
By agreeing to convert the formerly protected narrow and, at places, dangerous Around the Lake Path into a race track for a competitive racing and running event on Memorial Day, the City of Lake Geneva bobbing-head alderpersons opened up a can of worms heretofore comfortably hidden from view. The approved event by My Team Triumph’s Marathon is called the Muck Suck. 150 to 300 runners are expected to participate in running the twenty miles around the two-foot-wide easement through some of the most expensive property in the Midwest. The entrants will be charged up to $90 each to run the entire 21+ mile lakeshore path and set a precedent everyone around the lake may have to live with well into the future.

My Team Triumph’s mission statement welcomes, “the involvement of people with diverse abilities and disabilities,” but there is no mention of how the physically challenged athletes might be able to maneuver the shore path if they are among the participants. The Lake Geneva City Council totally ignored the concerns of many citizens who vigorously objected to the city hijacking the control of the lake path, and then allowing it to be commercialized by outside organizations, whether for charity or not. The council refused to take into consideration that the path is a 2-foot-wide walking/hiking path located on private land and, therefore, can only accommodate one runner at a time, and not a pack of runners. By enabling this race, the city is encouraging the runners to break the law and infringe on the property rights of the lakeshore residents whenever they run outside the path and trespass on private property. The council should be ashamed of what it did.

To further demonstrate its disdain for the LG citizens and also for the tourists coming on Memorial Day, the City Council turned over Library Park to the Muck-Suck runners, and their friends, along with a liquor permit so they could have “a heck of a party” following the race. They’ll be allowed to sell their own food and liquor in a park that doesn’t allow the citizens of Lake Geneva, who really own the park, to do the same. Quoting the Muck-Suck literature….”It’s not all lovely, paved shore path that will be easy to run on. There are rocks, roots, grass, brick and hills. Nothing about the course is constant, but that’s what makes it an adventure.”

What they’re not stating is that this “adventurous” race course is primarily comprised of manicured lawns, succulent plants and well-tended flower gardens belonging to the proud lakeshore homeowners that the runners will be trampling through with reckless abandon in their competition to win the race. When making their presentation to the city, My Team Triumph alleged that Muck Suck was a charity event and “not a race” and falsely claimed they would change their literature to call it an “event.” All their promotional materials still call it a race with awards being given to the top three winners in all four categories listed. My Team Triumph is expecting the City of Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, Fontana and Linn to provide a full complement of protective services during the entire race on the Memorial Day holiday including the Fire Boat and Water Safety Patrol. This will be a terrible inconvenience for the police, fire and EMT personnel, plus a huge and expensive undertaking for each of the municipalities.

Should this cost be borne by the people of the communities or passed on to the race promoters before the race is run? Why do Muck-Suck 2017 and their promoter/agent Fast North Corporation/Race Roster of Ontario, Canada demand all participants in the race agree to a waiver releasing them exclusively from any liability for personal injury, property damage, or even death, without including the City of Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, Fontana, Linn and all the lakeshore homeowners?

Also, shouldn’t My Team Triumph provide proof of insurance to protect not just the municipalities, but every single homeowner involved in the race against any and all damage to property caused by the race and by each and every one of the runners? Some serious problems are anticipated; injuries to runners aggressively competing to win a foot race on a totally inappropriate course, injuries to civilians walking the path and forced off by runners and locating and extricating the injured runners on private, difficult to access, property.

You are invited to WALK
and
Sports Activities are NOT allowed