I get the sentiment, but also see their side of it too. If they went out and refunded everyone's lost time they'd probably go bust. It's not their fault covid came along and stopped events dead.
(FWIW, I don't have any great love for mtba, not after finding out how useful the insurance is)
To be fair, MTBA's running costs haven't decreased.
They have retained all of their staff through covid.
Their insurer wouldn't give them a break on their annual premium either....
No ones running costs have decreased... but everyone realised that they couldn't screw their loyal members while there was nothing happening. All 3 of the Race licences I pay for expired around Sept, so we went 6 months from March with no events.
As far as I am aware, gyms, fitness centres and sporting clubs froze or deferred memberships at around 100% hit, not automatically dropping people back to rec or anything else where they still got an income but added 'months' on to existing memberships. Buildings were empty, mortgages, insurance and rents still had to be paid.
After 3 months of no events, I sent MTBA an email and got a reply saying..
We are aware that our race members have been mostly affected by the COVID-19 due to race cancellations. However, as the race membership also provides 24/7 insurance coverage for recreational riding, we won't make changes to our memberships at this stage.
We aim to find a solution which is fair and consistent for all of our financial members. The duration of current social distancing guidelines and race bans play an important factor in this regard.
You're part of a community of over 17,000 people supporting the development of mountain biking throughout Australia. Thank you for your contribution to the progression of our sport
Health insurers and car insurers dropped premiums by 15-20% as people were driving less, working from home and restricted in their travels. It was a simple question to MTBA with a less than satisfactory answer.
Most of the world has taken big hit and MTBA choose to run my, nearly $500 worth of race licences to zero, then sent me a renewal for 3 more while there was still no racing.
Boys were renewed in Sept, they have probably done 6 races since then... but this ex-loyal MTBA member will pay the $20 day licence for the FTF and maybe $20 for the Coomie... If I get fit again, maybe $20 for the Dirty Weekend 24.
Does AMBC even do a club only membership now without insurance ?