Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A Fan Letter!!!

Woo-hoo! There's a fan letter for my Redlands coverage in the "mailbag" on VeloNews.com today -- it's the fifth letter down, and you can read it here.

And, well, yes...Felicia is a friend of mine -- she's a prof at Fresno State, too, so we know each other from there. But, honest....I didn't ask her to write this!

Some of the racers I've interviewed and met at the races have been very generous in their compliments of my coverage, but believe me, the feedback hasn't all been positive...I even got snapped at by a team director at Redlands when he felt I'd slighted one of his riders (he apologized later, though, so it's all good now). While I'm obviously not covering a war zone so it's not a life-and-death situation, what the racers do is very important to them -- and it's also very important to me to try to report it as accurately as possible. It's pretty challenging, I think, for both of us -- I can't see everything that happens and have to rely on them to help me piece it together, and they are so tired after their efforts that talking to a reporter is probably the very last thing they'd like to do. But, it usually works out. It's a fun challenge for me, and because I do feel like I give it my all, it's nice to receive feedback now and then that it's appreciated. Just as I'm sure the racers enjoy getting some pats themselves. Awwww, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy now....

1 comment:

Sharon said...

K - you deserve the kudos! All your hard-work and dedication to your reporting and writing during Redlands was impressive. You gave the women's event the same attention and passion as the men's event, which was wonderful. You help raise the level of professionalism in womens racing. Thanks for your late nights, we all appreciate it!