Donate To Win

Cyclocross book

In an ideal world the mention of dirty cycling should remind us the cyclo-cross season is underway and the Superprestige series starts this weekend. We should conjure up images of fields, dunes, drunken spectators, frites and, above all, mud. But we’re not there yet.

If you want those images here’s a chance to win a copy of Balint Hamvas’s excellent review of the cyclocross season. This is a big photobook printed on high-quality paper that captures the mud, frost and frites. For a chance to win a copy just donate money to the Paul Kimmage fund, which as well as helping a specific legal case, looks set to force the UCI to confront a few uncomfortable truths about the kind of dirt that soap doesn’t shift.

How to win
Make a donation to the Paul Kimmage fund by clicking on the blue Chipin box below and following their instructions. You can donate a dollar, a Euro, a Pound or even a Swiss Franc. Or more, that’s up to you.

I know this might not be for everyone but if you’ve been thinking about donating perhaps this is the added incentive make it happen.

It has to be a new donation made from now onwards. So if you’ve already donated, well done but this is to encourage more donations. Feel free to make second donation.

Once you’ve done this, just leave a comment below to say you’ve donated. You don’t have to leave your name, feel free to use initials or a pseudonym. If you are the lucky winner we’ll work things out.

Assuming there’s more than one donation then later this week I’ll pull out a name at random using a spreadsheet and check with the fund administrator that the payment went through after this post appeared. Then I’ll post the book worldwide to the winner.

  • Donate to the Chipin fund
  • Post a comment say “I’ve donated”, “done”, “$20” etc.
  • I’ll announce a winner later this week
  • You get in touch by email with the postal address
  • I’ll send the book

I reviewed Cyclocross 2011-2012 by Balint Hamvas in May.

66 thoughts on “Donate To Win”

    • Yes, in that this is worth exploring. And I still don’t understand why Kimmage gets sued when others do not, nor why legal action is worth pursuing at all. Plus it will be interesting to see the UCI (and Kimmage) in court to state matters on the record, swap arguments etc.

  13. We made a donation as soon as we heard about the fund but it’s great you’re offering an incentive to give some an excuse to donate or donate again. I’m really looking forward to seeing the total exceed $50K. More than anything else it should show the UCI that a lot of cycling fans are tired of their crooked charade and want the house cleaned!

  14. I’ve donated!

    I see this as a free speech test case. The defence fund helps to give PK the opportunity to present a decent case and then the court can decide either way. Supporting him allows this to happen, and for the UCI to be unable to use the threat of legal action as a tool to gag journalists.

  34. Done. What really gives me the screaming willies is that I suspect that I’m funding the other side of the case through the fees for my racing licence.

    If the UCI didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it, but if you started from scratch the leaders and the structure you’d pick would be a million miles from the current jokers.

  35. Done.

    I was mildly amused by the pathetic UCI clarification on why they’re going after Paul Kimmage rather than the (London) Sunday Times or L’Equipe; “under the applicable Swiss law such case is directed against the person who made the defamatory statements.”
    If they’d gone after him in London, where they allege the ‘false’ accusations were made, they’d have to bring in The Sunday Times, which or course has the same owners as Team Sky and McQuaid wants to be invited to their post tour parties. (Never mind the link between L’Equipe and ASO!).

  37. I think for this fund to make any difference, it would have to reach seven figures (GBP).

    Defamation litigation is just about the most expensive and high-risk that any individual person could become embroiled in. He’ll need svereal hundred thousand to keep his lawyers going and of course, if he loses, he’s not just paying his own side, but he’s likely to be paying all of the UCI’s legal costs too.

    £50,000 would disappear very quickly indeed.

    I think his only hope is for the Sunday Times to back him and agree to provide an indemnity.

  40. “…looks set to force the UCI to confront a few uncomfortable truths about the kind of dirt that soap doesn’t shift.”

    Another classic phrase from INRNG.

  43. Thanks for the response, I had no way of knowing how many would respond but many have already.

    Please note there are a few others who have got in touch by email to say they’ve donated so the list is longer than the comments above.

  46. I’ve donated, feeling all rebelious and wondering if I’ll now be added to a secret blacklist of neverwasmountainbikerswhoweren’tthatquickreallyregardlessofwhattheythoughtatthetime run by the UCI

  60. We have a winner: “keith warmington”.

    In case you’re interested, it is genuinely random: I copy the comments into a spreadsheet and then use a “Random” function to select the winner. I’ve checked and Keith has donated.

    Thanks to everyone.

    • Wait a minute, that’s not random at all! The random number generator in a spreadsheet just gives you an entirely predetermined number that’s designed to look random. You need to use a number based on the truly random fluctuations in atmospheric noise or something: http://www.random.org/randomness/. I demand a re-draw!
      Seriously though, thanks for the competition, and anyone donating to such a good cause is a worthy winner.

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