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Thread: The Escape From Angola Triathlon is Announced and within two weeks is Canceled.

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The Escape From Angola Triathlon is Announced and within two weeks is Canceled.

    Escape from Angola is a long course triathlon consisting of a 1-mile swim, 44 mile bike, and a 10 mile run hosted at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The event will take place on March 20th, 2016.

    In 2014, a friend of FRESHJUNKIE Racing, a Louisiana-based endurance sports company, and the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola suggested that the grounds of Angola would make for a great triathlon course since it has its own lake, is surrounded by some scenic, quiet roads perfect for biking and has a nice paved road that meanders throughout the 18,000 acres of property, making it ideal for a run.

    Angola hosts numerous other events on the property each year, most famously its prison rodeo each fall which draws a crowd of thousands every weekend in October. After several logistic meetings and facility tours, Escape from Angola was born.

    FRESHJUNKIE wanted to offer a non-traditional course length that spoke to the intensity of this historic prison while presenting a unique challenge to the athletes.

    The swim is a single loop, 1 mile course in Lake Killarney, an oxbow lake formed from the waters of the Mississippi on the grounds at Angola. This swim venue is very serene, surrounded by beautiful cypress trees, and has ample viewing area for spectators.

    The bike course takes you off the prison grounds through the main gate and into the Tunica Hills of West Feliciana Parish. This 44-mile course is comprised of constant rolling hills with over 2300 ft. of elevation gain. Majestic oak trees shade the majority of the course with views of the beautiful Louisiana countryside.

    The flat and fast 10-mile run course takes the athletes out to the top of the Mississippi River Levee, which will allow you an overview of the dramatic 18,000 acre facility and culminates in the Angola Rodeo Arena.

    Finisher Medals will be a replica key to the prison and the overall male and female winners will receive retired keys from the prison.

    The race also has an overnight package for those wanting to sleep on site. The overnight guests will sleep in a former cell blocks unit that, until 2006, was death row. This building is being renovated to house the new Angola Museum and is regularly used to house church groups and prison ministries who stay overnight for their service to the inmates. Part of the money from this overnight packages goes to the prison’s museum fund that will depict the history of the museum.

    http://trstriathlon.com/escape-from-angola-triathlon/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Angola prison triathlon canceled amid backlash

    A triathlon that was scheduled March 20 has been canceled after drawing backlash for its unusual setting: Angola, home of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. "Escape from Angola was being promoted by its organizers as an event that would speak to the "intensity of this historic prison," as described in an article on a triathlon website.

    The finisher medals were to be shaped like a "key" to the prison, and the winners would have received actual "retired" keys. The event also offered an overnight package where participants could sleep in a former cell block unit that was used as death row until 2006. An initial article about the event reportedly led with the headline "Party on Death Row."

    But to host a triathlon on the same grounds where thousands of people are currently incarcerated, at a prison with a controversial history such as Angola's, struck some as tactless and disrespectful. Complaints on the Facebook page of the organizer, Freshjunkie Racing, began building Tuesday (March 1), and the website Jezebel posted an article calling the event "wildly insensitive."

    "I'm really trying to imagine the workaround in your head that makes the concept and pitch for this event not grossly offensive," one person wrote on Freshjunkie's Facebook page.

    "This is a disgusting concept for an event," a person commented. "The despair and suffering associated with Angola should not be used as a backdrop for a race."

    Freshjunkie issued a statement Wednesday afternoon canceling the event. The event's organizers said they had received personal attacks and threats against them, and "we do not feel like we can offer a safe environment for our athletes." They said they would give full refunds to those who were registered for the event.

    "It saddens us to let hateful messages and threats dictate our actions, but we are not equipped to handle this onslaught," they said.

    They emphasized that revenue from the event would have gone toward programs for the inmates. "We were not ignorant of the fact that we were hosting an event at a prison," they said. "We were optimistically focused on the positive aspects and the positive stories that were set to come from our efforts."

    Angola is not new to public events. The twice-annual prison rodeo brings in thousands of visitors every year.

    And it's not unheard of for sporting events to be held at a prison. The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon involves an island in San Francisco Bay, but the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary there closed in 1963, while Angola remains in operation as a prison.

    Freshjunkie defended itself on its Facebook page, saying in response to a commenter: "We haven't approached the event in a disrespectful manner in any of our messaging and won't be. That's not what the event is about and it will not be produced in that light. ... We are raising funds for the prison and inmate programs at the same time."

    Darryl Campbell, executive management officer for the Department of Public Safety & Corrections, said it was disappointing the event was canceled. Some of the proceeds were set to go to offender re-entry initiatives, supporting GED testing, vocational certification and other programs meant to help inmates upon their release. Other money, from those who paid to stay overnight, was set to go to a fund for Angola's prison museum, the race's organizers said.

    According to a contract signed Feb. 23, the race's organizers had agreed to pay the Department of Corrections $10 per athlete and per spectator, and $50 per guest who stayed in the old death row cellblock. The prison also was planning to sell food, and the contract indicated it would let inmates sell arts and crafts, as they do at the rodeo.

    Freshjunkie's website and Facebook page appeared to be shut down as of Wednesday afternoon.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...on_escape.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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