Beantown Blitz CANCELLED!
 

I recieved an email yesterday (6/22) and sent out this letter today:


The Beantown Blitz committee regrets to inform you that due to unforeseen complications concerning Northeastern University’s semester conversion, and recently discovered scheduling conflicts within the University and the venue; that the Beantown Blitz will be postponed until 2004.

I am certain that this is a shock and disappointment to you, as it is to myself. For many years NEU has been using the Quarter System for scheduling. The school will be changing to Semesters during ’03 – ’04 academic year, a task that requires a lot of manpower to handle all the issues that arise. Although we made very well to see beyond these issues and organize the Beantown Blitz… too much risk has evolved, and we feel it best to postpone the event to next year.

We apologize for any inconvenience and I, myself, am whole-heartily remorseful and frustrated because so many talented teams did get back to me to register for the Blitz. I ask you to please refrain from sending in your deposit check or furthering any travel arrangements. If you have already sent in your registration, your check will be returned to the team’s main contact immediately.

I hope your team will not be deterred from participating in the Beantown Blitz next year, and that interest will remain. We are dedicated to making this one of the best off-season competitions around, and this year we felt that there was too much of a chance to fall short of our promise.

If at all possible… I would like to know what time(s) of year would be good for your team to attend this off-season event in case we do not schedule it for mid-August again. Your feedback is important to us, as well as any other ideas that you may have.

Once again, we are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. I hope you understand our viewpoint, and I look forward to meeting with you and your team at future FIRST events.

Sincerely,


Erin Rapacki
Beantown Blitz Coordinator
erapacki@coe.neu.edu
erin.rapacki@hs.utc.com

I'm sorry, Erin.

I know that you've worked very hard for this and that a lot of people were looking forward to it.

:(

I'm also sorry, but i can understand that it would be best to wait for a time when things are not as hectic. see everyone there in 04!

wow, that really stinks, I too was looking forward to such a great event, We'll defiently be there in 2004 though. Go Boston!!

You have got to be kidding me..... First my team misses out on Battlecry and now BT BLitz!!! Oh man, that sucks!!!

Well, there is always next year!!!

:( I was looking forward to Beantown Blitz... Well I guess I'll just have to wait...

We will be there next year (If we Qualify) and yes were would have been there this year, it is a shame that the event could not happen but that just means there is more time to plan for next year. ;)

I'm vey sorry to hear that Erin. I know that you, and many other people put a lot of hard work into the Blitz. Next year will mak up for it and be twice as good I'm sure

my fault.

The last two off season competitions that I've planned to attend (Seaside Squabble and Beantown Blitz) have been canceled.

For the record, I am not going to the Cal Games ;)

That really sucks! I was looking forward to going too.

Well, I'm sad for everyone else, but it doesn't matter to me - I couldn't go.

NOW if it is cancelled next year - than there will be problems...

Your efforts are not in vain - the FIRST community appreciates the work you've done to get this off-season competition together.

I'm sure that next year's BTB will be outstanding.

Horrible News
 

This is very sad news indeed. It was one of the first things I was told when I came home from Philadelphia Monday night (National Concrete Canoe Competition!!!!). I'm really sorry to hear this, Erin.

But fear not! The support you have gained this year will surely increase before next year. Great things should not be rushed. It was certainly amazing how everything came together in such a quick time period, but this can only make the 2004 Beantown Blitz even better!

Good luck Erin and all involved.

Kev

P.S. The WildBeast would love to attend the first annual event...and now we may very well be able to =)

I'm really sorry to hear about the BTB being postponed (not cancelled). I know you put a lot of heart and energy into it and I know it will be the best off-season (maybe even best overall) event FIRST has ever known. You will undoubtedly have incredible success due to your charisma and your way with people, not to mention your beautiful smile. I am truly looking forward to attending this fabulous event in 2004 with my team. It will truly be an event to remember.

Having been involved with off season competition in the west coast, I know how much stress it is to coordinate a off seaon event.

I know Erin have been stressing and worrying about this for a long time. It's not easy running an event and getting all that's needed to make one happen. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.

There will always be another year. Just think of this as a head start for Beantown Blitz 2004. :)

I'm excited for BTB 2004, and I'd admit... although I went very far with organizing the Blitz this year, there were a few small details that made me worried. No doubt I would have had everything settled by the date of the event... it would have just meant some late nights on my computer this summer. I'm happy that now I have plenty of time to start organizing the 04 competition, not to mention I can utillize everything I've learned during the past few months about running offseasons and apply that to next year's BTB, instead of learning along the way.

I'm trying to think of dates for next year, because we'd just run into similar problems next year if we schedule it for mid-august again. When do you think would be the best time to hold an offseason in the NE without intruding on the dates of the other offseasons around?

I'd like to hear what you think...

How about considering sometime late September? Let all the NY high schools go back in and get things together first.

It may be better to try to schedule earlier in the summertime or late in Spring. I know that when school starts up for us in the fall, there's much to be done with fundraising, logistics, etc. and it'd be hard to make time to go up to Boston for a day or 2 and get enough people to go. Maybe late May/early June?

Whatever you do don't do it in October!!!

My team volunteers and helps runTHIS to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes.

You could try the weekend before or after the 4th of July and try making it a patriotic thing or something of the like since it is in Boston. You could have awards for most patriatic robot, robot most representative of a historic event in Boston, etc. That is just my $.02

Believe it or not, but many Midwestern schools actually start in the middle of August Early August or very late July, or early July would all be good dates.

BTB 2004
 

Erin,

I'll add my disappointment to all the others! It takes so much effort to get the first one done--sorry you will have to wait another year to see it happen. And now what are we going to do with the 30-odd good bins left over from BC/4!?

In planning your date, here are the traditional other NE Tournaments to work around:

1) Rally in the Valley, Lebanon NH: 2nd or 3rd weekend in May
2) Mayhem on the Merrimack, Tyngsboro MA: 1st weekend in Jun
3) BattleCry @ WPI, Worcester MA: 2nd weekend in Jun
4) River Rage, Manchester NH: 2nd weekend in Sep
5) Bash at the Beach, East Lyme CT: Varies, 20 Sep this year, Oct/Aug in previous years

Seems like July is pretty wide open...

Ken