It's that pride in his work that had Vurma -- the technical director of Sunday's second annual Welland triathlon -- so upset when a glitch in the run course of the triathlon had some athletes running longer than the 7.5 kilometre distance while others didn't go far enough.

Addressing the athletes at the Welland arena before the awards ceremony, Vurma took full responsibility for the error and did his best to offer an explanation.

"There was an error on the run course today that caused a lot of people's race experience to go down the tubes," said Vurma. "It was my error, I didn't give clear enough instructions before the race about what you might expect to see at the turn around and not giving clear enough instructions to my staff member who was in that area. "It was my error, it ultimately comes down to the person who is in charge and that's me."

Vurma said it was five years ago in Parry Sound since anything similar happened when the wind blew down a sign pointing racers across a bridge. "This is not the norm for our races. We take a great deal of pride in what we do and we also take a great deal of pride in being accountable for what we did or didn't do," he said.Vurma acknowledged that there was little he could do to adjust the times of the runners who ran too far, but the times of the runners who did not go far enough could be altered and he assured them they would not be disqualified.

He also offered a $10 discount to the next race to any athlete affected by the mistake.