Work Begins on the 2012 Olympic MTB Course

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We’ve just heard from the PR folks in Essex. The final plans were approved by the Secretary of State this week and work has now begun on the course. Despite the lack of elevation (or any particularly testing terrain) we’ve spoken to people who’ve visited and reckon that it has great potential and certainly has a great setting. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with it. With work starting now, hopefully we’ll get a preview later this year…


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Here’s the press release:

“Work has begun to create the Olympic Mountain Bike Event course at The Salvation Army’s Hadleigh Farm, in the Borough of Castle Point. Against a stunning backdrop of Hadleigh Castle and the Thames Estuary, the course is being created in harmony with the natural contours of the park land, to test the mettle of the world’s best mountain bike riders. More information is available at essexlegacy.org”

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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Replies (42)

    ilikecake July 19, 2010 at 1:18 am

    Just to clear up some inaccuracies from the comments above –

    The Beijing track was originally designed and built by the Chinese. It rode like a cyclocross track so I was sent in by UCI to rough it up a bit. We had limited time but managed to change enough of the track to make a big difference. The sections I changed were very tech and built in the way I’d like to see MTB WC/Olympic XC go – real mountain biking. Given more time I would have liked to change the entire track to this style, although the change could have been too much too soon for the riders.

    Anyway, I have nothing to do with the track in London although it’s no secret that I would have liked to. I have no idea who is building the track. Why is there no info to be found anywhere on this aspect of the project?

    Poster number 39 above: “coursebuilder’. Who are you and could you give us all some more information please? I know the potential of the site, but the general public certainly don’t.

    Phil

    Country_Gent July 19, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    Rootes1 – Is that definately confirmed that the MTB course will remain post games? At the public consultations we were told that some of the trail could remain in an easier-to-ride form if suitable agreements were reached with the Salvation Army (assume this is a public liability insurance type discussion) but a large section of the course (essentially through and infront of the castle would be just for the Olympics.

    I agree with “ilikecake” the course does have potential but details are a bit sketchy at this time. All updates from those in the know gratefully received!

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