MSA DH

It would be nice to see Minnaar finish with a good result , a podium would be a fitting finish .

One of our mates is making his WC Junior debut this weekend. Alexander Pervan, he stuck it in 17th in timed practice, massively impressive 🙂  2nd fastest Brit...  I'll be watching with interest.

That's great. I'm away riding without access to watch any of it.

I'll be watching what i can but in truth this weekend i'm more interested in

https://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/en/race/ixs-dhc-6-2

Live timing from IXS in Switzerland..

It's a cracking course at MSA though so will be a top watch... I'm going for Finn (not a massive shock)

I love the MSA track, it has probably become my favourite race of the year.

Looking forward to it. I will be interested to see how the top enduro ladies do against the dedicated dh ones.

Isn't it great to see the top 3 enduro women in the world duke it out in another discipline?

I'm guessing that Morgane would be the most likely to possibly upset the applecart and make it through to finals.

The last (only, afaik) time Isabeau raced a WC DH was Lourdes 2022, placing 18th in the qualifier.

Isn’t it great to see the top 3 enduro women in the world duke it out in another discipline?

There's Rude, Maes and Melamed* on the men's side too. Entered as a fear of the future of EWS? End of season party/playtime? Proving they can run with the DH boys and girls?

*not any more, broken elbow in practise.

It's deffo more of an end of season jolly, although Rude and Maes are regular attendees whenever there's no clash with enduro.

That is tough on Matt Walker , it can be a cruel sport at times .   Minnaar through to finals which is great and impressive stuff from Gwin coming back from injury.

Never could quite settle down to watch MSA, it's just so damn fast, you see these sections and think "yeah that looks like fun" and then they go through it so quick you couldn't even identify a rock or a stump. Just freaks me out a bit more than most

gutted for Jesse, was hoping he was going to bethe one to tick the Canadians over on a 3rd straight year at the top of the podium*.
Two more Canadian enduro racers ready to back up Finn though

*Well, he's probably not quite fast enough on the big bike but he's an exceptionally good ambassador for the sport.

MSA in October, not a fan, its even later on in 2025 with another round added in October, organisers are total Muppets, hopefully the riders can actually see out of the start hut in mid oct.

Sadly for Minnaar he went on 1-2 seasons too long. We'll never know how much was him and how much was post-Kathy Syndicate, but a good year in 2023 with a couple of podiums and a bow-out would have been for the best.

Great to see Troy the Boy back up on the top step and a next generation on the way through.

MSA in steamy, damp mid-Oct is daft.

MSA in October, not a fan, its even later on in 2025 with another round added in October, organisers are total Muppets, hopefully the riders can actually see out of the start hut in mid oct.

it was yesterday… and it was a fantastic race

Good racing but the highlights package for the men was dreadful. Not showing the run of the third place finisher at all even though they spent a long while on the top step seems off. There wasn't a single British rider featured either.

There wasn’t a single British rider featured either.

That explains why I couldn't find LG's run then. However his 3rd place lifted me from the bottom of the STW fantasy league. 78 out of 79, but 79 is AWOL, so I think I came last ?

Good racing but the highlights package for the men was dreadful.

should have watch the race on catchup. It was an excellent race full of drama and some amazing rides. Well worth the £7 it cost

Great race. Stoked for Troy.

Pleased Greg M had a clean run to end, it would have been very sad if he had a crash DNF situation. I was waiting for him to make a podium appearance but there we are.

With an eye to 2025, full programme Lenzerheide is back on for a packed week of XCC / XCO / DH. One of my favorite venues along with Les Gets.... and curiously Fort William is dropped and absent. Track to long and venue too far out on a limb for the euro section.

Very pleased for Troy and his win but surprised to see his long term mechanic arron is leaving the team. I heard a comment regarding Fort William by Bernard Kerr and he complained that it was too much hassle to get to and he wasn’t bothered about it being dropped from the series, he’s a bit of a self centred prick ain’t he?

Oh well, guess I can cancel the discovery subscription now,

and curiously Fort William is dropped and absent. Track to long and venue too far out on a limb for the euro section.

I've read about WB/Discovery wanting shorter tracks a few times now but Brosnan won in 3.54 yesterday while Bruni won Fort William in 4.08. MSA is on the calendar for next year so I'm thinking there must be another reason for dropping Fort William. They could start at the long boardwalk if track length really was the issue as the top section is basically red grade trail centre in difficulty until the rock garden starts. I hope they get another World Cup but I must admit it's not a great track for TV

I heard a rumour they're having the European championships at FW next season

there must be another reason for dropping Fort William

Chris Ball is Scottish is he not?

He's a mountain biker too, supposedly.

As his mission in life seems to be to **** everything up that he represents, it seems logical to **** up Fort William as a top priority.

somafunk
Very pleased for Troy and his win but surprised to see his long term mechanic Aarron is leaving the team. I heard a comment regarding Fort William by Bernard Kerr and he complained that it was too much hassle to get to and he wasn’t bothered about it being dropped from the series, he’s a bit of a self centred prick ain’t he?

I'm in partial agreement with BK. FW is the only place in the UK with a chairlift so it's the default UK venue. It does have a long history and hosts great events BUT there's no arguing with the isolated location (it's a long 8 hr drive from here, I'd rather double that and go to the alpes personally) and the midges. I expect part of the attraction is that it's relatively mild weather early in the season so can be one of the first races when the bigger hills still have snow on.  Who could say if there was another suitable UK location (big hill with chairlift) that the atmosphere wouldn't be at least as good, if not better being as it would almost certainly be more accessible for the UK fans..

FW is the only place in the UK with a chairlift

It isn't

Glencoe

Glenshee

The Lecht

there’s no arguing with the isolated location

It's only isolated if you live in the south of England. Us up here find it handily local.

It’s only isolated if you live in the south of England. Us up here find it handily local

Where would the teams stay ? Where would the public stay ? Where would they shop/eat ? Glencoe is desolate in terms of having 5000 people rocking up to watch a race in a car park only 10% of them will fit in.

Glencoe isn't a great deal more isolated than Fort William in terms of UK location. Results in slightly longer shuttle bus runs from accommodation and facilities used for the Fort William world cup.

Red bull make isolation work when running the cliff diving series..

Glencoe isn’t a great deal more isolated than Fort William in terms of UK location. Results in slightly longer shuttle bus runs from accommodation and facilities used for the Fort William world cup.

It really is. A 60 mile round round trip would be the longest "shuttle" bus service I've seen in any sport, especially when you consider the type of road.

Red bull make isolation work when running the cliff diving series..

Needing a tiny fraction of the amount of kit a factory rider does will help massively.

It isn’t

Glencoe

Glenshee

The Lecht

Glencoe might be able to build a suitable track (but I reckon doing so would make it too short), but still has the location/facility issue. The other 2 are barely worth mentioning

Cliff diving competitors & organisers probably need slightly less equipment & infrastructure than a round of the World Cup.

Danny Hart in Wyn's track walk had some opinions about it all.

One good thing about next year is they're dropping the stupid semi final runs. But they're also stopping protected riders - so qualifying might be less full on.

I used cliff diving as an example that events can be made to work if the organisers want it to.   It would have been much easier for Red Bull not to use places like Downpatrick head in Ireland or the Blue Lagoon in Pembrokeshire, but they made it work for the good of the sport.

 It would have been much easier for Red Bull not to use places like Downpatrick head in Ireland or the Blue Lagoon in Pembrokeshire, but they made it work for the good of the sport

How many competitors, viewers, trucks, vans etc ?

Yes, I agree infrastructure and logistics needs to be considered, but isolation shouldn't be the defining reason.

I'd love it if Are in Sweden was brought back into the Calender.  

Where would the teams stay ? Where would the public stay ? Where would they shop/eat ? Glencoe is desolate in terms of having 5000 people rocking up to watch a race in a car park only 10% of them will fit in.

Completely agree. The only alternative in the Uk could be dyfi if the PY were interested and if they could sort out a good enough uplift for the number of riders and have it quick enough for them to make the most of practice time. I’m sure there is a huge amount of work to put a wc race on that most won’t want to do.

Even Dyfi would be pretty tricky as Mach is really small in terms of public staying over, even the towns around there would struggle... but it'd be far more viable than Glencoe IMO.

Obviously Dyfi itself would need a bigger pit area for crews, riders etc... but there's a lot of land there and you could throw some up the hill at the sawmill like they do at Antur.

The lift side of things would be a bit of a deal-breaker in many ways though at the moment. Even if you doubled the Landies you'd still struggle potentially.  (and that's assuming you could make it a true 2 way route, which the top bit isn't currently).

I think it'd be EPIC to have a race there, but really they're going to have to start with a track and a National before even thinking about moving to WC status.

[Lobs in grenade] Maybe if they reduced the number of riders at a WC round then using alternative uplifts at smaller host locations might work. [Runs away]

[Lobs in grenade] Maybe if they reduced the number of riders at a WC round then using alternative uplifts at smaller host locations might work. [Runs away]

You are Chris Ball AICMFP.

[Lobs in grenade] Maybe if they reduced the number of riders at a WC round then using alternative uplifts at smaller host locations might work. [Runs away]

In a way yes, but in a way no.. If you think about a WC then you're talking thousands upon thousands of public really. Estimated numbers for Les Gets World Cup 2022 were over 150,000 people... But realistically you're at say what, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people... Adding 100 riders or not really doesn't much matter. B

150,000 spectators that aren't using the lift though?

It’s deffo more of an end of season jolly, although Rude and Maes are regular attendees whenever there’s no clash with enduro.

I believe Maes is going full time DH next year.

It was tongue in cheek but on the uplift it is more feasible to use Landies or a shonky lift if you've only got 100 riders.

I heard a comment regarding Fort William by Bernard Kerr and he complained that it was too much hassle to get to and he wasn’t bothered about it being dropped from the series, he’s a bit of a self centred prick ain’t he?

Well yes, he is - but as a fan I won't miss Fort William. It usually provides boring racing compared to the other venues.

And I don't think many of the racers are that keen on the place either, it's just BK is the most gobby.

I reckon any issues with other UK venues could probably be solved by giving even more money to WBD who will then happily ignore them and any consequent complaints.

Yr Wyddfa has an uplift too, maybe spruce up the Rhyd du path or something down the rangers for future world cups? Half joking obvs but I do wish they’d introduce more tracks, the one in Poland was good this year

Its been a good season for riders coming back from injury, Tahnee, Myriam, Wilson, Gwin, Pierron and now Laurie, great to see him at the sharp end.

Yr Wyddfa has an uplift too, maybe spruce up the Rhyd du path or something down the rangers for future world cups?

I would love to watch the pitch to the national park authority when that’s presented. Don’t forget it couldn’t start til 6pm or be finished by 9am. Night race 🙂

Mashr thanks for the info but I know when the race was, sorry to confuse you, mid oct was a reference to next year, even Finn Iles questioned it by saying hopefully it's not snowing, the conditions were crap, plenty riders strayed off course, rocks too slippy/greasy, it's more dangerous than needs be, crap for spectators too, they shortened the course and they still had visibility issues at the top, mist is definitely a problem for both riders and filming, MSA round deserves better weather, so much better earlier in the year, might even get cancelled next time, there'll be more maple leaves on the floor than on the trees.

I find it weird at times how organisers think. We have it at Nationals with Rheola the first weekends of April, it's generally a monsoon all weekend.

You'd think someone would say "hows the weather at XYZ time of year".... then go from there.

There is another cable car in the UK remember...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/d5tJyUAF9aZeWWEP9

Shame its not a bigger hill eh!

What, not this one?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5As6XcMxL2ynhJ8V6

I reckon the date shifting a week back is their desire to have the race on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. It'd be a party to rival Les Gets, whatever the weather!

There is another cable car in the UK remember…

And Wales has one too - Great Orme to get a DH round in 2026?

I raise you a chair lift!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qh9XK44uLK8hipLp9