Why cant britain produce olympic or even world cup level XC racers

We excel at Road and Track but XC racing ? Theres just not the domination there!

How come?

The track success is because British Cycling sat down to work out how they could win Olympic medals (and thus get Lottery funding) and decided that the best way of doing this was by investing in the track team, as there are competitively few variables that can’t be controlled in a velodrome. Road success has sprung from that.

The problem is that, as reported earlier in the year, they’re not all that interested outside the track programme; this was also a contributor to the very Brummie Dan Martin deciding to ride for Ireland.

Track and then road domination have been pretty recent things though. Before that there was very little indeed. Mostly due to huge injection of cash into track post Atlanta games, with that then carrying over into road. Hasn’t been similar investment in XC.

all the real talent is stuck behind their keyboards whining about how easy the course is

🙂

Do we have an elite level domestic xc scene ? Genuine question.

http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2016/03/just-what-is-british-cycling-doing-with-mtb/

http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2016/04/pro-xc-racer-jenny-copnall-speaks-out-at-british-cycling/

BC gets a lot input from Sky, there’s no doubt that if Sky took an interest in MTB, there would be winners, but they don’t care about it, so there aren’t

When I was a lad (early to mid teens) Gould, Baker, Clarke to name a few were all on the world cup circuit and doing very well with out lottery money. Did it get harder

I think that once british cycling get hold of any promising athletes they try and get them into track, they have done so to Shaniaze Reed from bmx, and even had rachel Atherton try out on track FFS!

They just don’t seem to grasp or understand any other element of the sport
.

Because it stopped being a ‘sport’ in the UK a while ago, and turned into a leisure activity.

Well we have a rider in the Mens, we have a woman thats capable, but didnt score enough qualifying points.

But yes, this is far from the domination we show in road/track.

Several factors really, you could almost write a book about it.

Starting with the media who only write articles about shredding and kicking up roost on their enduro sleds. Doesn’t attract riders into XC.

Then we can move onto the lack of decent entry level racing which discourages a lot of people from taking part. No matter how slow you are, you should be able to race others of your ability level within an hours drive from home twice a month should you want to.

And then at the top end, there’s lack of BC support for our best riders as they channel all the funding into the best medal chances.

Also not as much money to be made in XC as there is for road, so its more difficult to go live some place with weather more conducive to regular training.

BC is all about gold medals at the Olympics – it’s where the funding comes from. MTB and BMX (and road) is a much more unpredictable environment than track – far more variables to affect the outcome. That unpredictability means its too risky to commit lots of resources to it when you know you just need to knock out a team pursuit at a certain time to get a gold on the track.

No TV / media interest in XC. Not really surprising as there is nothing to see IMO, I wouldn’t watch it or read about it. DH I watch most of the races.

If we had an athelete who was there or thereabouts internationally they would get lottery money. The money isn’t going to be there on a “hunch”.

EDIT: Another question would be why don’t some of our top tier amateur roadies ride xc, the guys that are say just below pro level and aren’t going to get a road contract ?

DH I watch most of the races.

But DH isn’t in the Olympics; as such there’s no lottery funding and I suspect that’s got a fair amount to do with BC’s total lack of interest.

BC is all about gold medals at the Olympics – it’s where the funding comes from

Wasn’t one of the other countries’ coaches complaining about BC’s lack of interest in the track World Champs, which are far less important to them than the Olympics?

EDIT: Another question would be why don’t some of our top tier amateur roadies ride xc, the guys that are say just below pro level and aren’t going to get a road contract

Because being that good takes a lot of time and effort, and to spread yourself into trying another sport with another bike and another set of races and another set of weekends gone isn’t realistic.

Top level sport requires a lot of commitment.

spread yourself into trying another sport with another bike and another set of races and another set of weekends gone isn’t realistic.

and yet, Peter Sagan…

+1 JoB

EDIT: Another question would be why don’t some of our top tier amateur roadies ride xc, the guys that are say just below pro level and aren’t going to get a road contract ?

Genuine facepalm!

Are you that naive?

Outside of the track environment, where it’s all about how many medals GB and BC can win to justify their existence, professional cyclists exist pretty much only where the sport is popular enough to pay them to ride because of the advertising benefits that individual can bring to the brands they’re representing. Sadly for XC, even if you’re number 1 or 2 in your field in the UK, you’ll barely scrape by if you’re lucky and more often than not, have to rely on the good will of friends and relatives to keep you going. Or… You can turn to the dark side where even if you’re only just inside the top 20 riders in your country, a paid ride awaits you and all that goes with it…

Trust me on this one… More than a little inside information!

and yet, Peter Sagan…

… is having a play, because he decided the road race course wouldn’t suit him, all at his fellow countryman’s expense!

all the real talent is stuck behind their keyboards whining about how easy the course is

Dangerously close to the truth! Brilliantly funny though… 😆

Anyone good goes to road due to the money. Plus XC racing is pathetically supported by UK cycling media this mag has virtually nothing in it for instance. Its a long time since MBUK did monthly race reports.

I dont understand why GB didnt enter. We should be represented even if we dont stand a chance. Loads of other countries enter and stand no chance. A week from now no one will remember who came second, let alone third.

Any rider would love to give it a go. Christ, Id pay for my own bike/flights/food/hotel if I could ride in the Olympics. Why restrict it to those who can get a medal ? Sod the funding, offer it to the fastest person who can self fund.

Isn’t it about riding for your country, competing ?

99% of us who enter race dont win them, but we enter and have fun.

I think it is also difficult to arrange decent races in the UK, getting landowners permissions, local council support etc Organisers have to put up the money without knowing they will get it back. It can lead to the “riding round muddy fields” syndrome as other options are closed.

Around here in Germany it seems the system is much more supportive of events, and there is quite a few decent xc and more marathon events.

I dont understand why GB didnt enter. We should be represented even if we dont stand a chance. Loads of other countries enter and stand no chance. A week from now no one will remember who came second, let alone third.

They wouldn’t fund the travelling to points scoring races to earn a place. It’s not track so it doesn’t count in the corridors of BC.

BC don’t have unlimited resources, so they concentrate what they have mainly on track and BMX, with Sky effectively delivering the road programme. MTB has created its own image problem and makes it difficult to access – CX race fields have grown massively in the last 5 years demonstrating a demand for accessible XC racing, plus it makes good TV. MTB is the 90s deliberately distanced itself from mainstream cycling and they’re reaping what they’ve sown i.e. Pissed off the UCI who control the Olympic programme

The other probably ironic thing is that not many people on a mountain bike forum would actually consider riding XC.

You have to be fit and fast for a start.

and yet, Peter Sagan…

So the most winningest road rider of recent years, but probably won’t even place in the XC. He probably could be up there with Albason and Nino, but realistically it’s not a possibility without a lot of practice and training.

FWIW even in cycling’s heartland, relatively shit professionals can make a living riding pisspot little road races week in week out (i know, i did it for many years) try that on the mtb you HAVE to have a job. Same with CX. So the only guys who manage to make it big on the mtb scene are those who have massive success early on and then *don’t* get directed into road racing. So you are really up against it. I reckon if Sagan hadn’t moved over to road for the money, we’d probably have a three way battle at the pointy end of every WC mtb.

They should have sent Phil Pearce – he’s been having a decent WC season, but more importantly is super stylish like Nino – if BC were serious about XC they need to make it cool. At the moment it’s a bit lost. Throw in a visually good British rider (who’s also bloody good at his media stuff) and you might inspire…… Given Phil’s in Whistler at the mo for Crankworx, he’s obviously not afraid of self funded travel.

Trust me on this one… More than a little inside information

That ride London time is paying dividends already?

I dont understand why GB didnt enter. We should be represented even if we dont stand a chance. Loads of other countries enter and stand no chance. A week from now no one will remember who came second, let alone third.

As has been said above, BC don’t have unlimited resources. This is true of pretty much every olympic sport in the UK, though – does anyone else remember the long faces in swimming in 2012 when it became apparent they’d underperformed badly and as a result the lottery funding was going to be pulled?

Other countries’ olympic finding isn’t tied to projected success in the same way; it does mean that there is a vicious circle where sports we aren’t strong in aren’t likely to get funded, and as such we don’t get stronger. Still, I’d rather have that than a rerun of 1996.

Isn’t it about riding for your country, competing ?

99% of us who enter race dont win them, but we enter and have fun.

Yes, but HTN isn’t the same as the Olympics/Worlds etc. For the top end professionals…

There seemed to be plenty of athletes in other sports going out in the first rounds, people who had no realistic hope of progressing who still got sent, they wouldn’t have been sent by BC.

they wouldn’t have been sent by BC

I suspect they wouldn’t have been sent by the BOC. Doesn’t stop some of them self-funding, of course.

Phil managed 6th at Crankworx, so can certainly hold his own. Unfortunately as Jenny Copnall wrote, the entry requirements are not clear cut or sensible, so BC basically have carte blanche to ignore MTB as a sport. Grant had to fight hard to get to go to the Olympics.

BC basically refuses to send anyone to qualifying races unfortunately unless they have a chance of winning – but they have no chance of winning if they don’t get exposure. It’s a nasty Catch 22 for any aspiring MTB racers sadly.

Also, I believe that BC has stopped the self funding route to Olympics or to World Championships now. It really sucks to be a top level British XCer at the mo!

The other probably ironic thing is that not many people on a mountain bike forum would actually consider riding XC.

It’s how I started and in reality most of our non-uplift assisted riding is in the UK – maybe with more features chucked in. Saying that, I like some of the more technical stuff you see on some of the courses – it looks great. Definitely not all smooth and wide as it seemed to go for a while.

You have to be fit and fast for a start.

I was fit. I would not claim to have ever been fast! 😀

@mboy, I think you misunderstood me. Unless some really talented athletes show an interest in xc and get some resuits (probably off their own back) the lottery / BC aren’t going to put any money in. I have a little inside info ( 😉 ) into lottery funding and if you start to slip in world rankings / designated events you lose the money. I understand that roadies aren’t interested is doing all the xc work etc at their own cost. That’s exactly why we are where we are. We don’t have any top level xc athletes worth funding and potential talent from other cycling disciplines isn’t crossing over.

Also, I believe that BC has stopped the self funding route to Olympics or to World Championships now. It really sucks to be a top level British XCer at the mo!

Really ? In that case the athletes could compete for another country but like the TKD guy did having failed to get into the GB squad for 2012

Hang on a second. Don’t sell GB atheletes short, Grant Ferguson had some great results earlier this year, admittedly less so the last few races. We have very promising talent with Evie Richards in the women’s u23 and a junior girl (name escapes me) doing well too. BC aren’t supporting xc, but we do have riders with the potential. We need to boost the xc scene though. It’s a tragedy how small fields are at the moment. No idea how that’s to be achieved without media interest though

because no one cares about XC?

We need to boost the xc scene though. It’s a tragedy how small fields are at the moment. No idea how that’s to be achieved without media interest though

It’s media and money that is needed as well as a decent national strategy

The reality is that unless there is divine intervention XC is unlikely to get bigger as a sport

I’m confused – I thought you were suggesting road riders who couldn’t quite make it doing XC instead?

because no one cares about XC?

People do care, the barriers to entry in the sport are high and there is little commercial support for organisers, in addition it sucks in volunteers which are increasingly hard to mobilise and retain

XC isn’t a good investment, you only have two medals at stake. With track, you have multiple medal opportunities, so it’s a much better bet if the aim is to maximise return on investment.