National DH Championships - Results

[kezzaM]

so the next progression may well be the people earning the right to attend.

That is definitely the way to go. If you had a set number of people allowed to enter some of the slower riders would get in before the faster riders. This is nationals we are talking about! You should have to qualify for nationals through the state series.

 

[kezzaM]

Wouldn't it be better if each state had a qualifying series, so top 5 or 10 of each state class made the main event. Then having the next five best riders able to slot in if riders were unable to attend.

I think this would attract coverage, sponsors and the best closest racing.

Off the topic a little is there a reason why Thredbo, Perisher Valley, Mt Buller could have a UCI approved world cup downhill track.

Agreed.

Perisher Valley has a downhill track?

 

[peanut]

Off the topic a little is there a reason why Thredbo, Perisher Valley, Mt Buller could have a UCI approved world cup downhill track.

2 main issues
1st is snow, the WC series takes place in the northern hemisphere summer. I think the latest date for WC event is early september, even then there's usually still too much snow on the above area's to use them.
2nd the World champs has a distance stipulation, i.e must be within 3 hrs of an international airport. I don't know if that applies to a WC round though, but see issue No.1.

As far as building a WC standard track, buller would be the best bet. I believe it's privately owned so no substancial land issues when compared with thredbo/perisher, which is in a national Park.

I know world trail are actually building Xc trails there ( buller) at the moment and are due to start new downhill trails next summer.

 

[GT. so-cal for crack]

That is definitely the way to go. If you had a set number of people allowed to enter some of the slower riders would get in before the faster riders. This is nationals we are talking about! You should have to qualify for nationals through the state series.

I'm sorry but I don't think that'll work. Restricting the riders by qualifying is going to stop spectators from attending (most spectators are competitors too) and no outside sponsor or media network is going to give the race any attention if there isn't a large spectator contingent lining the track. We only had 400ish riders last year, we could handle more, we need to work to find what people who want to attend want out of the event. Unfortunately the nationals aren't really that special (it would be great if they were), they aren't a WC, there is prestige in winning but cutting people from attending because they won't win isn't going to enhance the prestige of the event. In my opinion the more people who want to come the better it will be and the more attention it will receive.

 

[...jim]

I'm sorry but I don't think that'll work. Restricting the riders by qualifying is going to stop spectators from attending (most spectators are competitors too) and no outside sponsor or media network is going to give the race any attention if there isn't a large spectator contingent lining the track.

SBS have covered the Nationals with an hour long hiughlights program for at least the last five years - and you may have noticed that Toyota were the naming rights sponsor this year....

Yes, there needs to be more spectators - but that's done through marketing and promotion - not increased competitor numbers. Lets say the max number of competitors is 2000 (there was around 1000 last year) - that's only about 1500 trackside - say 3000 with parents/etc. Not enough. Hell, the Scott does that in participants.

The two best partronised events in Australia were the Olympic and the Commonwealth Games XC races - because they were an accessible part of the BIG EXPIERENCE - ie: promoted.

Really, your growth is outside mountain biking - average sports-goers - and they don't care who wins the u17s, nor who comes 10th in the Elites. They want to go for the theatre and to see the stars (not that we really have any at the moment...Cadel would count - Sam's hardly a household word here)

I would be hopeful that the WC/Worlds promo/sponsorship pulls 'normal' people to the venue and helps the sport further onto the back page - and hence the '10 Nats sees bigger spectator numbers.

 

[alchemist]

and you may have noticed that Toyota were the naming rights sponsor this year....

Only if you listened to the commentary, the signage around the venue was dominated by Shimano, then Maxxis.

 

[...jim]

The point's not that the signage was right or wrong - though I was kinda expecting some cars and such like at the Scott. The point is more that an out-of-industry sponsors was involved - and it's pretty much a cert that they'd be much more interested in getting on the TV than on the fence.

 

[thecat]

Yes, there needs to be more spectators - but that's done through marketing and promotion -

Something we've been spectacularly crap at.

How many people outside the mtb community (or more to the point the MTB race community) knew the champs were on?

How do we reach those people and make them want to come and watch?

I know for our last Nats round and state round we promoted the crap out of it locally and got a good local crowd of non MTBers out experience their first taste of MTB. From that we got a lot of kids and parents keen on the sport, but local promotion is fairly easy in a small town so how do we do that on a larger scale in major centers?

I know I've been to state rounds where unless you had printed the directions and plotted the gps point you would not have known anything was happening and couldn't find the venue even if you did.

So how to we sell ourselves and will there ever come a time when people would pay to spectate?

 

[Jacques]

I think that sport and expert have to be cut from the Championships (both state and national). I know they're the back bone of MTB racing and bring in lots of useful money but how can you be National Champion of B grade?

Fewer, better riders would also help with promotion to non-competitors. "See the best from each state" sounds better than see whoever has decided to front up and pay the rego.

It might be that the qualifying series has to somehow subsidise the national champs if the money can't be made up from sponsors.

 

[scud]

<<<<<<< Disclamer >>>>>>​

Ive Got a feeling that some of the things im about to say will P%$ some people off, sorry my bad! This is not an intentinl dig at anyone Honest. (A feeling is the first complants will be about spelling and gramer.

<<<<<<< END Disclamer >>>>>>>​

Ok so here is my feelings on the scene. Ive just read this thread and the concepts of "Qualifying" to paticipate in the nats.I feel if the sport grows this will be nesasery. But what about the dollers?? thecat I thing you are onto something with the 2 course structure for the national camps... love it. The Pro course an be of a higher level, and the support event course can be made as a purely fun course. Its safty from meny points of view!

As far as growth, sponcorship and public awarness of the sport is concerned there are a lot of facors i feel that would need to change before $$$ became avalible to host events like the nats (other than entry fees).

- External sponsorship: at the end of the day this is the dollers. Race sunday sell monday. A sponcor will come about form two paths 1) the business to make money or 2) the owner likes MTB. The ones that we need are catogory 1 (but always appreciate the 2). Looking back on the days of Grundi WC, Volvo Canandale, and VW Trek (as mentioned above post) when a big sponcors pulls the plug other sponsors get cold feet and follow suite (I feel the pulling out of Red Bull from Jindybine was a bad step back). So onec we have them on side we need to keep them happy. The most important thing is that the sponsor has to make the dollers thay spend on supporting MTB, their costs then make a profit. No profit no sponsor.

-Growth (spectators): this I feel is also sponsor driven because is again the sponsors dollers are used if you want the air or poster time to get the name to the masses. Newtons playground in Bathurst will be interesting as it has been promoted very well I think. More spectators the more participants, Growth all round. Of course the sport will keep to its current coures of growth with out exposure on such a scale until/ if it gets to a large scale.

-Public Awarness: This is a comination of pomotion, media and word of mouth. Why isnt Sam or Rennie household names? A: when i tell people about the sport i do I usualy start with its like MX with out the motor and down large hills. Nuf said. I feel that the sport isnt attractive on a count of the general image of the sport. We have lost big name sponcors hard to get back. You look on pay tv most mtb show feature riders that dont portray them self as porfesional. Golf, Tennis, Motor GP,V8 etc. All of them come accross as profesional sports due to the way the players, drivers, riders are presented. In the big $ world its all about image as image is a product. You pay dollers for Nike because of the image not because that is the actual value of the product. Drink V ... Its Cool ..etc. These names are attached to icons, Nike = Tiger Woods. (apologies for the next part) But we have all heard rumors of any given race after party involving MTB riders. To us its funny, cool etc. But imagin the media if Tiger Woods did these things!! Not a good thing for Nike. Basicaly what i feel is the current MTB scene isnt big enought for external sponcor to be very atracted to us (sales wise ie target market mtb riders) and I feel we lack the profesional image to be sold to to the public in the masses. Just look at the Special Features Of the first Drift .... fun but some bad images for large sopncors.

To sum up this mini essay this sport needs to develop more. Get better profitable organisations for event hosting (there are some and I think thay are dong great and are the way to go for large events) But mostly I feel the sport needs a good clean up image wise before progress is to be made at a large scale. Live event coverage is a hidious expence .. believe me I know. Ill be curious if the Aus WC gets broard casted live in this country or if it gets "up linked" straight Over Seas But would love to see the sport get to the point of comon live TV spots here in OZ!!

Sorry if i bore you to sleep and i look forward to hearing my thoughts be proven wrong!

PS Go TOYOTA for the nat sponsorship!!!

 

[Le Matelot]

National Champs Photos

A few of the DHI Elite Men towards the end of this multi-discipline album

 

[Grebbo]

"How do we reach those people....."

Something we've been spectacularly crap at.

How many people outside the mtb community (or more to the point the MTB race community) knew the champs were on?

How do we reach those people and make them want to come and watch?QUOTE]

Make it a great event! Put on things that will attract other people to the show, and you never know, they might get interested. I was there and generally had fun, plenty of runs, found it well organised (ant hill constraints duely noted), hung out with mates, talked shit, drank beer etc etc etc.

But what a fizzer of an event. It simply ended in a wimper (apart from Chooks nude run through the pub that got everyone kicked out). Unless you were an enthusiest, why would you go? There were 30,000 punters attending an Aust day concert on the Saturday, most of which probably had nothing to do for the rest of the weekend. Why not put on some entertainment, an after presentation bash, whatever. Give the punters a reason to come and check it out. Tickets would include viewing the race plus after race show. Race fees would include entry to after race show. And not only might you attract more people, you may make more money, attract other sponsors etc etc etc.

It's not realistic to think Joe Blow will suddenly find MTBing interesting and come along to check it out.

 

[morgs]

Quite, but it's a big step from running a Nationals to putting on the type of show that you mention. Clubs do the running of the event and it's a stretch to achieve just that. Maybe combining with other events can achieve this?

However, it might work somewhere like Canberra or Hobart with a decent population base and MTB venues nearby, but what about if Nationals is at Eildon or Beauty or the like? Unless you coincide Nationals with something like the Falls Festival it'd never be viable. What we do is generally out in the bush and nationals has to be somewhere where all the events can happen and that makes for a pretty small list of places.