National DH Championships - Results

[matthewking]

Shame shame shame

Shame shame shame

Its with disgust that I read lines from people bagging the nationals

I whole lot of people put a considerable amount of there time and effort into running the show. Many of them took at least a week off work in the lead up to the event, many months of work. Most received no payment for the work they put in and all they wanted was to know they where part of a successful event. Stromlo is not a professional venue with chair lifts running all year, lots of private infrastructure largely paying for its self all year round it’s a local bike venue largely run and maintained by a very dedicated bunch of volunteers admittedly having recently been helped a bit by government funds. The fires that took away the vegetation have barely gone cold so its no wonder there’s not much shade yet. Give it a few more years yet and it will be a spectacular venue right next to a city.
There may have been a few problems with the way it was run, it may have been not a cheap advent to ride in( try running one yourself and see who much it costs !!!) but please before anyone else bags it out have a thought to how the people who put so much effort into running a event for you ( not some money raising venture) How would you feel if you had been involved helping to put this on and then logged on here and read some of the comments !!!!.
If you have any constructive things to say turn up at a meeting and volunteer to help out and make things happen, don’t hide behind a chat room and throw mud.

Thank you to all those who put so much into this event

Matthew

 

[Squidly Didly]

... this year's figures are merely a delayed response to last year's race.

I'll pay that.

This is really just a case of if you weren't there, you don't know much about the current state of things at all, because they have changed a LOT.

This isn't a bash but regarding this, maybe next year a little bit more thought regarding promotion could be used - The track sounds like it's been sorted looking at those times that were pulled, but very few people knew about this unless your scoured the forum for the major club round that was ran a while back.

Stromlo has the power of Sam Davies behind them, yet I saw no promo video like last years? Was SD too busy? I don't know but it would've been wise to offer him (or someone else) some coin to do a promo video.

Flyers are another great idea. In case anyone hasn't noticed, we put flyers up on the front page of Farkin that promote races. Many clubs with minimal coin have taken advantage of this "free add" so why wasn't Farkin sent a promotional flyer for this event?

Anyway it sounds like a lot of issues have been ironed out so all the best for the WC round.

 

[CMW]

Wow
I have never actually read through a whole thread (or whatever you call it) on Farkin and after that I will probably never read one again. What a bunch of FARKIN whingers! I did learn a few things though:
The only complaints are coming from people who weren't there!
The costs were the same as any round of the National series give or take $15. If you cant afford an extra $15 bucks you shouldn't being racing anyway!
Sam Hill doesn't like the track he crashed on last year.... anyone is entitled to this line of thought!
Alot of you need spelling lessons, or should at least use spellcheck.
Get off your FARKIN computer and go ride your bike.
I can just about guarantee I will never read any of this crap ever again.

 

[Oliver.]

Matthewking and CMW; "Shame" yeah right. Most of the so called "whingers" on these forums spend many of their free hours maintaining, building and upholding their own trails. Whether it be state, club or illegal trails.

Nobody has ever mentioned anything about a lack of effort. CORC have put a huge amount of time and resources into Stromlo, not to mention anyone else who has helped I am sure. It's got nothing to do with that; everyone appreciates time, effort and dedication; but we all have a vested interest in making sure its spent well. Seriously, pull your heads out of your asses.

And to consider Sams comment; It just shows how quickly people can act on criticism. If its true that a lot of these issues have been ironed out; it just shows how far a bit of whingeing can go!

 

[BKelly]

Matthewking and CMW; "Shame" yeah right. Most of the so called "whingers" on these forums spend many of their free hours maintaining, building and upholding their own trails. Whether it be state, club or illegal trails.

Nobody has ever mentioned anything about a lack of effort. CORC have put a huge amount of time and resources into Stromlo, not to mention anyone else who has helped I am sure. It's got nothing to do with that; everyone appreciates time, effort and dedication; but we all have a vested interest in making sure its spent well. Seriously, pull your heads out of your asses.

And to consider Sams comment; It just shows how quickly people can act on criticism. If its true that a lot of these issues have been ironed out; it just shows how far a bit of whingeing can go![/QUOTE)

Well said, and if it wasn't for the "whingers" no one would feel there was any need to improve the next race! Seriously would you rather people whinge or just not go at all?

 

[FR Drew]

Most of the whingeing that arose from last years event was noted at the time (a year ago) and dealth with. Why do you think the track was realigned, the shuttle arrangements improved, we got it to rain, areas were provided for free tents etc etc etc?

Tell me, when someone is cooking a dish and they ask you to have a taste while it's in progress, if you offer advice and they amend the recipe to your liking, do you still opt out of dinner based on what it used to taste like?

Seems people want to go once, whinge twice, not go at all the second time and still expect the organisers to give a rats what they think even though when changes were made to accommodate their wishes they decided to not turn up anyhow.

We all know there were issues with the track, dust, shutttles etc last year. Moving on to 2008 people...

If you have valid complaints about this year's event, how it was organised and run that made you want to return or which made you decide not to attend, we'd love to hear them so we can continue to make improvements.

 

[demo man]

You guys are seriously trying to argue that your whinging is meant to help the event organisers?

C'mon, that's just stupid. If you want to help, then help, but don't call whining and publicly criticising an event helping - its not. It makes organisers feel unappreciated and far less motivated to do anything.

They put in months and months of work (in the case of Stromlo, what's happening now is the accumulation of many years of work) and then see people who weren't even at the event bagging them out - I'm sorry, but why would they bother improving an event when people will bitch anyway?

If you want to help, then send an e-mail to the organisers, thanking them, saying good things about the venue/event/race/whatever, and then make your suggestions for improvements. If you really cared you might even offer to help make some of the improvements. If you weren't even there, then shut the fuck up, listen to what the people that were there had to say, and after seeing this, maybe think about saying "wow, maybe I made a wrong judgement. Cool, I look forward to racing next year, when it will no doubt be even betterer!"


Sending a polite e-mail would be no more effort than posting however many times you have in this thread, and your energy would be spent in a much more productive way. This makes me think you don't really want to help - you just want to whinge.

 

[Misplaced]

It seems some people have merged in writing and/or reading the reasons for not going and if you did go, the reasons for not liking it (or liking it). Someone also pointed out that people need to be careful of labelling it a 'shit event' when they are only talking about an experience with one component of it i.e DH.

I went last year and had all the gripes (with DH) that FRDrew pointed out and that, in his opinion have been rectified or improved (Track, shuttle lines, timing, DH facilities) - I therefore commend CORC for taking the feedback on board from last year*

I didnt go this year for a few reasons, in order of importance:

Length of event and split practise
Cost**
Legacy.

For those bagging the event - unless you competed in 2 or more disciplines, I doubt you have the information holistic enough to form an educated opinion. Last year I whinged about the DH element. Last year I also raced expert XC and apart from doing miserably, had a great experience and thought the track and organisation of that was excellent.

Personally I say well done and thanks to yet another group of volunteers helping MTB have formal events. I also say to CORC to replicate their actions from 07-08 in taking on board the feedback, but filter out the '07 was sh1t' rubbish.

As for Sam not going, I have no issue with that as do many others, he has the same freedom of choice as any of us. To those that believe his presence is more important, then by the same token his opinion is more important too...

* To Demo man - By FRDrew comments, the Farkin feedback was instrumental to CORCs improvement of the event this year, so I would be careful of discouraging people from posting as an independant email can seem 'to hard' for some.

** When I say cost I dont just mean entry fee. It seems to have been forgotten that by extending the timetable out, additional Accomodation and living costs are incurred, that plus the expensive nature of flights to Canberra on a national public holiday, making it all up the most expensive event by a considerable margin.

 

[spinner]

** When I say cost I dont just mean entry fee. It seems to have been forgotten that by extending the timetable out, additional Accomodation and living costs are incurred, that plus the expensive nature of flights to Canberra on a national public holiday, making it all up the most expensive event by a considerable margin.

Exactly my reason for not going this year. It all added up to a $600 - $700 trip plus a day off work if I wanted to ride Friday. Thats not the fault of anyone but me for not staying in school longer and having a better paying job so I can do these things !

I wanted to go , last year I got 4th in my class , so I was keen to have a red hot go at a podium this year , but I just couldn't justify the cost. Last year I raced Stromlo but missed Beauty due to the cost of doing both. This year I chose Beauty over Stromlo , based purely on financial reasons. This weekend will set me back roughly $250.

 

[Zuma]

How would you feel if you had been involved helping to put this on and then logged on here and read some of the comments !!!!.

As one such helper I was initially concerned about what I was reading.

Then I realised that a lot of the noise was coming from a relatively small number of folk who appear to have an axe to grind. Justifiably? Maybe, but my care factor zeroed out very quickly.

Some of the noise was coming from people who apparently enjoy trying to make an argument with complete disregard for logic, facts or common sense. These should put their heads back up the arses from whence they came. Over the years you learn to ignore them

The rest was coming from another group who have brought some valuable insight to the table, even if the spelling sukked.

So I'm basically not too fussed about the noise. It was a good event. It was better than last time and hopefully it'll be better next time.

As for Sam. He's a grown-up. Let him make his own decisions. It would be really great to see him at the Nationals but only if he really wants to be there - just like everyone else.

 

[pyley]

hey guys... well i was around stromlo for most of the weekend, and i must say WELL DONE!!!

except for the split practice, split days of racing, cost of racing, $5.50 for a bacon and egg roll and also the fact that you could set up grandstands on the hill but could not provide any cover at all at these locations, i really had fun!!!

the grandstands were really a hit... not sure if jim trail thinks so as we did give him a real hard time while he was trying to film..

i think the split practice was tragic as there was no social aspect
i would have been in c" group and foxy would have been in a" group i think, leaving no possible time to ride with her... THAT SUX!!!

i believe in split practices, BUT, there should have been open practice for an hour or two each day. this gives a rider a chance of not only socialising, BUT, following a faster class of rider and getting a few ideas... ive learnt so much that way..

oh yeah and the track was pretty dead on sunday... guess the lower classes just went home instead of supporting the elites like usual...

BUT WELL DONE AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

 

[Adrian]

Wow
I have never actually read through a whole thread (or whatever you call it) on Farkin and after that I will probably never read one again. What a bunch of FARKIN whingers! I did learn a few things though:
The only complaints are coming from people who weren't there!
The costs were the same as any round of the National series give or take $15. If you cant afford an extra $15 bucks you shouldn't being racing anyway!
Sam Hill doesn't like the track he crashed on last year.... anyone is entitled to this line of thought!
Alot of you need spelling lessons, or should at least use spellcheck.
Get off your FARKIN computer and go ride your bike.
I can just about guarantee I will never read any of this crap ever again.

You're joking right..... No, don't reply, we're not worth it.

 

[Oliver.]

Just to point out a more optimistic perspective:

I just think its a bit narrow minded to think that Stromlo is the only place in Australia people build legal trails.

I guess its a responsibility that we have to take to get on board and accept that Stromlo IS the place that will hold the worlds, and that we should all be encouraging it to grow and progress because of that.

Whingeing may have gone too far in this thread, but its still an invaluable tool in determining why people may not have attended the course over the weekend. I am sure it IS a delayed effect from last time, but a lot of people seem to be talking more about the fundamental issues.

In addition, although it had nothing to do with CORC, a LOT of people were really cheesed off at MTBA pulling the plug on an Awaba clubbie because of the nationals. I think thats the main issue that got a lot of people off-side; and is something MTBA shouldn't have done. As many said in the Awaba thread; the people riding Awaba weren't going to be at Stromlo anyway. It was too expensive, and too far to travel for a lot of people just looking to have fun at an event and be able to get some riding in.

The biggest whinge I had heard was of the two-hour alloted timeslot, and the racing on monday!
Many people saw the Monday as a time to be back home with family, not racing downhill. So I guess its a long-winded way of saying that, although it may have been a delayed effect; fundamentally many people took issue with the current state of the weekend, without the precedent set by the previous round.

Disclaimer: My optimism is weighted by a strong sense of pessimism toward anything in the world except maybe baby sloth pictures

 

[Jared]

I will just add one thing.

The Monday racing was the nail in the coffin for deciding not to go for me.

 

[morgs]

hey guys... well i was around stromlo for most of the weekend, and i must say WELL DONE!!!

except for the split practice, i believe in split practices, BUT, there should have been open practice for an hour or two each day. this gives a rider a chance of not only socialising, BUT, following a faster class of rider and getting a few ideas... ive learnt so much that way..

Now that is a good idea, noted and will be raised.

I don't think that we'll ever be able to get around split practice totally, but if mixed sessions can be done safely it's worth exploring. Bear in mind it's not just the club or MTBA that has final say, at Nationals the UCI has a chief commissaire overseeing proceedings who has to be convinced of the merit of all manner of things.
The A and B line merge was noted as a concern, the G20 drop with various lines was also noted as a potential rider conflict zone and he was also concerned about wind there and at Triple Treat and what we could do to minimize any potential harm coming to people.

The thread here has been a bit heated at times, but if that's an indication of the passion people have for the sport then fine. The feedback is good, I don't think anyone involved thinks it was perfect, there's always room for improvement and no matter what the course is like or how things are run someone will always dislike some aspect of it. Fact of life, but it's a hard balancing act.

 

[Daver]

There's nothing wrong with the track at all (in fact, I enjoy riding there). For me, it's the event that's the problem, nothing more.

 

[BrindiCruiser]

08 Better?

There's nothing wrong with the track at all (in fact, I enjoy riding there). For me, it's the event that's the problem, nothing more.

Just out of curiosity (and I ain't trying to inflame anyone), does reading some of the comments in this thread from people who attended (and organised) the 08 Nationals make you think that the 08 nationals were better than the 07 nationals?

I didn't attend, but it seems that quite a few improvements were made in the 08 Nationals. It also seems that some of the organisers are thinking how to improve things further. However, you still indicate that "it is the event that is the problem".

 

[sammydog]

To be honest, the only thing that would keep me attending the Nats next year is the combination of split practice and the cost.

If it were a two group split, I could live with the cost. No issues there.

With a three group split, no matter what the price it just doesn't stack up for me to make the trip.

It does sound like the shuttle issues from 2007 were sorted. Well I am going on the fact that there was no complaints. I'm sure the complete lack of ques was down to three factors, lower numbers, three practise groups, and more importantly additional transport. But again, even with no queues, the three group practice is enough to put me off.

Regardless of cost or venue, I won't race an XC event at that level. I don't pu enough into my riding to get anything out of XC racing, so I will stick to club XC and selecteed state events. So I guess thats a relection on my riding standard not the event.

None of that is infact a gripe at the overall event. Just one element that makes the whole weekend unappealing for me.

I love stromlo and will be heading down shortly purely to ride, but the three group split thing just kills it for me when it comes to racing the nats.

 

[jc1]

There's nothing wrong with the track at all (in fact, I enjoy riding there). For me, it's the event that's the problem, nothing more.

Such wise words from someone who wasn't even there! The event was no comparison to last year. the track, the shuttles, the shade, the dust. Totally different.

As for the person who commented on no shade on the grandstands. I'm pretty sure they were just trying out something new and different. Let me know about all the other races that have provided stands. I thought that was a brilliant idea.

 

[GTkonaHORSE]

There's nothing wrong with the track at all (in fact, I enjoy riding there). For me, it's the event that's the problem, nothing more.

At least we can allways get a pro opinion from you.Next time you get off your ass and help .You are a dead set oxygen thief.Both 4x and downhill tracks were fun but not up to nats standards at any level this is why numbers were down.
CORC in my opinion will and have run these races like a well oiled machine and i think got the nod from UCI for the world cup + 09 worlds based on there profesional performance and not on the tracks (as i really think they are way too easy for any level above club) and so does uci who have listed changes to be made .
P.s sam please post any working bees as we would love to help .