thecat
NSWMTB, Central Tableland MBC
Distance from major airports and hospitals is a factor.
Worlds Down Hill HAs Ditched Us Canberrans!
- Thread starter Chris DH
- Start date
And that is the reason we've seen a lot of events in the past in areas that can offer good transport resources, good accommodation and good facilities while the track has sucked.
I have often said myself "Man, you have got some pretty decent things to offer in Coffs Harbour for a big event". You know what stops me from putting in and having a big go at it? Money, time and resources. If you haven't got a good amount of that stuff you'll never get anything more than what you already have. What we have in Coffs is awesome (the downhill club days are rad) but we could do much more.
Of all the places in Australia to host a world cup round I would say Canberra is the best place. Either that or use one of the great tracks close enough to Melbourne.
Coffs Harbour world cup round...............has a kind of cool ring to it.
Dene Dweller
Likes Dirt
I completely understand what the UCI have done with this years schedule. With the worlds economic woes and sponsors pulling back on money it was a sensible (though unfortunate move) to reduce the racing season to the northern hemisphere to minimise the cost to the teams.
Regarding the GFC who would have thought Subaru would withdraw from the WRC?
Hopefully we get another crack at it in the future but as stated it's more than just the track that is considered for an event like that (hospitals, accomodation, airport).
In Adelaide if only we could cut a track from Mt Lofty, 500m elevation to work with which is more than ample for a WC DH course, I'll now stare out my window and keep day dreaming
Regarding the GFC who would have thought Subaru would withdraw from the WRC?
Hopefully we get another crack at it in the future but as stated it's more than just the track that is considered for an event like that (hospitals, accomodation, airport).
In Adelaide if only we could cut a track from Mt Lofty, 500m elevation to work with which is more than ample for a WC DH course, I'll now stare out my window and keep day dreaming
T-Rex
Template denier
To say nothing of rounding up enough volunteers to make the actual event run. Having marshalled at both the World Cup and World Champs I was surprised at the number of local Canberrans who volunteered and had no previous exposure to mountain biking. Getting that many people in a location such as Thredbo would be an interesting challenge.
Bucket Master
Canberra Off-Road Cyclists
And in addition to all the other points above and in the many previous threads the fact that Thredbo has the potential for snow when these guys want to run their races...summer time in Europe mean winter time Australia...
Anyway the main reason for the condensed season this year (with only Europe and North America) is the GFC and the reduction n sponsorship (Nissan wont be sponsoring this year). No major sponsor mean no travelling side show, mean nothing outside of Europe. The only reason that North America gets a gig is due to the Worlds being in Canada.
For the future I would think that there might/could/will be two to three southern hemisphere rounds in NZ, AUS and SA. These would be either the first or last races of the year
my 2c anyway
Anyway the main reason for the condensed season this year (with only Europe and North America) is the GFC and the reduction n sponsorship (Nissan wont be sponsoring this year). No major sponsor mean no travelling side show, mean nothing outside of Europe. The only reason that North America gets a gig is due to the Worlds being in Canada.
For the future I would think that there might/could/will be two to three southern hemisphere rounds in NZ, AUS and SA. These would be either the first or last races of the year
my 2c anyway
ajay
^Once punched Jeff Kennett. Don't pick an e-fight
What, and come 3rd again?
Bucket Master
Canberra Off-Road Cyclists
Cairns was a wicked venue in 1995 (and of course 1996), it just didn't kick on from the worlds. For a WC round you need money (often from government), private $s and a strong volunteer base (club, locals etc)
The way I see it there needs to be at least two rounds in the region (Asia, Australia, New Zealand) to get the riders and teams here (it is a long way to and from Europe and North America)
Re the size of the Stromlo track it has all been said before, it is not the biggest however the way I look at stromlo is that it is a precision hill. I could draw a similarity to a motor sport, one wrong pedal stroke (or corner) is the difference between top of the podium and not. Racing at Stromlo brought the closest finish on the podium ever, I think that makes for good racing. The top 5 riders last year in the world cup were the same top 5 at the world champs, so the cream of the crop still rose to the top (perhaps the top of Stromlo is not quite as high
).
Dene Dweller
Likes Dirt
Completely agree. Also we all need to remember that although the DH discipline is the most exciting to watch there is XC (huge following), and I'm sure the XC track at Stromlo would have been world class.Snip
Re the size of the Stromlo track it has all been said before, it is not the biggest however the way I look at stromlo is that it is a precision hill. I could draw a similarity to a motor sport, one wrong pedal stroke (or corner) is the difference between top of the podium and not. Racing at Stromlo brought the closest finish on the podium ever, I think that makes for good racing. The top 5 riders last year in the world cup were the same top 5 at the world champs, so the cream of the crop still rose to the top (perhaps the top of Stromlo is not quite as high
Besides we've got Freecaster to watch the DH finals, what other world sport has a piss funny commentator with the main event broadcast live for free, long live Freecaster.
.:ROBBO:.
Likes Dirt
Ive never been down that way riding so really have no idea what im talking about here. But why are there no DH/XC tracks at Hotham? Is it not as high as Thredbo? Is it to far from anywhere to get the support to build DH/XC tracks. Just seams to me to be about as good a place as you would get in Aus to hold a World Class event concidering they have there own airport near by and heaps of accomodation on the top of the mountain. As well as chair lifts.
.:ROBBO:.
Likes Dirt
Hotham have their own Airport. http://www.mthotham.com.au/travel/air/hothamairport.asp
S.
ex offender
Yeah, 1.6 seconds back, in the pissing rain when nobody else in the wet got within a MINUTE of the winning time, with a crash... and his qualifying time was still 10 seconds faster than the winning time.
Shame he didn't win, but he did dominate.
Morgan123
Likes Dirt
Wow, didn't know about that. Although a 23kg luggage limit is probably a little low for most MTB'ers...
.:ROBBO:.
Likes Dirt
Im pretty sure its just excess after that. Im sure i would have been over that when i flew down a few years ago to ski.
ajay
^Once punched Jeff Kennett. Don't pick an e-fight
He came 3rd, STFU.
He went flat out in his qualy run, while everyone else went conservative.
Its widely known the clocks were faulty on the day of the finals, but the UCI wont publically admit it, for fear of dimishing their flawless reputation. Sam's "time" also created a lot of interest in the sport - which the UCI obviously wants! Get with the program man...
Well he may have been going flat out in his qualifying run but he looked pretty crusie. Either way you still have to hand it to him for putting 14 seconds on 2nd place and making it down the hill going flat out (or crusie) it seemed as though everyone else was only going "conservative" becasue they could barely make it down the hill
This speculation will only make this round more interesting
nic1894
Likes Bikes and Dirt
you cant deny sam hill as being an awesome rider where ever he goes he always puts up a great time weather its his race run or not the fact that champery was a longer course and suited his riding style perfectly makes it pretty believable what he pulled off......
edit: sorry for hi-jacking the thread just had to say it