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  • 2012 Olympic Mountain Biking Update
  • case
    Free Member

    Bit of a long post so apologies in advance.

    Essex County Council are holding consultation meetings on the 2012 Olympic Mountain Biking event. There was one last night which I went to and there is another one this morning.

    The meeting was chaired by the head of the quango which has been set up to look after the legacy of the event and manage it from a local perspective. His major qualification seems to be that he runs a shoe shop.

    Anyway, various people were there from Castle Point and Southend Councils, Essex County Council, the Olympics authorities, Police and the Salvation Army. The event was pretty well attended I’d guestimate 100 people were there. Mainly local residents, and mainly over 50. Their major concern last nights, as at the last meeting, was parking, the number of spectators, security, traffic, road access, oh and parking again.

    A few interesting bits of information came out of the meeting though.

    The guy from Essex County Council acknowledged that the County Park where the event is to be held is already heavily used by mountain bikers but that he considers there to be a big problem with user conflict on the trails and wants to use the Olympics course as a way of moving mountain bikers away from the trails they are currently using (although he did acknowledge that they legally can’t stop people using the current trails).

    The majority of the actual event will be held on farmland owned by the Salvation Army next to the Country Park not in the Park itself. The long-term plan is that Essex County Council will lease this land from the Salvation Army and manage it on an ongoing basis including managing the mountain biking facilities. They are planning to start building the course in 2010 and to hold a trial event in 2011 before the full event in 2012. They said that they then hope to use the course to hold one event per year after that.

    The course is going to be about 5km and will be predominantly singletrack. They hope to build a skills area as well and the major focus of the legacy use of the course will be geared towards families, school groups and novices.

    There are plans to legalise the cycle route along the sea front to the Country Park and the legacy facilities from both Leigh on Sea and Benfleet (currently heavily, but illegally, used by cyclists).

    In the legacy subgroup after the main meeting I raised that point that for most mountain bikers a 5km course isn’t particularly long and asked whether there were any plans to try and tie the legacy facilities into the existing trail network both inside the county park and outside (Shipwrights Wood, Belfairs, West Wood for locals) so that a longer loop could be put together but I didn’t get much of a response.

    I know a few people from here went to the last meetings. Did anyone else go along to these ones? Also there was some mention of a mountain biking group they have been consulting. Is anyone part of this or know who is?

    njee20
    Free Member

    5km isn’t that short for a World class XC circuit, bear in mind Elite men will often do 7-8 laps with a longer start loop.

    They need to be careful with having too much singletrack, there needs to be places to drink/pass, but one would assume they’ve got someone who knows what they’re doing!

    mAx_hEadSet
    Full Member

    Mm racing around farmland .. reminds me of the Flanders MTB Cup, I am sorry but I cant help think the Olympic MTB other than for a handful of Essex riders will be just another example of the appalling waste of opportunity that 2012 will deliver. It’s already evident in the amount of Sports Council cut backs occurring everywhere else around the UK is paying for it as money is clawed back to pay for the ‘overspend’. Everyone talks about legacy.. in Wales to justify the waste of money that is being pumped by the assembly into the Ryder Cup they were going to give a deprived area of Rhyl a Golf Driving Range, luckily the council decided not to stump up its share and now the land is set aside to become a bmx track.

    I know the die was cast when Essex decided to help come in and fund the London bid in return for cherry picking a few events and this point has no doubt been done to death here already. It’s a shame the organisers did not bite the bullet and locate a more challenging venue in the Home Counties that was close enough to London and after the event may have provided a more useful facility to promote and develop mountain biking in the south east as a regional facility rather than develop a few molehills that might amuse the kids, 100 in attendance at a meeting run by a shoe shop owner hardly makes you think Essex people are gagging for the event either.

    2012 should have gone to Madrid and I hope the IOC see sense and give it to them for 2016, the vast Casa de Campo Park, right at the edge of the city centre, at least has held some of the most well attended MTB XC World Cups ever and the Spanish know the true value of adequately funding sports as a social facility and right of the people

    case
    Free Member

    Yes, as I understand it 5KM is fine for the race distance.

    What I was trying to establish at the meeting last night was whether this is going to be the total length of trails left after the event or whether they plan to try and tie this 5km course into the existing trail network so that it can form part of a longer loop.

    mAx_hEadSet
    Full Member

    PS the group they are consulting includes / included Tony Williams from Essex, who posts here sometimes, however he has now got a job with the Olympic Delivering Body running computer security so I do not know if he is still in there

    Richyb
    Free Member

    Its gonna be embarrassing, why on earth have it in essex, with the amount of good natural trails in the country.

    It should be in Wales or in the peak.

    Drac
    Full Member

    It should be in Wales or in the peak.

    Or in the Scotland, Lakes or Northumberland anywhere that has proper hills really.

    mrmo
    Free Member

    It was a done deal, saying it should have gone to x or y is irrelevant. Recently thinking about this and scotland or wales would probably make no better a course than could be found closer to London. If there was a Olympic Downhill or Enduro then it would make sense. But when the lap is c5km those locations would offer little benefit.

    Not saying Essex is the right place, just that Chilterns, Downs, Cotswolds etc would be as far as you would need to go to get a challenging course.

    njee20
    Free Member

    I was gonna say that, they’re probably all too remote as well, you’d end up with a long fireroad climb and a single descent, not multiple little climbs, which actually makes for far better racing for both the riders and the spectators.

    They also want a ‘cloverleaf’ type course which comes back on itself multiple times, again better for spectators, and allows multiple feedzones potentially.

    It’s a shame they couldn’t use Swinley forest, they could’ve made an excellent course in there.

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    it will be rubbish. it will be done by a committee of jobsworths with no real interest in the results from a riders point of view.
    as long as the ‘authorities’ deem it a success everyone will be happy (apart from the people who ride it).
    the same thing is happening with the shooting. they are spending millions on a temporary facility at woolich when the existing historic shooting ground at Bisley is ideal and would benefit from a fraction of the money to upgrade a few things. it’s a farce.
    smug c*nts in suits smiling a lot while the waffle some bullsh*te, this country is rife with them, they all seem to be on ‘organising committees’.

    njee20
    Free Member

    There’s more to it with the shooting than that, Bisley put forward a very strong case, but there are a number of reasons it was rejected, the ODA and LOCOG are well aware Woolwich Barracks is far from ideal.

    Travis
    Full Member

    I believe the course designer is the same guy that did Beijings’, and that was a gnarly course. Max height of that one was some 110m, but on the course itself had some nasty climbs, and throw in a few large rocks, made for some good descending as well.

    taxi25
    Free Member

    I’m pretty sure they’ll sort out a pretty good 5k course with the land available.Even though I live in S.Wales there’s no need for big mountains etc to make for a good event.The compact cloverleaf design njee20 described would make for a good spectator friendly course.
    But I share the worries of the OP,with such a compact site there isn’t going to be any meaningfull legacy.I wonder if its worth even thinking about one,I’m going to go and watch,hopefully have a great day and leave it at that.

    Eldrik
    Free Member

    As I understand it, the main legacy from 2012 in MTB terms will be the permanent MTB XC course at the main Games site, which will run around the velodrome and under the A12, and act as a replacement for the old Eastway venue.

    There will also be a legacy MTB XC facility at Hog Hill with Redbridge Borough Council looking after the permament course there, I’m pretty certain.

    Let’s hope there’s one in Essex too, mind you.

    Ingatestonian
    Free Member

    Ah… I stay away from STW for months, then when I head back I see I’ve been named in a forum posting really recently! 🙂

    My job has been mentioned, so I will just point out that I’m limited in what I can say… they’re my employer and all that. Obviously nothing here is endorsed by them.

    I can say however that I am not, and never have been on the consultative group for Hadleigh Castle. I have tried to make a bit of a pain of myself in the past to push Essex and LOCOG into doing the best possible for mountain bikers, but I’ve never been in their formal group or committee. I just turn up to the public meetings like everyone else, and occasionally email people.

    I went to both the meetings at the weekend – legacy group on Friday night, then sustainability group on Saturday morning. I think I was sitting next to Case on Friday. The Saturday environment lobby were united in their total opposition to mountain biking at all – or even any additional people visiting *their* park.

    I *was* however on the consultative group for the permanent MTB at Stratford (which went from rubbish to looking really quite good) and also for Hog Hill. That was all before I changed jobs: I’m not officially involved in either Hog Hill or Stratford any longer (due to conflict of interest potential), although I continue to pursue other off-road centre opportunities in the south east that are unrelated to the Olympics.

    As to other points:

    – 5km is now the standard lap length – better for spectators according to the UCI. I think the 9km+ lap length at Fort Bill was one of the things that counted against it for XC.

    – The meetings on Hadleigh were local meetings, and therefore were mostly filled with local people with very local issues like traffic and parking.

    Travis
    Full Member

    I really do hope that the course and trails can be used after the Olympics. I was on the Beijing course this morning, and some parts of the track has been paved to encourage walkers into the area… it’s a shame.. 😥

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Did anybody from british cycling attend?

    case
    Free Member

    There was someone there who is a cycle trainer for British Cycling although I’m not sure whether he was there in any official capacity.

    tinsy
    Free Member

    From the previous meetings, my understanding was that they were leaving 5k of the loop but the race lap itself was a lot longer than that?

    I didnt mange to get to the last 2 meetings, but from the first round of them it was quite clear those involved had been to Fort William and a few trail centres, but hadnt been to a small self contained riding area like Chicksands or Aston Hill, or the Summit MTB course in Lotts Wood, the race itself should be OK in Hadleigh (I have been throught this argument a lot of times) but its the legacy thats wound me up, or more importantly the lack of it for MTB’s 5k of family oriented trail isnt really what I was hoping would be left, we already have miles and miles of family suitable trail networks in the area.

    Did they have any drawings or presentations on the skills area?

    qwerty
    Free Member

    a mtb race in Essex …… can i bring my CX bike then?

    Marge
    Free Member

    Is this now cyclo-cross?
    For sure cyclo-cross is great for spectators (at least it is here in Flanders) but is this MTB?

    case
    Free Member

    No. No drawings or plans of the skills area or of the actual circuit yet.

    tinsy
    Free Member

    Sounds like he meetings were pretty much the same as last time taken up with locals worrying about trivial stuff, its only there for one flippin weekend, yes there will be a little disruption but they will be over compentsated for that in my opinion, if it bothers them they should just go away for the weekend.

    The immediate locals are getting, new laid roads, drainage, and a host of other benefits, that will all cause way more disruption than the event itself.

    They were talking about a permanent building by the course of some kind, wich sounded a bit overkill for 5k of trail.

    I dont mean to sound negative, and am actually looking forward to the event itself and watching the racing.

    case
    Free Member

    I think the new permanent building is going to be a visitors centre to serve the whole of the Country Park, part of which might be used as a bike hire centre/cafe . They did say that this might not be built in time fro the Olympics and could follow on afterwards.

    Brownbacks
    Free Member

    To get a legacy and an input you need to organise, that’s what the Eastway crew did too ensure the legacy was not an inappropriate afterthought.

    Personnally with someone building a race course I’d see it as an ideal opportunity to set up a grass roots race series. This gets you recognised as serious and an input (but don’t expect to be listened to all the time) and the ability to demonstrate that investment can be repaid with use.

    We have managed it up here in a very tough enviroment, purpose built in leafy Essex should be a doddle

    http://www.brownbacksracing.co.uk

    don’t expect someone to do it for you, if you care, mobilise!

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    5km loop in the peaks……………….

    op stanage causeway and down the packhorse, sprint back allong the road and repeat.

    7-8 laps of that and you’d be dead, i know someone managed 3 once, he didnt look to healthy afterwards.

    tinsy
    Free Member

    Brownbacks your absolutely right on that, but there isnt even a local MTB club as of yet, I fear its all too little, too late already, your club looks ace.
    I mentioned Summit MTB already on this thread, if we already had a race series and juniors skills training days a club etc as they have, and looks like you have all in place, we would be something to be rekoned with in the area, but right now its a just been a few moutainbikers turning up and listening to the local residents worry about parking and how much the 2 days of racing will affect their weekend.

    Case, are you in any way linked to a club?

    case
    Free Member

    Nope. I’m not a member of any clubs.

    One of the guys I work with is a member of Southend Wheelers (roadie club) and I think he said they had been approached by the County Council on this. I’ll try and grab him later and see if anything happened on that front.

    Brownbacks
    Free Member

    we are 6 blokes who decided to do something, we are not a “club” in the normal sense

    Hit the North are similar and run excellent events

    why can’t you do the same?

    as for the locals, they have every right to be worried but talking to them always makes thing easier, there are too many bad stories about the impact on the locals of the olympics without adequate consultation.

    The Eastway team went through a lot to get what they did. Try contacting them.

    Don’t rely on BC to do anything, because they won’t. Co-ordinating does not mean “doing”.

    Ingatestonian
    Free Member

    “Did anybody from British Cycling attend?”

    No. Apparently they weren’t invited or informed that the meetings were taking place.

    To be fair, the intention of these meetings has been to consult with and inform local residents.

    retro83
    Free Member

    The guy from Essex County Council acknowledged that the County Park where the event is to be held is already heavily used by mountain bikers but that he considers there to be a big problem with user conflict on the trails and wants to use the Olympics course as a way of moving mountain bikers away from the trails they are currently using (although he did acknowledge that they legally can’t stop people using the current trails).

    They hope to build a skills area as well and the major focus of the legacy use of the course will be geared towards families, school groups and novices.

    Is there to be any consultation about the legacy use of the course or is this decided?
    I don’t really think that a family orientated area will remove mountain bikers from the other trails.

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