More interesting results in there. Fantastic to see the Elite Women getting such good numbers. Hopefully that continues for Nelson and then the NI Cups too

A DAMN shame to see 3 guys racing Elite though

Monolith wrote:A DAMN shame to see 3 guys racing Elite though

Yes, that is a shame - a shame for the competitors who don't have many people to compete against and a shame for the organisers who put many hours in to preparing for the event - you have to do the same amount of work irrespective of how many entries you get.

I'm sure the whole series topic was discussed with riders at meetings in 2008 but as far as I can tell, the series is pretty much the same as it always has been. Is there scope to have fewer events with more concentrated numbers of riders - I'm sure from MTBNZ perspective it would help with the finances - getting more bang for your buck.

Or if BikeNZ were a little more onto it they might think about piggybacking existing events that already get great numbers - like what they did with the Highlander last year in vegas (Doubled as the NZ Marathon Champs) and Karapoti this year (Again, NZ Marathon Champs - even though it's only 48km....).

There's no reason races like the Crater Rim Classic (or any others down south) couldn't be added as SI Cup events, both to make organisation easier and to try and get decent competitor numbers and mix it up for racers with some awesome single lap racing.

Maybe next year?

XCwife wrote:

Monolith wrote:A DAMN shame to see 3 guys racing Elite though

Yes, that is a shame - a shame for the competitors who don't have many people to compete against and a shame for the organisers who put many hours in to preparing for the event - you have to do the same amount of work irrespective of how many entries you get.

I'm sure the whole series topic was discussed with riders at meetings in 2008 but as far as I can tell, the series is pretty much the same as it always has been. Is there scope to have fewer events with more concentrated numbers of riders - I'm sure from MTBNZ perspective it would help with the finances - getting more bang for your buck.

Awesome to see such a good elite womens field.
And never mind Bushlove will help swell the ranks of elite in the northisland races with our ginger ninga BGA, special Ed smashface Crossling, and of course the fattest pro-elite rider in the world Mono.

I think the problem is that most of the XC racers live in the Elite racers live in the north island, as has been mentioned before. Also with the uncertainity of the races, and dates not being released until very very late, people had to commit to plans, and if dates and locations weren't available, then other plans were made.

3 elite

The MTBNZ elite selection panel are very hard to deal with they have no idea on racing.

Trust me i no

It's a real shame that mtb seem's to be heading backwards again,MTBNZ,

There are alot of good mtb'ers & good race's in the south island,there must be some reason why the rider's are'nt doing the south island cup's.

There is no point to doing all the races if you are chasing selection. The selection panel have identified priority 1 races and that is what guides those wanting national selection. expect a few more at Nelson, but not many more. With Rotorua, Nationals, Oceania and Overseas races there is more than enough racing identified to get selected if good enough.

The MTB "high performance" team have identified that we need more multi lap, technical racing to get to the world level. Not sure I agree but its what we we are working with.

John Lee
Waiariki MTB Squad Coach.

60 racers is pretty shite considering the amount of work and manpower we put into it, then again it's not like we were expecting much more. It made for a good test run for Oceanias though.

For me the real value in holding these events is the galvanizing effect it has on the local MTB community, trails get buffed, people start working together and many happy vibes abound. For me the racing is a happy side-effect, we could have had just a dozen people and I still would have been stoked.




As an aside, the only people that give a shit about XC Nats these days seem to be the so-called 'elite' of New Zealand mountain-biking, and they can't be arsed trapsing up and down the country supporting events anyway. Like John has said, it's just not a priority.

So with that in mind, isn't the notion of having a series of national XC races ctaering to such a small group of people retarded?..

Just a thought.

Only three elite wow, we need to sort out this series as we do have plenty of juniors coming up in the ranks and the way we are going we will have no national series for them to race in.
I think a few thing few things have happen this year with date taking so long to get out people have decide to plan for other things and if your like me you may need to save money up do these type of events.
i believe it like $65 dollars to enter on the day and with mtbnz licence plus with travelling 3 sth island events could costly easily in the range of $500 -750 dollars this would turn people off i know it did for me im not elite and to go and ride with a few others as it has always been in senior and masters its just not worth it.
i have heard that it was difficult for guys to deal with mtbnz to get in elite what with this.( mtbnz your done yourselves proud on this one) better to have these guys riding than not at all, if the guys are not good enough he will soon no it .
i do agreed with John that there is alot more elites in the north so heres hoping there numbers are good. piggyback event is a good idea last year timaru had a great course and with vucaniser and living spring there's is great races already planned. And to stop the dificulties only the elites would enter with mtbnz and race under those rules and the rest of the riders would enter as per a normal mtb race i believe this could get the numbers backs.

As the winner of the last two rounds I feel there needs to be huge changes in the series. I think the North South Island Cups should be stopped and run a 4 race series but have them 2 weeks apart so people can go home work save and cruise off to the next race. As a full time worker I found it easier to do the South Island rounds (and fly in and out on saturday sunday) over the north because flight times didnt plus driving from Wellington up north is a big journey especially doing that for 3 weekends in a row.
The races should also be combined with local events because there isnt enough riders to justify the NZ Cup Series of 6 races( a separte series) . Also prize money seems to be quite good in local events with $500 to $1000 for the win, people want something back for what they pay to get to the races, travel for a series costs over a grand and more so if MTB NZ cant get prize money then the series will die. Plus local events get you better exposure because they get in magazines etc which doesnt seem to happen for the N/S Island series races.
Australia and England plus Switzerland have their National series races 2 to 4 weeks apart over a 6 month period. I think this is the way NZ should have it also, 6 weeks of racing doesnt prove a "NZ Cup Winner", Road Cycling has the National Points series over a whole year not 6 weeks, why isnt MTB the same?? We need to bring back UCI Points also, why did they go??

UCI Points and Prize Money are the two key things to bring our Elite racing back to life.

Also to make our races faster the races need to be 2hrs or less for the winner not 2hr 15min, World Cups sometimes are under 2hrs and Swiss Cups were sometimes down at 1hr45mins with courses as short as 3.5km for a lap. Better for specators too.

good idea's Brendon! totally agreed with you . if you can win $5oo dollar from events like longbeach(great family event ) that had great numbers and plenty of elite riders over the years then mtbnz should have good prize money on offer for these boys and girls to race for.

There will defently be more in Nelson this sat in Elite men (has there been worse than 3? - including the UN23). How could one miss the only race with a party and loud stereo at the top of a hill . I will be there and some Waiariki lads will be also, since there training camp has been caned. Im not chasing the priority races just the easy to get to races with fun, relaxing trips the main goal. Was saving the Dunedin trip for Oceania's.
Keep up the short 15 to 30 min laps, and we all apreceate the hard work of a few.
Nice ride's Brendon hope you start to win some $$ soon. I 2nd ya thoughts.

Seems like all the above posts are on the right idea, i only ever planned to do LS did pre enter but was a bit miffed at having to buy a race licence for one race which to me was just another XC race - only riders who are expressing an interest in a team U17/19/23 etc should need licence (and even then why do you need one at a selection event? you get a licence when you get selected)
I think the piggy backing on other well established events is the way to go and yes speread them out some people might like a 3 week rd trip but others have jobs.
the years when they piggybacked with the vulcaniser and Mt Arrowsmith were pretty good.

Why is there so much concern over only 3 elites? Did those 3 really wish there were a lot more racing? What is the point of having 30 also-rans competing when there is only room for 3 on the podium?

Monolith wrote:Or if BikeNZ were a little more onto it they might think about piggybacking existing events that already get great numbers - like what they did with the Highlander last year in vegas (Doubled as the NZ Marathon Champs) and Karapoti this year (Again, NZ Marathon Champs - even though it's only 48km....).

There's no reason races like the Crater Rim Classic (or any others down south) couldn't be added as SI Cup events, both to make organisation easier and to try and get decent competitor numbers and mix it up for racers with some awesome single lap racing.

Maybe next year?

Agree fully. Except.... important to remember it is MTBNZ (not BikeNZ) that owns, organises, and runs the NI/SI Cups, so direct all feedback to them.