I was on the Deadgoats forum website, and was reading about some of the MTB races, and ideas that they are having out there. It seems that there are starting to be a few weekends, (Alberta), in more or less the same area, with a Cup style race on Saturday, and an Enduro on Sunday, with points for each for a total prize.
I know that we want better Quality races, but would this type of thing, less travel/more racing, be a very good idea for us in Manitoba? Would it be something your club members would like?
From a travel point of view, as well as enjoying some beverages, and laughs with my fellow riders, in between events, seems to make sense to me, but alas, I could be shooting off in left field. I personally would go to an event like say Grand Beach, and then ride Reach the Beach the next day.... may get some enduro riders to do the cup race, just because they are in the area, and vice versa? Less weekends/more riding?
I have also noticed that some of their races have an alternate, more technical loop off the course, for expert/elites. Would this ever be something worth looking into?
I figure this blog should be for ideas... so here is the start of mine. Please comment, and I don't mind you telling me that I am dead wrong.
Ride Hard, Ride Long!
10 comments:
This race weekend ideas is not new, is a good one, but might not work here…Yet. As I see it there are 3 big hurdles to overcome.
1. Our numbers are presently too small; cross is hot and we ran in to the dividing of the numbers between sat and sun problem last year
2. The number of fit riders is too small: there are only hands full of riders in the province who are fit enough to race both a Cup and an Enduro the day after.
3. Families and Church etc: although I plan my recreation in the summer around racing not everyone can.
I believe the Falcon Lake race weekend last year was a double header. Did that workout… could we build on that race… many things to consider.
Yes, they are some bug hurdles, maybe some year.
falcon will be a double header again this season. saturday DH and sunday the CUP race. that is very doable, (if your schedule allows). i think last year was pretty small and a low turn out though. but most races were.
swan river's stage race also didn't draw the people out. to me, swan is the perfect place for an 8 hour race. great course, good facilities, great organizer. i think right now, more people would be willing to drive 6 hours from wpg for a 8 hour race than a 60 minute sport race.
the concept is good, but what i think we are facing a different mentality here in MB. the local regular racers tend to go other places for big events, 9mile, xc8 etc. what those events have is consistency, in both race format, organization quality, and date. in MB we keep changing things each year. last year fall classic was great. i think it would do even better if the format was the same this coming season and the same effort was given along with some advertising outside the province. so it could rival and XC8... am i off topic yet?
so, back to the original question, cup race then a enduro. sure. as long as it is well organized.
No Kevin, this is good. (off topic or not)
The Falcon race is a bit different to me, as alot of xc racers, also do enduros, but do they do downhills? - Not me, unless I get a frame that is made for it.
I think you are right about Swan for a enduro, but they also take more manpower, and how much is there up there?
Fall classic isn't a 8 hour?
i think swan has as much or more manpower than the other clubs, they have a good club going on, not a lot of racers right now, but i think decent numbers. not sure an enduro actually takes more people anyway.
i think the falcon DH will be rideable on a XC bike. i actually wish we would have superD events with XC events. those sound and look like fun.
Dale can confirm this, but at the last MTB meeting I asked him if Fall Classic was an 8 hr or enduro, he said no. it was an XC race, maybe on the long side.
dale - please chime in and correct me if I misunderstood.
I think one double event weekend is a good thing to promote here. I know that a lot of people did not do Swan River last year, but with some persistence maybe it would help with attendance as it seems to be the most logical event and location for this.
I just got back from North Carolina where they do a ton of enduro style races. Obviously they have a couple of things going for them: endless trails and a population do this sort of thing. Speaking to a rider who participates in these NC events one of the things that is a highlight of each event is the camping before the race: racers get the opportunity to hang out the night before and race and have some fun. This creates a good community feel and a mountain bike culture which benefits the sport. I would like to promote the "mountain bike culture" thing here as well and hope to get a core of people to start camping before the race and talk it up a bit, it would make the enduro event more of an event. If you camp the day before the event you can do some fun stuff, i.e. night ride, group rides, etc. which might lead into a more official double event type of weekend.
Hal
I agree with Hal that "mountain bike culture" is something we should promote and develop. We must also consider that the population of North Carolina is ~ 8,049,313 in an area of 86 610 square kilometers, and Manitoba is only 1,207,959 in 647,797 square kilometers.
I have attended for the last 3-4 year, and plan to continue to make the trip to Swan. They put on a fantastic event and the trails are awesome. The stage race – despite the low attendance – was a success. The question is ‘how’ do we increase participation?
Perehaps we should start by
1) Set our goals: some strategizing and developing some goals - specific to multiday events - before we begin. What is our mission? What is our strategy? How will these events fit with our overall strategy and other promotional tactics? What specific goals dose the mb committee want the event(s) to achieve?
(2) Design the event: we need to catch people's interest and attention. The Back-40 went viral last year… Why? Some "gimmick(s)" or symbolic action; etc might be needed. MUETRO is an example of this. Ask yourself “can we make our events more fun and worthwhile for people to attend?” Furthermore, we need events with clear, short name (e.g., Back-40, B2B) that clearly says what the event is about. Remember we are trying to attract ‘new’ racers, not just racers in the loop.
Perhaps, we could (should?) try to include interactive, participative and "unstructured" elements to each race for volunteers and racers. Think Afton, Canmore 24-hours, 9-Mile etc. What makes all the effort involved in bringing people together if they don't get to interact and network? Racing is about the interaction and networking… and of course the riding!
(4) Promoting an event: should be our priority and there are many cheap or free ways of reaching riders. We could send a fax to any newspapers, create a monthly newsletter & use the local magazines which carry community events. We need to find out which radio & TV stations do public service announcements (PSA's) or community event announcements. Other PSO must have a "media list" that we could use to obtain more contacts in the community. If we can make our events newsworthy (remember all the press Beach 2 Beach had the first year?), and contact news departments, I will bet we could get some free air time. We don’t have to re-invent the wheel here. By asking around relevant groups and organizations for ideas, information and resources (e.g., Tri) we can scores some e-mail lists and identify web-calendars etc. Finally postering in the neighborhoods near and around where the event is occurring - churches, schools, libraries, bookstores, health food stores, cafes, laundromats, offices of related organizations – might generate some local interest in our sport.
Whatever we do we should get on it ASAP!
Good ideas Dave... How do we start the excitement of racing again? That's what we need to ask ourselves, and I do know it's tough.
Starting a club is not as easy as I thought, but if I build and promote it enough, interest follows. (even if I don't have a clue on what the H@#! I should be doing). I have been thinking of contacting radio stations to come out to our event to get media, and tunes out there. I have been trying to think of a name for our race (like Kevin did nicely, I might add) as well. I think something better than a poster with MB cup #2 might be a bit more flavorful?
If enduro is where we are headed, we need to promote it! (come out here sometime, and I can show you hours of sweet singletrack, just right for the picking..). but I do think Swan could do a wonderful job as well... and maybe that is what is needed to get people up there.
The big problem seems to be people not wanting to pay the same price that a round of golf costs, to go race for two days... I'm perplexed?? But then I used to be into real expensive sports...
Hal you are dead on, The MTB culture should be awesome, as would have been the night at xc8 had we not been in winter already.. it just seems right.
Anyways, good to have ideas!
i think we need to focus on doing the basics well.
1. communicate the event and make it clear and comprehensive. and do it at least 2 weeks ahead of the event or earlier.
2. advertise. not just a post on the MCA site.
3. accessible to new or non MCA racers. (day permits etc.)
4. well organized events that people leave thinking, that was a great time, no matter how they did.
back 40 did OK cause it was new but we also did our best to take care of the "basics". we had over 30 NON mca racers, also had lots of pre-registered racers. cup races are only a priority to a small % of racers. i don't think the cup series is a draw any more.
it might also come down to supply and demand. if we only had 3 BIG, really well run races a summer and 1 was in swan river, it would probably be better attended. just too many other races to choose from right now.
i don't think price is the main issue either. look at swamp donkey. people will pay, if it is an "experience" or cool event. people drive 12 hours to do a race somewhere else.
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