Wednesday 22 January 2014

Some thoughts on the Cycling Australia Road Nationals



There’s no doubting Australian Cycling is on an upward surge. This year’s Road Nationals are a case in point: record crowds, good tv ratings, significant social media activation and loaded fields. But Cycling Australia must not rest on their laurels; as one of the premier Olympic sports and the second highest Australian Sports Commission funded NSO (after swimming)[1] Cycling Australia needs to embrace the whole of their mantra. As the NSO they are responsible for the whole of the sport, not just the Elite Men that seemingly are their focus. 

Are Elite Men the sole focus?

You certainly could be forgiven for thinking that Cycling Australia is only interested in the Elite Men’s competition. One cursory glance at the last two Road Nationals television broadcasts would certainly imply that. In fact you could be forgiven for thinking that women didn’t ride bicycles.

Clearly the sport is more than that. In fact Cycling Australia is responsible for the sanctioning of BMX, Mountain Bike and Cyclo-Cross as well as Road and Track. Cycling Australia says as much in their own blurb:
Cycling Australia (CA) is the national administrative body responsible for the sport of cycling in Australia as recognised by the Australian Government, the International Cycling Union (UCI), the Australian Olympic Committee, the Australian Commonwealth Games Federation and the Australian Paralympic Committee.
As an organisation  our objectives are to create opportunities for all riders and people interested in cycling. We also deliver high performance programs that produce world class riders across all disciplines. We offer membership benefits to all cyclists - recreational riders through to competitive racers and importantly we are advocates for improving cycling within Australia.”[2]


At no point does it say ‘men only’ yet you could be forgiven for thinking that was the case. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of examples where this has been demonstrated to not be true; Caroline Buchanan winning pretty much everything at the 2013 Oppys proves that. But to only televise the elite men at your biggest event of the year makes a major point whether intentional or otherwise. 

Equality at the Road Nationals 

Elite Women

Gracie Elvin going back to back in a massive sprint against
Lauren Kitchen. The best race of the weekend and not
on tv
For the Road Nationals to really be an equal playing field there must be live coverage of the women’s road race as there is the men’s. The SBS coverage of the men’s race this year was a straight time buy as SBS pretty much confirmed themselves:
“Thomas, to be clear, it is the responsibility of Cycling Australia, not SBS, they are the rights holder but are cash strapped in terms of paying for additional broadcasts.”[3]


What does this mean? It means that Cycling Australia paid SBS to cover the Elite Men’s road race but not the women’s! In 2014 how is this acceptable? At least 13 women racing on international teams took to the start line. This wasn’t some second string domestic field. It was full of professional and semi-professional athletes doing their utmost and pushing as hard as they could in front of their biggest domestic audience.

Nobody can claim lack of interest either. I’ve never seen so much anger and frustration online at the complete lack of information available. Without even a web stream it was left to cycling fans by the side of the road giving twitter updates in the biggest race of the year. Thanks to Kelvin (@crazycyclefan) for tweets like this because without him there would have been pretty much nothing available.

Essentially Cycling Australia chose to ignore the women completely. I know that Cycling Australia is in dire financial straits but this is no excuse. For an organisation that is tasked with representing and growing the sport to snub such a large percentage of their clientele is disgraceful. If it was a straight time buy then two hours of highlights of each road race would have been a better deal. The men’s race was interminably boring until the last two laps anyway!

Para-Cycling

Para-Cycling is one of the most successful areas of the sport ever undertaken by Australians. At the 2013 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships, the following athletes stood on the podium:
  • Michael Gallagher C5 Road Race Champion
  • Alistair Donohoe C5 Road Race Bronze, C5 ITT Bronze
  • David Nicholas C3 ITT Champion
  • Nigel Barley H3 ITT Bronze
  • Jayme Richardson C1 Road Race Champion, C1 ITT Champion
  • Simone Kennedy C3 Road Race Silver, C3 ITT Silver
  • Susan Powell C4 Road Race Bronze, C4 ITT Silver
  • Bianca Woolford T1 Road Race Silver, T2 ITT Silver
  • Carol Cooke T2 Road Race Champion, T2 ITT Champion
B Road Race, Para-Cycling Nationals 2013
Para-Cycling is conducted over both road and track yet on both occasions their national championships are relegated to irrelevance in a place and time out of sync with any other event. In 2013 the event was held in the middle of rural Victoria in April with an audience of zero (I don’t count myself because I marshalled on the course). Given the amount of world class athletes involved, many on SIS scholarships, it isn’t fair for these athletes who struggle to get attention at the best of times.
H Road Race, 2013 Para-Cycling Nationals
There is ample opportunity in Road Nationals week to ensure Para-Cycling is involved and the athletes given ample opportunity to shine on the big stage. Cycling Australia took over responsibility for Para-Cycling from the Australian Paralympic Committee many years ago. It’s time to take that commitment seriously.

Under 23 Women

Emily Roper not wearing an Australian Jersey
The UCI doesn’t recognise an Under 23 category at World level but Cycling Australia (to their credit) do so in the national championships. Although not conducted as separate events, awards ceremonies are conducted but there’s a degree of inequality in this too. All national champions at the road nationals are awarded national jerseys except the Under 23 Women. I’ve not been able to get a straight answer out of anybody as to why this is the case. The closest I’ve come to is that the winner doesn’t get a jersey because there is no international race for them to wear it in. If that is the reason it’s ridiculous; even if there is no where that the jersey can be worn that doesn’t mean the winner shouldn’t get the same plaudits! If it’s good enough for the U23 Men, it’s good enough for the U23 Women. 

Giving Everyone a Chance

For as long as anybody can remember the Road Nationals have been held in and around Ballarat. Whilst Ballarat and the Buninyong might be a good circuit to race on, it’s far from the only place in Australia capable of hosting the Road Nationals. It’s not only the spectators getting sick of the course. Sprinter Chloe Hosking has made it abundantly clear what she thinks of going to the same place every year:


Frankly she has a point. Not only is the race predictable it means only one sort of rider can ever win. If you look at best practise around the world, championships are moved continuously and the course types change to give everyone a chance; sprinters, climbers, classics riders etc. If the Nationals is to continue to grow everyone deserves a chance. It’s time to move the event around. I don’t care if it’s on a rotation basis between the states or goes to a bidding process but I feel the event needs growth that only a literal change in scenery can provide. 

Embracing all racing

2013 UCI Road World Championship-Women's TTT
The road nationals currently encapsulate every road racing discipline except the Team Time Trial. I’d like to see a state vs state Team Time Trial. Realistically there could be seven teams competing in elite men and elite women’s competition in what could be a super exciting event and a positive addition to the week. 

Scheduling my suggestions

As the road nationals currently stand it is in fact really easy to fit in my suggested changes and give all athletes the credit they deserve: If the free day on Friday is utilised for the Para-Cycling it all fits perfectly:
  • Wednesday: All ITT events.
  • Thursday (morning): State teams TTT
  • Thursday (evening): All Criterium events
  • Friday (morning): Handcycle and Trike Road Races
  • Friday (afternoon): C1-5 and B Road Races
  • Saturday (morning): Men’s U23 Road Race
  • Saturday (afternoon): Women’s Road Race
  • Sunday (morning): Men’s Road Race. 

Conclusion

The Road Nationals are the biggest domestic cycling event of the year and consistently draw in some of the largest cycling crowds in Australia. If the sport is to truly develop and recognise all elements of road racing at its nationals, Cycling Australia needs to promote all of it on the biggest platform of the year. In 2015 the governing body must do this; it’s their job after all! There are no excuses. Let’s hope the new President with his vested interest in women’s cycling (a small matter of owning the Orica-GreenEDGE-AIS) can force through such an agenda.



[1] http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/539573/NSO_NSOD_2013-14_Funding_for_web.pdf
[2] http://cycling.org.au/Home/About-CA
[3] https://www.facebook.com/SBSCyclingCentral/posts/10152102658178427?comment_id=29277384&reply_comment_id=29285120&total_comments=2