on what is (from an xc perspective) being heralded as the worst mtb commission agm in history.
i know i didnt attend as i had a prior engagement.
i have one major problem with the 2011 nps and that is 8 races is far too many.i know for a fact that there is no way on earth that i will be racing eight nps rounds next year but convieniently i dont have to, they are only using your best 5 results so i'm sorry to the organisers but i wont be attending any far away races or any races i know from previous years are rubbish.
i would imagine that most riders will pick and choose there events wich will mean less atmosphere and poorer attendance at events.
epic are not running an xc event in 2011 and we will seriously consider breaking away from the nps in 2012 and running our own series
it seems to me that the nps was organised without any regard for what the riders want or what the sport needs
so well done again to the mtb commission
Why drop rounds? I don't get it. What do other sports do? Motorsport? Don't think so.
Our club league is 20 rounds. If you drop one, it's hard to win. Simple. Lynch has shown up at all 20, for 2 years....
It also throws up an issue with how you win the NPS. It would be very easy for 2 of our top elites to get 4 firsts and one second. so who would win?
Odd......
"Biggest contribution to the scene
The commission has identified a special award to recognise the individual who did something during the year which really stood out and helped to make the world of Irish Mountain Biking a better place"
now this really disgusts me
this award was givin to a lad called flexo who made promotional videos for downhillers and a dvd of the downhill season now i've seen some of these videos and they are deadly and i'm sure flexo is a lovely guy
but
at the mtb agm he was selling copies of these dvd...FFS mtb commision the lad is in it for the profits!
what about james o carroll then who provided support for all the dh races for the last few seasons
what about richie byrne who for no profit ran three developmental xc races at the start of the season which had an obvious positive impact on the number of riders that attended the nps this year
what about victor lucas who has 5 pages of photos published from the blast in mbuk this month the largest extreme sports magazine in europe surely that put us firmly on the international map
what about luke smaull who volunteered and gave up his own season to organise the xc national champs and made a superb job of it
what about niall and tarja at biking.ie for introducing and coaching hoards of goobers into the sport over the last couple of years
what about the lads that build and maintain the dirt jumps in enniskerry and st annes
what about race organisers around the country
what about the organizers of the new club down in ballyhoura who must be the fastest growing club in the country and are activley recruiting kids
i wont go on this list could be endless but FFS a lad who makes videos to make a few quid very short sighted folks
Luke should have gotten that for the XC Nationals . No question about it, he raised the bar for all events, not just XC.
No other event will ever match the Organisation and proffessionalism of the 2010 XC Nationals.
This award was decided by the Commission themselves , unlike the other awards which were voted on by the riders.
I'll be honest, i thought i'd get it for the 3 develoment races, I didn't run them for an award and I wasn't looking for one but when the Award was announced I thought, thats nice , I'm bound to pick that up, after all I've done a lot of things in MTB, all for Glory and seeing my name in lights and for the benefit of the Clubs i've been in..
But this one was for everybody and to warm up the sport of XC racing that I love. I'll keep running events like that, i want to bring in hundreds of kids and replace the wrinklies dominating the sport and I don't care if the Commission takes the credit for it. Baby Jesus will know and thats all that matters !!