Nic Lamond, founder of Podium Sports athlete management company, was instrumental in putting together the newly formed Team Spur duo Ariane Kleinhans and James Reid. We caught up with Nic to get his views on professional mountain biking, putting together a professional team in South Africa and the ambitions of Team Spur.
You are no stranger to representing individual high profile athletes but managing a team is a bit different. How do the two differ?
Nic Lamond, founder and director of Podium Sports. Photo by Craig Kolesky.
Yes, individual athlete management is completely different from team management. And I’m learning just how different on a daily basis with Team Spur.
‘Managing’ an individual athlete is about a deep connection and huge levels of trust. At Podium Sports, we develop a keen understanding of who our athletes are and engage with suitable sponsors on how both athlete and brand can contribute to shared goals.
It’s completely bespoke. Athletes want very different things out of their careers and have differing timeframes to achieve these goals – be they financial, performance or lifestyle-related. The same applies to brands – some are interested in branding opportunities, others want to support the high-performance journey, or have a pro athlete help with product R&D, a few just want access to an athlete for a coffee once a month. We have turned down big offers because our values and vision for the relationship weren’t aligned.
Although, managing a team starts in the same way, it is more involved. Hence why we have two full-time staff at Team Spur to support Ariane Kleinhans and James Reid. That said, the Team Spur model is different from other teams. Podium Sports started as agents for both Ariane and James. Through that relationship we spent a long time understanding who they are and then we built a team around them. They cover the full range of the mountain biking experience. Marathon and cross-country. Power and endurance. Man and woman.
Spur Steak Ranches are such a passionate and supportive sponsor, with so much to offer, the fit was almost immediate. That we were able to carry Specialized as their equipment sponsor says a lot about the brand’s commitment to its athletes, its racing heritage and its desire to be used by the best.
I better add that Podium Sports manages triathlon superstar couple James Cunnama and Jodie Swallow. They are just like a team with their shared brand endorsements and global race commitments, so we have learned a great from supporting them across the globe. That said, James and Jodie are self-sufficient, looking after the details of their race calendars themselves. They are also hands-on with all their own mechanical work. I can’t understand why triathletes have a reputation as being prima donnas! Maybe it’s just the age groupers! James and Jodie are pretty tough and helluva resourceful.
Photo by Craig Kolesky.
It appears tough to persuade sponsors to back professional cycling in South Africa. Having just been through the process yourself, how difficult is it to get sponsor buy-in?
I think 2016 has seen some fantastic new teams emerge, with loads of potential. But I do agree with the sentiment that it is difficult to bring sponsors into the sport of cycling. South Africa has unique challenges.
The elephant in the room in any athlete or team sponsorship negotiation is doping. Sad but true. I prefer to be completely upfront and encourage the brands I deal with to take a very hard line on doping. I don’t get caught up in circular debates about the new generation being clean or the old generation finally being purged out of the sport. All I know is I trust the athletes I work with, and they trust me. It’s a minimum requirement for the work I do. And we move on. There is no joy in hearing of another athlete being pinged for doping. None. It is devastating on so many levels, not just the loss of prize money or media attention for the honest athletes. Doping is fraud and its consequences are far-reaching.
The doping scandals that have rocked cycling recently, particularly in South Africa, make brands very hesitant to get behind athletes and teams. I fully understand this. Individuals are risky. Far easier to sponsor an event or two and get your media exposure that way. And many local brands have dived into events. That has been fantastic. We have probably the most sophisticated independent event organisers in the world in South Africa in mountain biking (not so much road, sadly).
But it has been at the expense of the pro rider. I’m not crying over spilt milk. It’s the way it is. In a similar position as a marketer for a big company, controlling the purse-strings for sponsorship and at the same time looking out for the reputation of my brand, I’d probably also choose the safe option.
But the pro athlete journey is about the human condition – the highs and lows, set-backs and triumphs. It’s not pure marketing and squeaky clean corporate imagery. It’s messy and real. Ariane said the other day in a team meeting that pro sport is about losing. I was horrified. How could one of the world’s winningest marathon stage racers admit that?! But she’s right. Losing in pro sport is inevitable. There is only one top step on the dais. How we deal with defeat as individuals, teams, sponsors?
That’s what makes pro sport interesting and exciting. The public will always identify with pros – they become heros and villains in a dynamic narrative played out every weekend. We see something in their character that resonates with us – we watch them have it easy, or overcome great odds, and we’re hooked. Events don’t connect with pros in the same way. I don’t feel the journey with an event is as rewarding as with an individual athlete or team.
Team sponsorship is really tough to secure and is fraught with risk – mechanicals, injury, the ever-present doping issue. That’s why I feel we should celebrate the brands that, despite it all, dive in and get involved. Team sponsorship is not for every brand, I get that. But it can be a very rewarding journey for brand and consumer.
Photo by Craig Kolesky.
Team Spur are ambassadors of the Spur School Mountain Bike League. How will the team boost the League and influence the young riders coming through?
The Spur Schools Mountain Bike League is a juggernaut. It WILL create the next global mountain bike superstar, if it hasn’t already. It’s just a matter of time. The growth in numbers of entrants to League events is astonishing: 2015 saw 10,500 kids, sorry, ‘young adults’ line-up for at least one of 48 events around the country. 400 schools are now involved. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about all that potential, all the school gees directed at cycling. So, the numbers are there.
Ariane and James don’t need to be involved to increase the quantity or even quality of rider coming through the programme. Meurant Botha and Amarider have been killing it for years. We feel Ariane’s and James’s value to the Spur Schools League is in being role models – creating a link between lap-racing at your local school track and the Cape Epic, or World Champs or the Olympics. Having riders of their caliber, who kids can access to improve their riding skills and be inspired by, is immense. Ariane and James are both heavily invested in the ambassador side of the Spur sponsorship and will be offering their hard-won insight into bike racing and the importance of education. It helps that both are university graduates who have had to juggle competing interests most of their lives. Team Spur is about encouraging a balanced approach to life for youngsters, yet also showing just where your passion can take you.
What characteristics drew you to Ariane and James?
I like to surround myself with smart people, and I’m lucky to have that in Team Spur’s support staff and riders. I have raced around Ariane for a long time and always took an interest in her career. She has such resilience, willpower and determination. Her professionalism and dedication to her craft is impressive and the team draws on this to better itself constantly. Yet she is very ‘normal’, and shares the same insecurities as you or I. It’s an attractive combination that makes her very real for sponsors, and in this case for the Spur Schools League. It was a privilege to get to know her even better over the past year and my initial impressions of her as an acquaintance were reinforced as we embarked on the sponsorship path.
James and I have been friends for a good long time, and ridden the roller-coaster of semi-pro mountain biking together. He has been knocked down countless times, but his ability to get up, dust himself off and climb back into the ring is inspiring. He is constantly trying to understand himself more and brings a highly analytical approach to racing. James is always up for the fight, and knows that getting to the top of cross-country (XCO) racing in South Africa and the world is an all-out brawl. He’s also really good fun and that is a priceless quality when the pressure gets too intense and we all start looking way too serious. This is bike riding after all…
Ariane and James are both prominent riders in their own categories. Will we ever see Team Spur riding together as a mixed team?
Ha ha. I doubt that. Paired mountain bike racing is only a part of what we are targeting with Team Spur. There are a few three-day events such as the Tankwa Trek and Wines 2 Whales where we will create a team set-up to race. And there’s the Epic, of course! But each rider has chosen a partner of the same gender and level to compete in these. The UCI doesn’t reward mixed teams with points for their individual rankings in marathon (XCM) or XCO. Athletes need points to get decent grid positions at World Cups and qualify for World Champs and Olympics.
Photo by Craig Kolesky.
As you mentioned, Specialized are the team’s bike sponsor? Which Specialized bikes will each be riding? Do you know whether either of them will reach for a hardtail during the season?
Ariane will be racing Specialized’s S-Works Era in stage races and will have a S-works Stumpjumper hardtail for select XCO World Cup events later in the year. She has an Amira on the road.
James will be racing a Specialized S-Works Epic World Cup this year in all events. He also has the 120mm-travel Specialized Camber for trail fun and skills work in Jonkershoek. His roadie is a trusty Tarmac Disc.
Marathon stage races are traditionally team events in South Africa. How hard is it for Ariane and James to find partners for these races?
Yes, we do struggle to find partners for the smaller stage races. However, apart from the Absa Cape Epic, stage racing isn’t a big focus of the team as mentioned earlier. For Epic, Team Spur has partnered with Specialized Factory Racing to create Team Spur-Specialized and we are bringing out the big guns!
Ariane will be hooking up with multiple World Champ Annika Langvad as they shoot for their third straight victory in the Women’s category. James will be racing with US National Champ and fellow XCO World Cup journeyman Howard Grotts as a complete newbie team, albeit one with the pedigree to shake established European trade teams.
How did the James and Howard Absa Cape Epic partnership come about?
The two young guns have been mates for a while, cutting their teeth together on the aggressive and highly competitive U23 UCI World Cup stage. James will be going into his second year in the Pro Elite Men’s category, while Howard is entering his first. Specialized’s Christoph Sauser is responsible for putting the team together. Spur jumped on the opportunity to have them race together and have been pulling out all the stops. Christoph (Susi) trains with James in Stellenbosch and is a really great mentor. There isn’t much in mountain biking Susi hasn’t personally experienced. He also knows the Specialized Factory Team setup inside-out. His dominance at the Epic in the last few years has left a big vacuum with his retirement from pro racing. So he and the Specialized global team decided to shake things up by giving James and Howard an opportunity to keep the bookies guessing!
James Reid racing the 2016 Fairview Attakwas Extreme MTB Challenge. Photo credit: Zoon Cronje www.zooncronje.com
With James and Howard having one eye on the Olympics, will the pair be competing for the title and stage victories?
There is very little pressure on James and Howard, but there is a quiet expectation that they will impress. They are both phenomenal athletes in their chosen discipline of XCO racing but mostly untested over eight days. Howard is already in South Africa preparing with James. Let’s just say they are going to give it a good go!
What are the goals for each rider nationally and internationally this season?
We want our athletes to live out their dreams while being supported by Spur, Specialized and all the brands invested in this journey.
For Ariane it starts with the Epic, then UCI World Cup races, XCM World Champs and Swiss National Champs.
James has a full calendar qualifying for the Olympics, and that is his first priority. Epic is probably second. Although all of the World Cup, Continental Champs and SA XCO Cups are crucial for him to fly the South African flag on all our behalf in Rio.
Which World Cup events can supporters expect to see the Team Spur competing in?
It looks like we’ll have to skip the UCI World Cup in Cairns, Australia. That is a little disappointing. Unfortunately, there are too many important Olympic qualifying races in South Africa for James to travel half way around the world to Australia, then return and recover in time to perform and rack up the all-important points here. Ariane and James will attend all the European World Cup events. That’s Germany, France, Switzerland and Andorra. James may also race Monte-Saint-Anne in Canada, but that depends on Olympics and we’ll cross that bridge later. Ariane will race UCI XCM World Champs in France in June, with James competing at the UCI XCO World Champs in the Czech Republic in July.
Will we see Ariane shift more focus onto XCO in 2016?
Ariane isn’t shifting focus to XCO, although she will race much more of the XCO format in 2016. Ariane’s goal is to win a XCM World Championship in the next few years. If she is to do that she must target what she considers to be her weaknesses, and turn them into strengths. That means more bar-to-bar racing: making line choices in technical sections in the heat of a packed race! Ariane is looking forward to building her tactical edge and improving her technical prowess through World Cup racing.
Photo by Craig Kolesky.
Ariane must think she has a shot at winning the marathon event. With other riders possibly focusing on the Olympics, do you think this could be her year?
Ariane will always race to win. She doesn’t know any other way. The World Champs is a major goal of hers. Sure, the Rio Olympics could deplete the XCM World Championships field. But it will never be easy. There are so many quality women coming through the ranks. You could argue that the fact that only one or two athletes from the top countries will be selected for the Olympics, so those left over will have more interest in tackling a World Championship event.
Ariane is not looking to ‘steal’ a World Champs jersey because no-one else pitched up. She is focused on beating the best in the world on the day – whether it happens this year or any other year in the future.
It is great to see local riders competing at a top level of the sport. What are the challenges for Team Spur and other South African based riders looking to compete overseas?
The major difficulty for locals plying their trade at the big events overseas is the depth. Sure, we have incredibly gifted athletes, and some future world-beaters coming through. But the sheer depth of talent at the European races is a massive shock to the system and may take a few years for a youngster to fully understand and appreciate. The crowds are also a huge eye-opener. It’s like being in a washing machine for 90 minutes. Experience will see you out the other side in one piece.
My advice to any young racers: if you are out front at a local race and have first place wrapped up, keep attacking the course, race to the clock, don’t stop! If you hope to make it on the international stage – race yourself. When you get overseas you will find 100 other hungry racers at your level and you need to know how to keep pushing!
The currency is also a big challenge for us down here at the tip of Africa! Since putting the team together we have been under immense pressure not to cut back on our race calendar and race support offering as the Rand has continued on a slippery slope downwards. But racing internationally can be done from a South African base. We just need to fight smart. Spur are incredibly supportive of the challenges we face here.
Photo by Craig Kolesky.
Awesome insight into the team and professional racing guys, thanks