Are SA stage races too pro-orientated?

[Squier]

There's a difference between covering a race in a 20 minute slot for TV and an event documentary. Mountain biking being just that means that actual race footage isn't that easy to get and the 20 minute slots are often made up out of the pro's starting, blasting past a waterpoint, finishing and a 5 minute interview with Fritz Pienaar. It honestly stopped grabbing my interest a while back. The only reason I'd watch a Supersport race feature is too see if I can see myself - for what reason I also don't actually know...

 

So, yes, I do agree to a certain extent. Watching mamils pushing bikes up a hill is also certainly not fun, but trying to capture the essence of the event is much more than just watching a bunch of pros fly by and finish.

 

In the same sense, I'd also like to see some of the racing further back in the field at the XCO World Cups.

[Skinnyone]

The Pro's supposedly are paid to do their JOB - getting a podium and doing their best to attract attention to their sponsors whilst doing so...that is the point of TV coverage et al.

 

why should it be any different with rugby pros, cricket pros, soccer pros (do I need to keep going) I personally don't watch many sports but they all have sponsors and the idea is to get exposure of the sponsors via TV and social media etc. 

 

And yes it is the average joes at the Epic and the like that actually pay the event organizer's bills, personally I get irritated when they interview some dude stuffing a (insert water table food) in his mouth and trying to talk - ya it's hot today, had to walk the last 10 ks cuz I haven't trained etc...

[Milosh]

I here this and feel some of the real gees and camaraderie is lost in these type of Tv broadcasts

 

Some are better in youtube

 

But I suppose the man in the street stuff is all in the back story , 

 

How guys had a mechanical and where fighting to make the cut off at WP 3 ? 

 

A mate who broke derailleur and singled speeded the rest of day out of umkp valley !  

 

Something like this 

 

http://www.mountainbikingdiary.com/2013/05/sani-to-sea-trail-2013-my-story.html

[BigDL]

I used to watch comrades marathon coverage religiously back in the day, and I remember the real interesting stuff was later in the day, watching people suffer and willing them on, the heartbreak at cut-off time, hearing about why people were running etc. Might. Not be easy to do though in stage races and keep people interested in watching

[Skubarra]

I used to watch comrades marathon coverage religiously back in the day, and I remember the real interesting stuff was later in the day, watching people suffer and willing them on, the heartbreak at cut-off time, hearing about why people were running etc. 

 

Ja but back in the day there weren't much else to watch on local TV 

[Headshot]

Two comments - Mid-bunch MAMILS stuffing food in their mouths at waterpoints and mumbling about how tough/nice the race is doesn't make for riveting TV. Neither does unfit okes walking their bikes up climbs. The pros upfront battling for the win might be mildly entertaining to outsiders and they generally look better than us on bikes, which is why they get to be on the TV productions.

 

I can name a few more "social" stage races out there where the stage winners barely get a mention and the footage in the evenings and the MC focus on the "stories" of the day - maybe you have just not been entering the right races 

Well IMO marathon racing in general, be it pro's or not, is not riveting TV. The only time it gets vaguely interesting is when they cram say the whole Epic into 5 mins of highlights. The best bits are the silly crashes the pro's manage to do while dicing. That being the case, imagine a highlights reel of all the amateurs smashing rocks with their bodies...    

[ChUkKy]

 

rugby pros, cricket pros, soccer pros.........

 

 

Never heard of such things in South Africa in recent years... especially soccer

[BaGearA]

dayum it's early in the week

[Fat Boab]

I used to watch comrades marathon coverage religiously back in the day, and I remember the real interesting stuff was later in the day, watching people suffer and willing them on, the heartbreak at cut-off time, hearing about why people were running etc. Might. Not be easy to do though in stage races and keep people interested in watching

 

I guess the infrastructure required to cover a Comrades type event is considerable? Probably beyond what smaller companies can manage for cycling events?

 

My other thought is cycling is quite a difficult activity to 'capture' adequately without the obvious race environment eg 2 okes racing one another. The struggle of the rest of the field 'looks' kind of dull. Maybe it could be rev'd up with some innovative thinking from media people?

[Dicky DQ]

Or something like this:

[Patchelicious]

What exactly are we moaning about?

[Guest]

Isint it amazing how advertising has captured TV. The sponsors have to be appeased so it is dictated to us what we get to watch. So we are manipulated to watch something by an entity whos product/service we may not even be interested in.

[Jase619]

What exactly are we moaning about?

 

Not really sure to be honest, have reread the thread and still haven't figured out what exactly is the problem? 

 

The TV coverage isn't for the pros either, it's more for the little patches on their shirts during the interviews proclaiming the sponsors names. . . 

[Jase619]

Isint it amazing how advertising has captured TV. The sponsors have to be appeased so it is dictated to us what we get to watch. So we are manipulated to watch something by an entity whos product/service we may not even be interested in.

 

True, but considering that the sponsors pay for that TV time it would follow logically that they get to dictate what is shown and what isn't?

[J Wakefield]

Pros do it for a living and their exposure depends on TV time, the rest are there for fun and enjoy saying at the office on Monday "Ya, was at the epic and spoke to Nino" or "We did Pioneer with Matt Beers and Alan Hatherly"

Events need pros and they need the rest of the people participating but if you want coverage of you showing a thumbs up or eating potatoes at the water points, don't enter an event like Epic or the major stage races and expect to be shown. Enter smaller lesser known events and get the coverage.

 

Its not always right but you don't see the guys doing Haute Route before the Tour doing the Tour. 

 

Be there, eat the food, rub shoulders with the Pros and be happy we have all of this available to us in SA. 

 

Pros are racing to eat, let them get the small exposure they do. 

[Fat Boab]

What exactly are we moaning about?

 

 

What do we want? (Don't know). When do we want it? (Sometime I suppose?).