Downhill Riders,including current SA National Champ, overlooked for World Champs

[NotSoBigBen]

7 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Which is also fine... A quick look at the start list this year and it looks like less than 30 countries in total are represented in the men's field. (A quick look - so 30 ish)

165 odd countries with no one there either.

 

 

 

I guess as you say it is the individual world champs not the Olympics 😎

[Shebeen]

14 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Which is also fine... A quick look at the start list this year and it looks like less than 30 countries in total are represented in the men's field. (A quick look - so 30 ish)

165 odd countries with no one there either.

 

 

 

Taiwan are there.  They make the bikes, might as well make the start list too! 

[rock]

SA team at Enduro worlds? Was this a secret?

 

[Danger Dassie]

20 hours ago, rock said:

SA team at Enduro worlds? Was this a secret?

 

First proper Enduro Worlds, so in general it was pretty lowekey. WildAir Bike and CSA did a fair bit of stuff on their social channels. There was some good stuff. 

[DieselnDust]

https://singletrackworld.com/2024/09/leaked-document-reveals-mtb-world-cup-plans-for-2025/

 

going to get tougher to compete abroad 

Edited September 17 by DieselnDust

[andreas17777]

12 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

https://singletrackworld.com/2024/09/leaked-document-reveals-mtb-world-cup-plans-for-2025/

 

going to get tougher to compete abroad 

Am I seeing this correctly, will cross country events limit bikes to only 100mm suspension?

Edited September 18 by andreas17777

[DieselnDust]

8 minutes ago, andreas17777 said:

Am I seeing this correctly, will cross country events limit bikes to only 100mm suspension?

No that is not the intent. Conceptually the courses will be designed to be navigable on 0-100mm travel bikes. This caters for teams with smaller budgets and the privateers who cannot compete in an equipment arms race

[BikeisLife]

19 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

No that is not the intent. Conceptually the courses will be designed to be navigable on 0-100mm travel bikes. This caters for teams with smaller budgets and the privateers who cannot compete in an equipment arms race

Bike manufacturers hope this is the case...

[rock]

I might be out of touch but how does the new TV broadcaster start calling the shots as how the world cup is run? Who is actually in charge? 

[shaper]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

No that is not the intent. Conceptually the courses will be designed to be navigable on 0-100mm travel bikes. This caters for teams with smaller budgets and the privateers who cannot compete in an equipment arms race

A lot of the pros in cross country are now going with 100mm for weight saving, so I don't think it will be much of an issue

[Sally E Kirk]

CSA has released their revised Selection Criteria for 2025.

Please send your comments/suggestions to mtb@cyclingsa.com by the 25th of October.

SA MTB Team Selection Policy Criteria 2025 draft3 (3).pdf

[Danger Dassie]

4 hours ago, Sally E Kirk said:

CSA has released their revised Selection Criteria for 2025.

Please send your comments/suggestions to mtb@cyclingsa.com by the 25th of October.

SA MTB Team Selection Policy Criteria 2025 draft3 (3).pdf 519.94 kB · 5 downloads

Thanks Sally, have shared out. Good to see some kind of revision open for comment. Hopefully the necessary steps are taken. 

[Sally E Kirk]

On 10/10/2024 at 10:05 PM, Danger Dassie said:

Thanks Sally, have shared out. Good to see some kind of revision open for comment. Hopefully the necessary steps are taken. 

CSA has now stated that the 2025 criteria need to be read in conjunction with the performance data relevant to DH (or each other discipline as applicable).  See their data for DH attached.

Comments to MTB@cyclingsa.com by 17h00 on the 24th of October.

Performance.2024_SA_Downhill_Series.29.10279 10Oct24.pdf

[Danger Dassie]

2 hours ago, Sally E Kirk said:

CSA has now stated that the 2025 criteria need to be read in conjunction with the performance data relevant to DH (or each other discipline as applicable).  See their data for DH attached.

Comments to MTB@cyclingsa.com by 17h00 on the 24th of October.

Performance.2024_SA_Downhill_Series.29.10279 10Oct24.pdf 423.63 kB · 2 downloads

Seems like they’re just bombarding info to discourage feedback?
Who can interpret all those tables into something coherent? 

[Sally E Kirk]

I agree, you need a Maths degree and plenty of time on your hands to get your head around all the figures😲

Bearing in mind (given the prohibitive cost of competing overseas), that it should be feasible and realistic for a DH rider to obtain the required points from National events only, I would like someone to explain to me how a DH rider can accumulate the required 5 points from 3 National races* and SA Champs - race runs have a 100% weighting, and seeding runs have a 25% weighting as per the 2024 performance data.

I am assuming that the format of 1 point for First place, 0.75 points for Second place, and 0.5 points for Third place will remain in place as per 2024 -this is not mentioned specifically in the Selection document. 

There are a number of Juniors moving to Elites in 2025 which will further increase competition for an already limited number of points. 

The overall SA Cup Series Log, which was an additional way of earning a point or two, will be done away with in 2025.

Another concern is that XCO, XCM and Enduro riders still only need to earn three points to be eligible for selection - some unfair bias or does someone at CSA just dislike DH?  I hope somebody in the know can put me right. 

 

* This may increase to 4 National races, if the Zevenwacht provincial race planned for Feb 2025, gets approval to be a National event.  This would mean that non-WC based riders would need to travel to the Western Cape three time in three months to compete at National events - not affordable for most of us.