Diminished interest?

25 February 2010 | 0:00 - By Matthew Keenan

Fast and exciting, track is cycling's version of Twenty20 cricket yet it fails to hold the interest of the fans, Matthew Keenan asks why?

track_310x175_getty_627106278

Track cycling continues to struggle (Photo: Getty)

At a track race you can see the riders the whole time. It’s cycling’s answer to Twenty20 cricket that dates back to the 19th century and is as spectator friendly as it gets.

At a road race, like our own Tour Down Under or the Tour de France, people will stand on the side of the road for hours to get a fleeting glimpse of the riders whizzing past.

Given societies seemingly ever reducing attention span, anyone looking at that scenario would come to the logical conclusion that track cycling is by far the more popular of the two forms of the sport. Yet you and I know, nothing could be further from the truth.

Outside of the Olympics most people simply see track racing as a feeding ground for the road with the sprinters thrown in.

To illustrate the point, after Cameron Meyer won the points race at last year’s world championships I did a radio report and at the conclusion of my gushing analysis of his performance was simply asked, “when are we likely to see him at the Tour de France”.

When Jack Bobridge rode 4:14 for the individual pursuit at the recent Australian championships I bet most people thought, “if he can ride like that, and Bradley Wiggins was slower in Beijing but has finished 4th at the Tour de France, imagine what Jack could do on the road one day”.

Further highlighting the struggle being faced by track cycling to survive, let alone thrive, is that the Revolution race in Melbourne this weekend is being held at the city’s number two velodrome the Darebin International Sport Centre (DISC) rather than the originally planned Hisense Arena.

A part of the Melbourne Park complex, Hisense Arena has hosted a bunch of track events with the 2004 track world championships and the 2006 Commonwealth Games the only two events to get a capacity crowd.

And on the back of those crowds you’d think events like Revolution would attract good numbers.

Unfortunately it’s been a while since there was 'let me in beating on the doors support' for a track event, and without the crowds a venue like Hisense Arena just isn’t financially viable.

It costs somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000 just to open the doors by the time a race promoter pays the various fees, cleaning, electricity, and security staff. And the list goes on.

And with a capacity of 4500 and tickets between $25 and $49 the promoter needs to fill those seats for their hip pocket to stand a chance.

The Tasmania Christmas Carnivals, which are an Australian cycling institution, are also facing tough times and looking at what they can do to get people interested again.

I think part of the problem is as spectators we want to know something is on the line.

A pre-season game of football doesn’t exactly drag in the big numbers, but the same two teams playing each other in round one with premiership points up for grabs does.

Hence the support for the track world championships and Commonwealth Games.

The first bike race I saw live was the 1990 Austral. The first bike race I ever rode was on the track, also in 1990, where I finished a convincing last. The first race I commentated, again, was on the track.

Track racing has played a big part in my overall love of cycling. But the crowd numbers at track events tell me my love for the velodrome isn’t shared by a whole lot of people.

How can we get crowds back to the track?

Share article: 
top

Comments (18)

Display: 20 | 40 | All comments per page
Previous 10 | Page 1 | 2 | Next 10

01 Mar 2010 21:37 AEST

Andrew

From: Perth WA

--

Matthew, from England, you sound like the usual boring whinging Pom. Get a life and find some warm weather and come to Oz and rider the track, i admit it must be hard to ride over there in Dullsville with so many jackets and jumpers on, get on with it

Agree (1 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

28 Feb 2010 14:10 AEST

Greg Turnbull

From: Richmond, NSW, Australia

--

I think part of the problem is that track cycling is not advertised properly. Most of the public have never seen an advertisement for the Masters or world championships and only know track cycling from the olympics. I never seens posters or televisions adds in NSW for these events. The only way I know when a track race is on is because I follow the cycling nsw website but even then information is scarce. As spectatator its is unusual find a price for the meet. That said I love to watch the track cycling and travel from my place to dunc gray (a 1 hour trip) regulary and if you have ever wanted to watch track racing go and see the winter raw racing hosted by Paul craft and then tell me it is not exciting. Watching the likes of the laws and carvers take on the experience oldies such as keith oliver. Never a dull moment.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

28 Feb 2010 13:51 AEST

Fred Pool

From: Melbourne

--

I've gone once Mat, a few years back at Revolution 2, with my wife. It was the night that Stuart O'grady made his come back. We also went to the Tour down under this year with my In laws, Cadel Evan and of corse lance. The family all had a great time at these events, but the key is big names and promotion. My family knows the Armstrongs, Evans, McEwans and O'grady. The problem is we need big names that non real cylcist fans will want to go see. We need more Australian heros and the media need to talk it up. We also need a Protour team, this will indirectly help. I have mentioned also before, SBS need to fire up, put a good quality TV show on, lets us know how the Aussies are travelling abroad. Unfortunately dont have Foxtel, so wont be seeing the new Cycling Australia show. LEAD THE WAY MAT

Agree (12 people agree)    Disagree (2 people disagree) Report this
 

27 Feb 2010 22:57 AEST

Matthew

From: Liverpool, England

--

Well, you have answered the question by likening the whole thing to 20 20. The 20 20 version of cricket is rubbish, and so is track cycling. I thought that the main point of cycling was to experience European culture. That's certainly why I started to take an interest. The roads of France and Spain take you to towns and cities rich in history and civilisation. Cycling is one branch of a great tree. Why sit inside a boring velodrome in front of a boring race when you can watch the glorious opening to Milan-San Remo ?? Velodrome cycling is useless and should be ignored.

Agree (4 people agree)    Disagree (11 people disagree) Report this
 

27 Feb 2010 11:02 AEST

Andy

From: Chester Hill Sydney

--

I live within 4km's of Dunc Grey, mad on MTB and road riding, i even have a racing license and I'm racing crits this year. I read in the local paper that there was free entry for spectators at the last masters so i thought I'd head down for a look without knowing much about it. I hung around and tried to figure what was going on. no program at the venue and no real explanation as to what was going on, no one seemed to know. No announcer if i remember right so i didn't know how many laps there were to go, what the format of the race was, who was the favorite, who was an ex champion. That would have piqued my interest; i felt sorry for the participants they deserved better, even their families would have trouble figuring out what was going on. I left a bit disappointed. At the basic you need a printed program, an commentator or at least a large screen that has a lap times, participants and countries/states. Want spectators, you need to start with fans and involve local cycling clubs more. You need to 'spell it out' to people or otherwise they might as well be watching wondering about the finer points of ice curling. Lastly you need some money to get this happening, no surprise I'm sure to the organizers and with an audience/a market to pitch to they should step up. I could see the volunteers doing their best but someone needs to get paid to get things really happening. The only industry rep was from poor old Hillbrick. Where's the involvement from all the other Companies? No where to be seen! What a piss poor effort from the industry side! They need to put back in a bit of what they are taking out. Where's the 'Giants' of the industry? Which brings me to my last point; the bikes. I don't have a fixed gear and there's only one place to ride one; the track. Every movement depends on its new members to revitalize. Perhaps manufacturers need to make entry level track bikes en masse to build track cycling up from the bottom. Hell there is a single speed 'street movement' culture that is ripe for plundering/marketing and cross pollination. Come on! You can't ride a BMX forever but it was still cool to see some older fellas giving it some stick on an eclectic range of old faithfuls even at an international level.

Agree (1 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

26 Feb 2010 14:10 AEST

Will

From: Mosman

--

I also think that unless you have raced track, it can seem hard to understand all the different events that are going on. I love racing track but it is a fair hike from my house. Also track can get a little repetitive for your average spectator - after all all they are do is going around and around - no hill climb or amazing descent, they are just always in the same position going around - where is the intrigue in that? I went along and watched the World Masters at Dunc Gray along with about 4 other spectators and it was a little difficult to get excited.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

26 Feb 2010 13:51 AEST

Eric

From: Melbourne

--

Matt, The thing we need to do is educate "Joe Public", I've invited different non cycling people from my work to attend track events at Hisense. Each and everyone of them thoroughly enjoyed the nights racing, and have been return patrons. It's a new experience for most, and we all have non cycling friends why not invite them along. Or a show like the old "Flashing Pedals" may create a bit of interest. We have velodromes in each state why not have state verses state televised. I'm sure sponsors would come on board.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

26 Feb 2010 13:27 AEST

Jason

From: Melbourne

--

Joel - How do you explain the ever increasing interstate and overseas crowds that come to our "little" TDU event? At last check, that is a fairly hefty cost outlay!

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

26 Feb 2010 0:24 AEST

Joel

From: Adelaide

--

One thing spectating road cycling has over the track is that it is free. Given this, it is more likely to encourage patronage from people who don't neccessarily follow pro cycling but just want to experience the spectacle of an event like the TDU or the TdF.

Agree (6 people agree)    Disagree (2 people disagree) Report this
 

25 Feb 2010 23:08 AEST

Dave

From: Melbourne

--

Great article, thank you for focusing on something which apparently needs our attention. Think you have the right idea in that something has to be riding on the result to get interest. That, or a major celebrity has to be present, lol. Interesting that quite a few of the current new road riders are still actively riding track - perhaps interviews of those guys (tied into a road event) that focus on why they love and still do track, would help. A TV special incorporating those interviews of track highlights in australia, broadcast right after (or before) the TdF would surely get viewers and attention for the sport, non?

Agree (2 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 
Display: 20 | 40 | All comments per page
Previous 10 | Page 1 | 2 | Next 10

Join the discussion

You have characters remaining.
Validation (
) :
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.