As AusCycling was coming into being, there was a search conducted to find a new CEO for the fledgling organisation that was trying to meld together all Road and Track, BMX, and Mountain biking national bodies into one national body.
That merger still hasn’t been achieved, WestCycle, the West Australian representative body, are maintaining their own operations at this stage, but there’s been a lot of work done integrating the disciplines and state bodies to the ‘one cycling model’ touted during the AusCycling process.
Fechner was recruited from her successful time as Netball Australia CEO to fill the AusCycling CEO position, coming from off the experience of hosting the Netball World Cup and building broadcast revenues within the sport.
Marne Fechner talked to SBS Cycling Central extensively for a two part-interview that touched on many aspects of where the sport is heading in Australia, discussing first what attracted her to the role.
“I wasn’t looking to leave my previous job,” said Fechner, “this was an opportunity that came about and I was fortunate enough to be offered it. Both netball and cycling have a strong connection with community and a long, proud history of high performance.
“They were things that I looked in what I value in sport - what gets me out of bed in the morning – that role that sport plays in a healthy Australia. Not just physical health but mental health, and I think cycling goes further than that with environmental health.”
Much of the opening few months – what Fechner refers to as ‘the first 100 days’ - was spent identifying the current culture and operation of cycling and asking fundamental questions about the future direction of the sport.
“It not being a sport that I’ve been a part of at any level before – I thought it was important to respect those within the sport, have those conversations and listen.
“From there, it was identifying what I needed to focus on as CEO – pinning on and bedding down – for the rest of the year in the implementation of AusCycling. Understanding where the pain points were and overcoming those with the community.
“The team has undergone a massive amount of change and we’ve gone about trying to mesh all the cultures from the different organisations into one. It’s been a refresh of the organisations. Thinking about questions like ‘why do we exist? Who do we serve? What’s our strategy’.
“We talk about Strategy 2032, it’s three cycles (Olympic cycles) and it’s when Australia may have a chance to host the Olympic Games (this interview was conducted before Brisbane was confirmed as the 2032 Olympics host). There’s lots happening, there’s a huge amount of excitement and energy around what’s happening at present.”
The Olympics have long played an important role in funding Cycling Australia and now that looks set to continue with AusCycling and the potential for an increased push from government heading into the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. While that has been a boon for cycling, it has led to an intense focus on the Olympics, with much of the funding from Sport Australia going straight to the Australian Cycling Team high performance program.
That team mostly focuses on the track because of the number of medals available there and the way that the money can be spent on refining performance and technical edges, while road, mountain bike and BMX are a bit more chaotic and unreliable in their outcomes. That has seen programs like the women’s development team on the road cease to exist since Simon Jones’ tenure as the Performance Director for the Australian Cycling Team, a project that almost all the current WorldTour riders in the women’s peloton had participated in.
Sport Australia funding has been based on the likelihood of gold medals through performances at key events like world championships, and it seems like there’s little changing in this regard at the top of the sport.
“There are a number of major milestone events in our annual and four-year cycle. The Olympics and Paralympics are important for us in that cycle,” said Fechner. “I’m optimistic about our candidature for the Brisbane 2032 and you’d have to think that the Olympics are going to play a major part all the way into 2032.
“I think the Olympics and the way that’s evolving will continue to be important, as will Commonwealth Games and world championships. Our commitment to event delivery could bring some really exciting events to Australia.
“I think it will be a real mix, the Olympics are not the only thing but they are an important thing. For those weeks every four years we are glued to the television for the Olympics and then the Paras.”
The next big international event for Australia is the 2022 road world championships in Wollongong, but while there was excitement around the initial, secretive bid that surprised many within Australian cycling that secrecy has remained and there’s very little information to capture public attention about the lead into the world in Wollongong at present.
“I’m fortunate to have a bit of insight into how the organising team is operating,” said Fechner. “They’re growing and as the build-up hits those milestones – one year out is coming – we’ll see those announcements about the course.
“There’s not a lot known about it at the moment, there has been a recent relaunch around brand and story, but having been down in Wollongong, it’s definitely not a secret down there. It will be one of the biggest events they’ve ever hosted down there.”
The key for Fechner is using the glitz and glamour of the world championships to promote cycling in general, not just road racing, to the next generation and build a legacy from the event.
“As we get past the Olympics, we’ll start to focus on the next horizon and start to build out our legacy programs in a number of different communities and schools,” said Fechner. “The opportunity for these events is to inspire the next generation of riders and while it is a road event, from an AusCycling perspective, we’re looking to utilise it for much more in this country.”
That grassroots connection with participation and elite sport is something that netball does very well. While stating that the level of star domestic athlete interaction with juniors isn’t possible to the same extent seen in netball, with many Australian professionals based overseas, Fechner has an optimistic outlook about engagement within cycling.
“That connection is always important,” said Fechner. “The way that netball athletes committed to making themselves available in the community was one of the strengths of that sport. I don’t think that it’s something that’s not part of cycling’s culture, I just think that with riders relocating to US and Europe when they train and race, it’s a challenge that we have about how we create those connections.
“I think it’s possible but very different from netball where we had the best domestic competition in the world and attracted the best athletes for a large portion of the year.”
Fechner answered a lot of questions with positivity for all aspects of cycling, there weren’t many prioritisations to the detriments of other aspects flagged, rather it was about growing all aspects of the community as a whole, reflecting on the connection between the elite side and grassroots participation.
“It’s not just participation, it’s fandom as well,” said Fechner. “We want more people riding bikes in a way that brings them health, happiness and connection. It’s not one or the other, it’s both.
“We have the challenge of finding out what makes community clubs tick, how we can put them in a better position to do their job well and even how we can evolve their thinking. Sport has always been about competition, and yes there will always be a cohort that loves competition.
“In cycling, there’s an even bigger cohort that has that connection between riding for health and wellbeing. I think our clubs can play an important role in building community in that. For us, it’s about unlocking them and helping them monetise that.
“We play a role in schools, in bike education and teaching kids how to ride safely. We play an important role from an advocacy role around infrastructure. We probably haven’t had as strong a voice in the safety space, but we partner closely with the Amy Gillett foundation.”
Cycling Australia didn’t have a strong presence in cycling advocacy at a state or federal level, but the new AusCycling body is looking at new ways to expand its influence in the community, with new options on the table and in discussion currently.
“I think we’ll have an expanded remit around AusCycling to examine all those areas that we can have an impact,” said Fechner. “Increasingly, now that we are AusCycling we can have national programs that are instituted into communities, we can build brand recognition, we can have national commercial partners in place and start to build scale across that community.
“We’ve seen the success of programs like Auskick in AFL, Net-Set-Go in netball and these are programs for kids that build connections with the sport, a lifetime of participation, and a fandom with the sport.”
“That’s part of the refresh process, we’re looking at where cycling sits within the sport and recreation ecosystem and what will rise to the top. I won’t give any specific ideas, but that’s the beauty of the process that we’re part of at the moment, we don’t have to be limited by what we’ve thought before.
“This is about the impact that AusCycling can have for people enjoying riding bikes in this country.”
While there are few promises or commitments at this stage, it is a promising start to a new collaborative approach to the sport of cycling within Australia, with Fechner an engaged and dynamic presence at the helm.
This was Part 1 of the interview with Marne Fechner – Part 2 will focus on diversity within the sport, government relations and diversifying revenue streams for AusCycling.
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