A tough MTB decision

The decision by Cycling Australia to reduce funding to the MTB XC high performance program was a difficult but necessary one, writes Philip Gomes.

I was as surprised as any cycling fan would be in hearing the news of Cycling Australia's decision to reduce funding for the Tasmanian based high performance cross country mountain bike program.

But on reflection it shouldn't come as a surprise, sports administration in Australia is not getting any easier in an increasingly tough financial climate - in fact it's about to get a lot harder.

But as Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) pointed out in a press release, support for the Olympic and World Championship program is still intact, and though reduced, there is still some support for a few key athletes identified as real prospects.

The hard headed calculus by CA is frankly the right one if you look at the sport as an elite endeavour, which is their specific brief. CA is there to help athletes bring home medals at the elite international level for Australia.

So they made the decision, "in the belief there are limited Olympic medal prospects for London 2012 within mountain biking." It may hurt, but it is true.

As Tony Scott, Mountain Bike Australia's executive officer, said of the announcement, "Although the reduction in funding for our high performance program is disappointing MTBA remains committed to supporting our elite riders and providing a pathway to the elite level of the sport.

"A key part of that is the current four round national series, the national championships and state series run by our member clubs.

"The national series has always been an important stepping stone for riders with ambitions to race on the international stage and has been the proving ground for some of Australia's best cyclists, across any discipline of the sport, including Cadel Evans and Trent Lowe."

Clearly the athletes won't be abandoned but they will have to be more resourceful and self-reliant if they want to go on to the big show.

Though not directly linked, I think in the wake of the recently released Crawford Report into sport, this decision by CA is one we're going to have to get used to now, the Government (and sporting organisations) is not a bottomless pit of money from which you build athletic excellence - at the elite level we're going to have to pick winners.

It's also possible that Australian cycling fans may have to get used to seeing our riders bringing home the gold a bit less often. And I think we need to have a serious discussion in this country on how we view sport in society.

The Crawford Report, raised a ruckus because it dared to suggest we redirect our sporting resources toward mass participation rather than elite successes - all in the name of a healthier and fitter population.

I think it a difficult position to argue against but I also think cycling (and mountain biking) is in a perfect position to fulfill exactly that function.

And certainly when you look at the mass participation of riders in Enduro events, the sport of mountain biking has a fantastic base that will keep the sport alive and vibrant despite this momentary monetary setback at the elite level.

MTBA's Scott was also keen to point out this strength explaining that, "the strengths of mountain biking remain, regardless of government funding."

In fact, the sport has seen strong growth at a grass roots level and with MTBA showing 10 per cent annual growth in membership numbers over the past four years.

MTBA goes on to note that the success of riders like current 4X world champion Jared Graves and dual downhill world champion Sam Hill occurred outside an elite program.

So while we can be momentarily disappointed by this, we also have to understand CA's difficult decision and back ourselves - as the success of Jared Graves and Sam Hill show, it may be harder but there is more than one pathway to gold.