dan Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 (edited) I've been watching over a lot of the videos from the 2006 indoor series (from Eurosport) and I keep noticing mention of the Spanish Indoor Nationals, on the Spanish rounds it was even mentioned that the riders had ridden the sections before in the Nationals?! If this is true (and I must admit, I don't really trust anything from Jack Burnicle's commentary) it makes it pretty clear why the Spanish are dominating the indoor series these days: when riders like Bou have had a chance to be competing indoors for several seasons before being unleashed on the world circuit it's no wonder he's come out winning things straight away (and no wonder Dabill is struggling to keep up without that sort of backing). So what I can't quite understand is why there is no UK Indoor series? Surely the massive crouds descending on Sheffield and Hawkstone Park show there is an audience over here, and while one would assume these audiences would drop off if the events were more regular they should still be sustainable? Has anyone looked into the feasability of running such a thing, or is it even already running in such a low key manner that I've not even heard of it? I'm guessing the stock answer here is going to be the unwillingness of the ACU to invest in something like this, but I can see a lot of use for such a thing. Not just to entertain us and train our young riders for world indoors, but indoor trials should also help teach the kind of trick riding skills that are becoming essential in the outdoor series these days (especially as several sections per round are essentially indoor sections in the open air) as well as helping the riders get used to big crowds watching. Apologies if this is a topic that's been discussed before, I did try a search but couldn't come up with anything relevant in there. I'd be happy to be pointed to a previous discussion on the subject. Edited August 23, 2006 by dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judyf Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 99% of what jack burrnicle says is rubbish but, it is true that the sections used in the spanish indoors are the same as used in the world indoors (in spain) but spain do have 4 indoors in a season to our 1 or ireland 2. they even use the same sections in the outdoors! in the man made sections, they move the sections around but mostly stay the same, so when bou, raga, albert and jeroni ride in the barcelona and madrid indoors they have already ridden the sections about 20 times before! an indoor series would be good for the sport but there would be a problem with venues and funding, trials in spain gets about as much interest in spain as like football does over here, so they can get the crowds to pay for it, even if every person who went to hawkstone came to all the indoors in the u.k that still wouldnt be enough to fund a season, would be good tho . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabie Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 as above, if there was a business case for it then it would probably have already been done. Northern Ireland reeives state aid, thus making hawkstone and shefield the only private promotions - and while they may be "packed" does that still equate to a business case for running a second one. as to why the ACU aren't supporting this idea - WTF do you think the ACU are ??? Why should my (average joe public trials rider) money (If the T&E committee had any spare) be wasted on proping up a comercial event for top riders who get paid, etc, etc .................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Ok, perhaps I over-estimated the size of the Hawkstone/Sheffield crowds. I had thought I'd heard someone say that the Hawkstone crowd was one of the (if not the) biggest on the WTC circuit, hence why I guessed we had enough audience to run such an event. WTF do you think the ACU are ??? Why should my (average joe public trials rider) money (If the T&E committee had any spare) be wasted on proping up a comercial event for top riders who get paid Woah! There's no need for such an agressive response. I don't believe I ever actually said I thought the ACU should pay for such an event, I merely said that I expected the standard response to my post to be "the unwillingness of the ACU to invest in something like this" (as seems to be the general reason given for most problems in UK trials). Not only did I not say that I thought that the ACU should pay for it, but I never even brought up the subject directly - invest does not just mean money you know. I agree that the ACU shouldn't finance such an event, hence why I was talking about the feasability of it as a business venture. I'm certainly not convinced that the fact something doesn't already exist means it is unfeasable, it just means no-one has done it yet. Which isn't to say I think it IS feasable, but that that particular argument for it's unfeasability is invalid. Perhaps it was poorly worded, but this topic was intended to garner the opinion as to the feasability of such an idea; so far either you're both rather cynical or the general consensus is that it isn't feasable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabie Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 sorry I've written a long (ish) reply on another thread here which was ACU bashing and a few days ago i wrote a large essay on ACU bashing on an MX forum - I'm a little cheesed off and at the end of my tether - i assumed to much that invest meant the ACU had millions to spend on every little whim as some people may/do imagine it does - i apologise it has been asked many a time and most recently earlier this year why Supercross has failed to take off in the UK. MX is obviously (well it thinks it is) bigger than trials and has more companies (ie sponsors) involved, etc, etc - yet at best a few arenas can be filled at great expense, with lots of crap racing. when a true stadium is used it either rains and becomes a mud bath or the crowd doesn't turn up to make it viable. i think the best they got in the 70,000 seater millennium stadium in Cardiff was 10,000 - its not worth it. speaking from a major clubs point of view with a large and extensive background in event promotion there has to be an economical business case for it. the promoter would have to hire an arena, build the sections and dismantle at speed. you would then have to be pretty sure you can get a crowd. Hawkstone and Sheffield are the only two real event in trials where the crowd has to pay - it would take a brave promoter to try a third event much less a series although the idea has much merit and possibility Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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