southerndownhill.com - Forum

Pics of the penultimate WC track, pics are a bit poor but I cant wait for this  ;D this years racing has been so tight!

http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/events/canberra-wc-exclusive-spy-shots/dirt-1231838.html


Who's going to take the overall?!

looks good but i think those points there are wrong as i have here that
Hill is on 1020
Minnaar-974
Gee-877
peat-822

r.atherton-1083
jonnier-1000
mosely-876

Yeah i watched an  recent interweiw of kovarikand he mentioned him holding onto his top 5...

and does the canberra track hav any woods or is it all wide open....

RENNIE for the win :)

that track looks pretty flat out! will be down to big pedalers i say, minarr or rennie for me...

or Peaty  :)

        1    2    HILL Samuel       AUS19850721    MER    1020    
     2    1    MINNAAR Greg       RSA19811113    SCB    974    
     3    3    ATHERTON Gee       GBR19850226    ANC    877    
     4    4    PEAT Steve       GBR19740617    SCB    822    
     5    7    KOVARIK Chris       AUS19780301    CRC    463    
     6    5    BAREL Fabien       FRA19800726    SUB    459    
     7    9    BLENKINSOP Samuel       NZL19881028    YET    451    
     8    6    CAMELLINI Julien       FRA19840107    CRC    437    
     9    8    LEOV Justin       NZL19841020    YET    436    
     10    10    RENNIE Nathan       AUS19810531    SCB    373

Current standings, the first lot posted were the overall UCI points of each rider at the moment.

Orge.

Cheers, edited my post! Thought I might have got it wrong as the UCI site is a bit pants!!

Where did you find that on the UCI site?

Liking the look of the track, looks like its all flat out!...also everythings the same colour so i reckon a few people are gonna get lost in practise  ;D

The 4x looks awesome, just dug straight out of the earth. Should be good to watch.

This WC live on freecaster as usual?

just read on dirt site that bryceland has broken his collarbone clean in two. will be hard for him to get the junior overall being 50 points infront and only doing shladming now...

i read somewhere that theres normally trees but they all got burned by a forest fire or something

is it this weekend?

How many points do you get for coming 1st, 2rd, 3rd- 10th.

Qualify first is 50 points...

Winning is 200 points...


not sure bout the rest, probably on the UCI site...

qualifying:
1st-50
2nd-40
3rd-30

race:
1st-200
2nd-180
3rd- 160

i think thats how the top 3 go but correct me if i'm wrong

Jst got this from dirt:   Just been checking the race entries for Canberra and they seem well down. I counted 71 for the blokes and 21 for the women. I'm not sure how qualifying will work, usually it's the top 80. Will all 71 automatically qualify? Will it be a percentage of all entries? Will more turn up on the day?


there goes qualifying!!

Anyone know what time (our time) the race will be shown?

http://freecaster.tv/1000006_1005474

I'm guessing half 5 pm! for the dh anyway

(GB Time)

Says Sat August 30th at 11am for me...

Orge.

That'l be 4x, Aussie's are 11 hour's ahead of us (i think)

So the 4x will be at 11pm (dont quote me)

4X is 11am saturday
dh is 6:30am sunday

Thats our time

Correct that it is the 4X, however freecaster works by your computer's internal clock, so it'll be on exactly when it says it's on onscreen. Hence why on a fresh install of WinXP it told me the race was in 300 days or so  ::).

s**t, so I have to get up at 7am to catch the end of the downhill :(.

Orge.

This is going to be sick.

care to elaborate?

yeah... tis gonna be like all other wc's without the pressure of qualifying...

Thank god the track doesnt suit hill though cos if it did we could all stop guessing who's gonna win the overall......

surely there will still be qualifying to get the running order for the finals

Yeah it will still happen but everybody will qualify cos there are 80 places in the final and only 71 riders...

As Marc Beaumont said today, if they can have a World Cup here they could have one in Shrewsbury...

Anthill is the word on most peoples lips.

Huh???

I think he's impying there isn't much gradient to the hill  :D

Ha ha, it looks rather 'remote' from the pictures i've seen so far.  Is it the venue for the Worlds next year?
With the amount of high profile riders from Australia they really ought to have a round I suppose?

I think so yeah...

And is there a chairlift cos its quite a small hill and i aint seen one... Plus im guessing that area doesnt get many skiers :D

No, bus uplift...

http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/videos/dirt-tv-canberra-world-cup-day-1/dirt-1231849.html

The question on everyones lips is will Rob Warner be commentating again?!

ISnt the question on everyones lips
"why have we travelled half way around the world for a course with such a small height drop"

I heard its 210metres vertical and a 3 minute course - that makes it very very pedally  usually wc courses drop 150-200 metres/minute

thats the same as cwmcarn ...

and theres no chairlift at the track....

Cwmcarn world cup, thinking of that... Dunkeld would be way better to

ha dunkeld you drop about half the hill in one crash. I could imagine the state of wheel from pros running 20ish psi ::)

Matti Lehikoinen has broken both of his wrists in a crash :(

He's having a great time of it lately isn't he.....

No way! So gutted for Matti. he was starting to really pin it again as well....

he might have done his collar bone too....

new vid up on dirt website, quick interview with matti after the crash...

Unluckiest man in dh rite now ?

yeh, definately, he is like what Tyler Klassen was like on drop in season 3- one injury straight after the next.

Anyone else noticed the "live webcast cancelled, videos coming soon" on freecaster?

Not sure whether mtbcut are showing it...

Yeh I noticed that. Anyone know where to get other live footage???


Cheers

Lew Buchanan

was just about to post that but you beat me to it

Anyone know where to get other live footage???

No where, from one of the other live sites:

By engineering problems to launch the images vidéos during races VTT cross-country race country, it n' there will not have emissions on line at August 30, 2008. Thus the two races cross-country race country and the final of 4X will not be emitted on line. The race of Descent at August 31 n' d' is already not sure; to be transmitted either, but more d' information later


(Translated from french ;))

ahhhhhhhhhhh, freecaster's stopped working, summin about live webcast canceled, is there anywere else to watch it?????

Erm, did you see the two posts above you?  ::)

its funny how there are quite a few aussie riders and they make it to as many of the WC's as possible, but as soon as there is one in Australia hardly anyone turns up and says it's too far to travel

All Aussie 4x final kind of proves you wrong :D

Caroline Buchanan and Jared Graves from australia take the 4x wins

sorry, i didn't mean hardly any ausies turn up, i mean people from europe ect. can't make the trip to australia whereas the aussies make the trips to europe for the world cups there

what about dan ?
J

got some unofficial results in, looks like Affy in 10th

http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/events/canberra-wc-4x-final-results/dirt-1231859.html

Mens final is on freecaster now

awesome graves won! kinda makes up for worlds and the olympics. And the world champs are in canberra in 2009! could be his year!

where was alvarez though?

havin a pasty ;D
J

fair enough

Is the live feed working now then?

edit: nice BMX track... :P

that is what i was going to say  :'(
J

Probably why the top 5 were Aussie BMXers  :D

any body now when the live feed is on  ?

Well, its pissing with rain, and has been all day...

Syndicate qualified 123, with Greg in front of Steve and Nathan.

Filip Polc qualified 5th which is his best DH result in a long time.

Nothing much else to report really, it's all a bit flat...

is the live feed back up and working for the dh? when does it start?

Anybody find a live feed anywhere???

This is bloody bollocks, been waiting all month for this, would be nice if they actualy confirmed whats going on

So is this not working ? Luckily its 11pm where i am so no sleep lost :P

Well the womens results seem to be up on the UCI website already!!:

http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTUzNDM

Here's how the standings are looking in the women's after Canberra...


1    1    ATHERTON Rachel    GBR19871206    ANC    1283    
2    2    JONNIER Sabrina       FRA19810819    TMX    1170    
3    3    MOSELEY Tracy       GBR19790412    KBC    1117    
4    4    RAGOT Emmeline       FRA19860527    SCT    776    
5    6    GRIFFITHS Fionn       GBR19820827    NWT    689    
6    5    PUGIN Floriane       FRA19890417    PIH    652


Bit of a bigger gap between Rachel and Sabrina now.

any clue as to whats happening in the mens?cant find anything anywhere,although the UCI site may have something but my computer hates uci.ch

http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/events/canberra-wc-minnaar-takes-the-win/dirt-1231864.html

minnaar 1
rennie 2
gee 3

mens elite was

Minnaar (won by 5 secs)
Rennie
Gee
Barel
Kovarik
Neethling
Peaty

Hill 11th !!

Strong aussie contingent with Atkinson and Rando, Rennie and Kovarik. With Hill losing major points here schladming will be an ace finish to the season. Hill will probably win it, but will it be enough with GM's lead? and Gee could even nick it as he has won there too.

Peat 7th but on the same second as 4th. So it would seem a reverse of his good fortune in Maribor.

thats brilliant!Rennie finally getting up to what he should be,Barel and Kovaric also podiuming. SOO happy to see Bryn Atkinson finally break the top 10

anyone got the current overall mens standings?

i can't get on the UCI website

UCI Website is down...nice. My calculation is this:

GM - 1224
Hill - 1108
Gee - 1034
Peaty - 952
Barel probably 5th on 609 (Don't have Kovarik's semi result)

With a 116 point lead going into Schladming, if Hill wins both Semi and Final, GM needs top 4 in semi, and top 5 in final.

cheers for that.

if minnaar plays it safe he should take the overall, and worlds next year is looking bright for him

minnaar might not have hill's record at schladming but he still has a pretty decent record. 3rd last year, 3rd year before. I would think he'll be okay for the overall now.

Hill must be gutted, that course did look really pedally and not his style, doesn't look good for the worlds next year either.

Great result for rennie though.

Minnaars run is on freecaster, Very impressive if you ask me, pedalling the whole way down. Deffinately favoured the clipped in riders though as the last 500metres of the track is like a motorway. Still, would of expected hill to pull something out of the bag in his home country.

Schladming is going to be very close for the mens and womans by the looks of things.

So when will we be able to watch the race?

Well i imagine dirt will have a video of the highlights. And freecaster will have videos of the fast guys runs (minnaars is already there!).

Holy cow Greg was on it! That's majorly impressive.

Track looked s**t in the wet though, really sticky...

Seems World Cups have gone from being steep last year to anthills this year though... :-\

nice one greg, proper on the power there.

that last bit really is as flat as 10 year old....looks pretty crap to be honest.

haha

agreed, was more xc :P

i wouldnt go that far

Mmmm, Surely they would have found the steepest drifty-est hill in Oz, Which you couldn't ride anything but flats down, Preferably in the rainiest part of the country. 

Who won the womens?

Did anyone else find the commentary pretty funny in places?

"He's the only rider from....... S..... ah South Africa!"

mosely

They were obviously doing their best to live up to Warner but failed

"rennie must be shitting in his daks"

Was there any real point in the last section? I realise the tracks cant all be mega steep evil stuff but that track looked so poor!

my god minnaar looks soo shattered by the end of the last section.

how come warner wasnt commentating?

Might have something to do with it being on the other side of the planet..

there is that i suppose

pretty much so it wasnt under a 2 minute track. i know overall skill and strength come into dh racing, but that last section wasn't really indicative of whoever had the best bike handling skills. pointless.

Yeah but it did seperate the fit riders from the unfit buggers who cant pedal. I think the motorway section was a good call personally.

You are in a minority of one...

Your point?...

The view of someone who was there....

Looked absolutely gash to me as well.  World Cup at Moelfre next year anyone?

Rootes

does that mean 3focus will contain not just the European world cups then?


thats just what i was thinking, crappy uphill section in the middle of the track.

I'm sure they'll confirm, but I'm fairly sure they've been to all the World Cups this year.  Branching out.

They were sleeping in a Canadian airport last time I heard...

Rootes

Has anyone else seen the picture of the womens downhill podium and rachels mini protest against skin suits. Sore loser if you ask me.

I very much doubt it, her and traymo are good friends.

More like a bit of a piss take and a private joke?!

Rootes

yeh, she was smiling at the same time so it was clearly a Joke.

+ on a powerfull track like this Rach should be super stoked she even got second as she isn't really that powerfull compared to some of the other women

If any top DHer wasn't a sore loser they'd all be s**t! ;)

I think the most depressing thing is...World Champs 2009.  Canberra.  Same track?  WTF?

Rootes

is it definately the same track?

or are there other tracks there

it is that track for worlds, oh dear indeed. Was there even 80 riders in EM?



Considering it was mega pedally, i'm surpised rennie did so well, he did look like he was dying to sit down at the end though.


It would have been a syndicate 123 if peaty hadn't been blown off that last jump, he would probably be 2nd as his split was the same as rennies and i reckon he will have out-pedalled the austrailian.

Anyone know what happened to hill?

hills never been a strong pedally rider so he would have lots so much time on the last section.

But surly 9 secs. Something could have been wrong, maybe a ,little crash

A similar thing happened at the German round at Willingen a few years ago, Hill didn't get on with the course, his time reflected that.

Orge.

so basically if he's good on the track then he's really good.

but if he's not that good, then he's pretty crap (for him)  :D

ABOUT the track.... joking aside.. why isnt there a Glencoe or Inners Wc..

because there is fort william.

and i think they might have a round at inners when the chair lift comes.

so... canada had 2 wc's....

and the last wc didnt hav a chairlift

If that's the same track they end up using for the 2009 world champs Peaty will be in with a good chance.

xc riders will have a good chance

His shoe probably came off, thats everyones excuse for everything out here rite now its classic

You're forgetting Canada is a mahusive country with mahusive mountains

And the uk is a mint country with.. well the best riders...( world champs 08)..lol

and loads and loads of mint tracks....

Oh and why isnt there a wc at val di sol??? that was  loved by everybody??

there used to be one at PIla which is the same place

No it isn't!!!

I always read here comments like "why isn't a race here, or why isn't one there, or why did they pick that date or track etc etc". There is so much that goes into this. It's not just a matter of picking a venue and date and popping over there and doing a World Cup.

For one, you need an organiser and venue that wants to do it and can afford to do it. They also need to be approved by the National Federation (and this can stop many good events). These things are expensive, and they need funding. You also need organisers that are good enough to do it, not just some dude that reckons he can hold a bike race in them thar hills. Then you need to meet UCI contract requirements, Nissan's requirements, local town requirements (is there hotel space, is there another major event in the region that weekend etc etc). Then you need to have a date and travel path that works for the teams, riders, media etc.

In many cases in the past 10 years, there has been only ONE venue bidding for the World Championships. So the UCI has a choice, go there, or not have a Worlds. There have been some decisions about dates and venues in the past for World Cups that haven't made sense to the outside world, but I can guarantee you it's not the UCI wanting to shoot itself in the foot, it is some behind the scenes detail like the ones above that we don't get told all the time. I have been privy to most of the date allocations and venue choices, and 95% have been pretty logical.

There are unfortunately some venues that we have lost due to the f*cking idiots that reckon it's cool after or during the race parties to go on a destruction spree, breaking sh*t all up and down the village. The locals just say enough is enough. If we keep sh*tting in our own nest, the list of potential venues will get smaller, that is a proven fact, we've seen them come and go. DH has a reputation, sorry to say, thanks to about a dozen fools who screw it up for most.

Anyway....just wanted you guys to know that there is lot more than meets the eye.