Fairclough Leads the way for World Cup Changes
Brendan Fairclough isn’t a man backwards in coming forwards so it’s probably no surprise that he some strong thoughts on the future of where World Cup DH should be going
LifeProof Rider Brendan Fairclough has made his thoughts clear on the number of riders competing at a World Cup. He believes that by reducing the number to 30 of the very fastest riders in the world the course can be made much more challenging and in turn will be more exciting to spectators and TV viewers.
As far as the layout of the sport goes, in my opinion I’d like to see less athletes, so at the moment we have 80+ athletes taking to the track, I’d prefer to see 30 of the fastest athletes competing. By only having the fastest and most technical riders on the tracks we can make the courses way crazier and gnarlier with bigger jumps, steeper tracks with overall just faster more competitive runs. This would make the event even better for TV and commercials, plus it would make all of us racers step up our game.
I’m not sure that things will change that quickly, but I’d definitely like to see the sport pushed towards this. It will make things more exciting for everyone and hopefully show outside sponsors how much the world cup has to offer and allow them to get involved.
He’d also like to see more rounds on the calendar and thinks that by utilising North American territory there are at least an extra 5 or 6 more rounds on the cards.
In terms of locations I’d really like to see a lot more North American rounds. As I feel that we really utilize the landscape of Europe with the 5 or 6 rounds we have here. Especially with the US having the biggest mountain bike scene and it only hosting one event in Quebec, Canada. There are so many gnarly locations that can host event. Then in general I’d love see more rounds, at the moment we have 7 or 8 rounds, but we’re all able for 12 or 14 events without burning out.”
He definitely makes some good points and few are as passionate about the sport as Brendan so are his points worth consideration? Will a reduction in entrants improve the overall product or will it potentially damage the sport long term and remove the chance for upcoming young riders to compete on the worlds biggest stage?
Source – Lifeproof