Nothing happens by accident here
AS I sit and type this week's column, I am sitting on a verandah staring out over a beautiful cabbage field next to the Absa Cape Epic course and trying to recover from another hectic day's work.
The past week I have been working with the Epic media team providing stories and news from the race, and it has given me a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into what happens at what is quite possibly the greatest mountain bike event in the world.
I am lucky enoughto have ridden the Epic twice, and thought I had an idea of how it operated, but this week I have seen why the race is such an ... I have to say it, epic event.
The Epic will always have its detractors, and it has to be said that I think there are a few issues that could be done better, but generally the organisers probably get about 95% of it right. And the other five percent is either out of their control, or still normally handled better than probably any other race in the country.
There are 1 350 entrants in the event. Most are from overseas and a significant number are elite riders who are among the best mountain bikers and cyclists in the world – including both men's and women's Olympic champions, a Tour de France winner, a 14-stage winner from Grand Tours, another stage winner from the Tour de France, and a few other current and former world champions and loads of national champions.
Outside of World Cups and World Championships, I would say it is rare for a cycling event to attract so many cycling superstars – and next year, with the race a week after a World Cup cross country event in Cape Town, there may be an even more stellar field.
In the race village tonight there are over 3 000 official people, including the riders. In other words, there is more than one official/worker/ helper for every rider.
So what have I seen that has wowed me the most?
Because I am working in the media centre that has been my focus and the official Epic media team is impressively large and focussed on covering a myriad aspects of the race.
Every day the official media team produces a men's and a women's race report, a combined general wrap of the elite racing, a story on the race to be the first African team and the Exxaro development prize, as well as other colour stories and general interest stories, a daily newsletter and handle any specific requests from some newspapers / websites or publications.
The TV-specific media are doing a live streaming broadcast each day and then also producing a series of pieces for broadcast and online distribution, while a completely separate team from a German company is handling the international broadcast needs – basically sorting out the needs of overseas broadcast media (and remember, this is the most televised mountain bike event in the world, and evidently that includes World Cups and World Championships).
But a large portion of the media team is also concentrating on producing "live" feeds. Besides the Twitter feed, Facebook feed and other social media needs, one writer does nothing for five to eight hours each day other than type and update the live news feed. He takes copy and pictures from spotters, helpers and friends all over the route, race village and even the official race helicopter and puts them on a live news "ticker". In five hours on Thursday he posted more than 200 "posts" ... that works out at a post every two minutes on average, and the site was being watched by almost 5 000 people for long periods of time.
Besides our team, there are probably 60 or so other journalists / photographers and TV crews providing content for their specific employers – including CNN by the way!
Outside the media, I have been impressed by the incredible attention to detail in everything that happens.
As and example: as the leaders cross the line they are ushered into a "mixed zone" limited to the top riders, their teams, media and Saids. Here, there are towels for cleaning, cold water and drinks, but the moment the third team crosses the line, somebody starts a clock which ticks away for exactly 15 minutes. During this time, as the top three riders and the overall race leaders are frantically cleaning off the day's dirt, mud and grime, dealing with the Saids needs and changing into clean sponsors' clothing, an usher is counting down: "15 minutes", "12 minutes"; "Nine minutes"; "Five minutes"; "Two minutes"; "One minute"; and finally, "The following riders must report to the presentation area immediately: Songo, Scott, Centurion 2, and Cannondale."
And off the six riders, pretty presentation girl, hunky presentation man and the day's jersey presenter go to the podium for the day's prize presentation, exactly on time.