Behind the mic
The juggling act OF live race commentary
Career wise, I’ve done all sorts of things to make a living. Sales assistant at Marks and Spencer, full time amateur cyclist in France, continental pro cyclist and riding the Giro before being briefly on the dole and then 13 years in the police. Now I’m a television sports commentator. Phew… The only objective I ever really had was to turn pro. I did that, albeit late, but the rest of it has just unfolded quite randomly. My life is what it is and I’m very happy with the way things have turned out for me on a professional level. In fact, I feel very privileged doing what I do, which is essentially talking about my true passion – bike racing.
My commentating career is still in its nascent stages so I’m making mistakes and still have a lot to learn. But it’s fantastic fun. After every live race, I’m left on an emotional high after ‘living’ the final few hectic kilometres. I’m writing this still buzzing after commentating for three hours on a riveting, high octane Paris-Roubaix.
Aside from a brief cameo with Hugh Porter for the BBC at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the first time I did any TV was at the Tour Series in 2012 where I was working for the organisers Sweetspot. Mick Bennett gave me the opportunity to chat with Ned Boulting to discuss the technical nature of the course and when my efforts went down well with the producers, from then on through the series I found myself in a dual role as ITV pundit and technical advisor. I was a little nervous at first but the key to my transition was how relaxed Ned made me feel. I was able to forget about the camera and just simply talk about what I knew and loved about the sport.
Exp laining th e nuanced intricacies of ta ctics can be a cha llenge. The key is to keep th ings simp le with out being condescending
That led to Ned and myself continuing the partnership through to the Tour of Britain, where I’ve been the regular pundit for the last two years. The knack is striking a balance between satisfying everyone from the cycling geek to viewers new to the sport. Explaining the nuanced intricacies of tactics, for example, can be a challenge. The key is to keep things simple without being condescending. The ITV work opened doors and I was soon covering the Premier Calendar and Elite Criterium Series on Eurosport. Since juggling police and TV work wasn’t sustainable, last summer I took a calculated risk and took the plunge into doing punditry full-time. Within a few weeks I had my first live gig co-commenting on the Arctic Race of Norway with Carlton Kirby. Carlton is remarkably adept at commanding the show and I learnt an immense amount from him over those few days, including some Norwegian.
When working from Eurosport’s studios in Feltham a typical day starts with arriving two hours before live transmission. Beforehand I will have read up on the race as social media has made pro cycling news move at a frantic pace. We also have access to all relevant race documentation, including start lists, road book and GC. With this to hand we then make notes on the key riders plus the course. While doing this, we’ll keep an eye on the race feed – if we have one – or the internet to note breakaways and abandonments.
Fifteen minutes before we go live, we sit in our booth – a 2m X 3m room with three TV monitors on a long desk with control panels for adjusting sound and picture input. With 10 minutes to go, we do a sound check with our producers and then (hopefully) watch a live feed before being counted in to the live coverage. The producers are in our headphones for the entire time, counting us in and out of ad breaks and features. The rest is up to us!
I’ve worked with a few other commentators now and they all bring something unique to the role. The essential ingredient is a passion for the sport and a capacity to engage the viewers by being excited and telling the story of each race as it dramatically unfurls. Sometimes I try to sprinkle a bit of humour and lightness of touch to proceedings among my (hopefully relevant) tactical and tech based asides…
The next step for me is trying out the lead commentator role. I’ve thought about it as a long-term aim but didn’t expect to be offered the opportunity by Eurosport quite as soon as I have been. It’s such a daunting but exciting prospect but I guess I must have been doing a few things right so far. I’ve still so much to learn but I’ll certainly have fun doing it.