OLYMPIC TRIALS
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games, staged at the far away destination of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the main focus of sports attention and quite rightfully so during August. On show were over 11,000 athletes competing from 206 nations taking part in 306 events from 28 sports. It was an event that I am sure many of our Trial Magazine readers watched. If we are honest trials riders are very competitive people by nature. With the stories of both success and failure come some very rewarding stories.
This brings me around to the world trials scene. We have witnessed some very good home-grown talent fail at the final hurdle, the TrialGP class as it is now known. The Youth class structure in Great Britain has long delivered a feeder system of riders into the world championship. Many of these riders have tasted success along the Youth class journey. They move into the Trial 125 World Cup as the feel-good factor continues.
The hazards in this class are testing but ideally suited to the performance of the 125cc machines. Families, dads, mums, grandads, grandmas, and successful business family friends all become involved in the funding to pay for our future stars. Having witnessed the expense first hand I can only guess how much it all costs. Then, if the enthusiasm and results continue, it’s a big big step to the Trial2 World Cup class. Many would argue that this is the most competitive class on the world scene as so many riders can win. Now this is where it becomes more serious.
The days of a full time ‘Minder’ mechanic are required which once again needs funding. It’s then a case of practice and more practice and the ultimate goals can be achieved, as demonstrated from Jack Peace and Jack Price in their respective classes. It’s followed by a case of being at the mercy of the factory teams to further your career as a full time professional rider.
This brings me back to the Olympics and funding. Government grants seem to become the norm if you want to cycle or swim for example in Great Britain, and this has kept some younger people on the right path in life. You could argue this is where the money is well spent. Imagine if we had Olympic Trials to showcase what we do. How good would that be? Maybe start with a focus on Cycle Trials, then a move to electric machines but I am sure that once we achieved success in the public eye, then government funding could be looked at by our governing body, the ACU, and they could secure a much better future for our riders.