CG XC: The Couch-potato's view

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You'd think it should be called the English Broadcasting Corporation. For
two hours and twenty minutes, competitors from England, Scotland, Wales,
Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and possibly other places in
the British Isles competed in the Commonwealth Games cross country race
today, but you'd hardly have known it from the BBC coverage.

Yes, the English did well, Liam Killeen and Oli Beckinsale both riding an
excellent race to well deserved medals; Beckinsale in particular putting
in a huge effort in leading the chasing group through most of the race.
But they weren't the only riders representing people who pay the license
fee.

I think it's possibly more of a 'who does the BBC/British Cycling favour?'
bias. When the time trial was on, Hugh Porter waxed lyrical, long and loud
about Manning and then Cummings, both from the track squads. Yet he didn't
mention Dangerfield, the English no1 seed for the TT until, it seemed, he
had no choice. Dangermouse's start & finish were not shown. Similar with
Hutchinson, the Northern Ireland rider who is the current British time trial
champion over 10, 25, 50, 100 miles, 12 & 24 hrs...Huthcinson, who is
*amazing* as a TT'er didn't have his start shown and was featured only
briefly and a quick flash of his finish. Both Dangermouse & Hutch are
excellent cyclists, better than Manning or Cummings at TT-ing, yet they were
not given the priority of commentating their seeding deserved, as both were
seeded above the track guys. Call me an old cynic, but I think it's that
TT-ing is not run by British Cycling...

Digressing - young Alex Dowsett, who has won the national final of the GHS
(run by CTT) in 2005, 2004 and was second in 2003, has a spot on the BC web
site here...

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/GBRiderInfo/Dowsett_Alex_Bio.asp

yet no mention is made of his GHS prowess: which is a darned shame.

Cheers, helen s

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You'd think it should be called the English Broadcasting Corporation. For
two hours and twenty minutes, competitors from England, Scotland, Wales,
Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and possibly other places in
the British Isles competed in the Commonwealth Games cross country race
today, but you'd hardly have known it from the BBC coverage.

Yes, the English did well, Liam Killeen and Oli Beckinsale both riding an
excellent race to well deserved medals; Beckinsale in particular putting
in a huge effort in leading the chasing group through most of the race.
But they weren't the only riders representing people who pay the license
fee.

Gareth Montgomerie carried race number thirteen for Scotland (and for my
club). He started well, but the relatively easy course favoured strength
and stamina over technical ability. By the half way point he was lying
thirteenth, eleven minutes behind Liam Killeen, who won the race for
England. The race was very well supported by a huge crowd, and the
course was well built and very scenic. Gareth was the first Scot home,
not a bad performance in this field. But choose another number next
time!

The fact that we saw Gareth only once after the start - when, carrying
race number 13, he was lying thirteenth at the end of the fourth lap -
is not the BBC's fault; the filming was done by the Australians. But the
fact that we never knew how the Scots - or the Welsh, or anyone else -
were doing most definitely is. If it was impossible for them to show us
a position card at the end of each lap, the commentators could at least
have told us.

But no. Gareth's name got mentioned only twice - once, when poor Rab
Wardell destroyed his rear tyre, and was mistakenly identified as
Gareth. This possibly makes up for the point in the first lap, when
Gareth, who'd made a fair start, was mistakenly identified by the
commentators as James Ouchterlony.

James finished 18th; Rab, after the problem with his tyre and having to
carry his bike half a lap, 27th.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Diplomacy, American: see Intelligence, Military

I don't think it's got anything to do with National boundaries to be honest.
Just some riders
are picked up on more than others (those fitting well within BC's
structures...)

Graham

wafflycat said:

I think it's possibly more of a 'who does the BBC/British Cycling favour?'
bias. When the time trial was on, Hugh Porter waxed lyrical, long and loud
about Manning and then Cummings, both from the track squads. Yet he didn't
mention Dangerfield, the English no1 seed for the TT until, it seemed, he
had no choice. Dangermouse's start & finish were not shown.

Bad show on Hugh's part, seeing as he actually comes from the same part
of the world as Dangerfield - you'd think he'd have expressed more
interest in the "local" contingent!

David Belcher