Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Spread too thin

Administrative error that kept Whistler rider out of World Cup finals highlights wider problem with sports funding

An administrative error which cost three of Canada’s best female downhillers a chance to compete at the mountain bike World Cup finals in Livigno, Italy last month highlights a problem in Canadian sport that received enormous coverage during the Olympics.

Sports funding, or the lack of it, is a topic that’s received consistent coverage since Canada’s disappointing performance in Athens. The issue reared its head again at the mountain bike World Cup finals when Whistler’s Claire Buchar and Vancouver’s Danika Schroeter and Katrina Strand were not able to compete because their entry forms were late and event organizers failed to process their Canadian Cycling Association registration forms in time.

B.C. Cycling Association President Tom Fawsitt has since apologized for the administrative gaff, reimbursed the women some of their costs and OK’d the creation of a new registration system for international events which would simplify the process.

Despite the apology, the situation shows that the organizations governing biking in Canada, like many other sport organizations, are under-funded and lack administrative support.

"They’ve cut down staff so they can put more money into programs," said Tracy Harkness, publisher of Canadian Cyclist magazine. "Some people might blame the CCA but it’s (the lack of) money."

There are a number of reasons why the three B.C. women missed the World Cup finals but the bigger picture is that provincial and national cycling bodies missed the details because the sport is growing and there isn’t the funding for them to employ more people to manage extra programs and responsibilities.

BCA Technical Director Gary Jackson assumed responsibility for the error that cost the women a ride in the World Cup finals, but this is not surprising given Jackson’s responsibilities.

Jackson has to oversee all the sanctioned mountain bike races in B.C. (this year there were over 60) including the prestigious SISU B.C. Cup Series, and since May he has accumulated 20 days of overtime.

Moreover, this incident started when Jackson was taking leave to get married.

"Make no mistake the initial problem was an error at my desk… but I’m human and between doing my primary job, which is running a provincial series, and my personal life, which was getting married, it (the registration forms) unfortunately didn’t get back," said Jackson.

"But we realized the error and did correct it five days before the event… but (the event organizers) didn’t get it through."

The reason why people such as Jackson and Fawsitt are busy is because mountain biking, at a recreational level in particular, has grown exponentially in the past five years. There are also more disciplines, such as BMX, to manage.

The other problem is that of all the mountain biking disciplines only cross-country is an Olympic event; downhill and fourcross are only World Cup events and freeriding contests like Whistler’s slopestyle events are still independently organized.

Canadian Cyclist magazine’s Harkness said government funding hasn’t kept pace with the growth of mountain biking and the result is that there’s a small group of people doing a huge amount of work.

"The Canadian Cyclist Association (CCA) are running a pretty scaled down ship because the executive director is ill and has been off all summer and they have a temporary director in place so they have three or four people running the entire program," said Harness.

"The CCA (and provincial organizations) have been literally bombarded from all walks of life but they just can’t come out and vent because it’s not politically correct and it could get them fired.

"They’ve also added a number of sports to the program like BMX, downhill and fourcross in recent years and a lot of the programs, especially government-funded programs, don’t move that fast, so funding that has been there is now being spread over more programs.

"It’s like any sport, swimming, hockey they’re all screaming more money."

Harkness said her organization also had to deal with some administrative problems at the world championships.

"We do work for the CCA and we were supposed to receive some accommodation in exchange for some work that we did and our photographer showed up and they said ‘we don’t know anything about it’," she said.

"We had communication in advance but the person on site… got their messages crossed.

"And it’s hard for the CCA because I think there’s a total of nine people on their contact list on their Web site but they’re not all people who can make decisions," she said. "I think there’s only about four of them that can actually make decisions for all of Canada."

Like many people in cycling, Harkness and Jackson agreed that the long-term key for mountain bike funding, particularly federal funding, is inclusion in the Olympics.

"I have zero federal funding for downhilling, all my federal funding goes to road," said Jackson.

"I have no funding for downhill yet it generates the most revenue in our office, so the money I generate through downhill goes to BMX and other disciplines.

"The way I see it there’s really two Olympic hurdles.

"First off, cycling at the Olympics is not allowed to gain any disciplines, so to gain a discipline we’d have to lose a discipline.

"In ’96 when cross-country joined the Olympics, team time-trials were eliminated so problem No.1 is what discipline will be eliminated to include downhilling in the Olympics?

"Two, with downhill mountain biking, refer to the key word – mountain – a summer Olympics doesn’t necessarily lend itself to an appropriate world level downhill course… you need a venue of 1,500 vertical feet over one to two kilometres of tree-lined mayhem, plus appropriate access."

Whistler road rider Will Routley, 21, said it has taken him six years of winning to be in a position where he can just focus on riding. But he’s also quick to point out that he still lives with his parents and without their ongoing support he would not have a career.

Next season Routley will again race on the road with the Symmetrics Cycling Team based in Vancouver. Symmetrics was one of the top teams in North America last year, winning every road and stage race on the West Coast.

It was Routley’s first season devoted to road racing, and he said it was a different world.

"The one thing I noticed on the mountain is that there’s no funding at all," said Routley.

"As a development rider on the way up winning lots of races in Canada and getting solid results internationally, you’re doing it on your own."

Routley said he felt lucky to live in Whistler because there is a lot of support here, compared to the support in eastern Canada.

"Logistically you’re dealing with the whole thing yourself but it was good being around Whistler because it’s easier to get some sponsorship.

"I know some guys in the Maritimes that have to rely on whatever federal funding they can get,"

On Sept. 10 the federal Minister of Sport, Stephen Owen, announced a $10.1 million increase in funds for carded athletes and for equipment purchases. The announcement was part of the $30 million additional investment in high performance sport announced in May this year, but Harkness said it was still unclear whether any of this money would come to cycling.

"They (the government) also took a bunch of money a year and half ago and now we’re trying to figure out whether they’re just going to replace what they took a year and half ago or whether it actually is new money," she said.

One of the organizers of the recent Women’s Cycling Summit in Las Vegas, David LaPorte, said part of the answer for cycling organizations in North America is for them to teach local athletes and organizations how to market themselves rather than attempt to fund them.

"It’s really tough for governing bodies to raise any money because they don’t really have anything to sell," said LaPorte.

"There’s no money in the bicycle industry, certainly no companies that have a substantial impact and even those companies that do have money are cheap.

"National governing bodies need to educate teams on what sponsorship really means and how to find sponsors and service themselves.

"It’s the old parable, you can give someone some fish or you can teach them to fish and they’ll be fine for the rest of their lives."