Annie Last rides in the Olympic women’s mountain bike race at Hadleigh Farm, Essex. Young riders will get the chance to literally follow in Last’s wheel tracks when Hadleigh Farm hosts the British Cycling Under-16 Inter-Regional MTB Championship
Image: © Phil O’Connor/British Cycling

According to the BBC, some modifications will be made to the course before the event. The technical sections of the track at Hadleigh farm claimed several scalps, including British rider Liam Killeen who sustained a broken ankle in a crash on the wall ride section.

Stephen Castle, of Essex County Council, said: “It is great to know that young British mountain bikers who have been watching Team GB’s cycling success at the London 2012 Games and the world’s best compete at Hadleigh Farm in Essex, will not only be inspired by the performances of the athletes they have seen, but also by knowing they could be the first to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Mountain Bike venue after the London 2012 Games have gone.”

The inaugural MTB Inter Regional Championship was run in 2011 in Wharnclifffe Woods, Sheffield as part of the UK School Games. Essex County Council has said it hopes Hadleigh Farm will provide an inspirational venue for the first standalone event.

Gary Coltman, manager of British Cycling’s talent programme, said: “The championship event is a very new event to our youth competition programme.

“Having the opportunity to stage it at a venue that will very soon be regarded as one of the best mountain bike courses in the world, can only be fantastic for the young athletes.”

Twenty thousand spectators will pack into Hadleigh Farm for the Olympic mountain bike races

Schedule

Saturday August 11, 12:30pm – women’s race
Sunday August 12, 1:30pm – men’s race

Where to watch?
Twenty thousand spectators will pack into Hadleigh Farm on both days – but, needless to say, it’s sold out.
BBC One’s coverage of Saturday’s women’s race will run from 12:15pm to 2:30pm, while the men’s race on Sunday will be broadcast on BBC Two between 1:15pm and 3:35pm (subject to change). And, of course, you can read all about both races here on Bikemagic.

Course

Course map

Television audiences are key to a sport’s success at the Olympics and, after the 2008 Games in Beijing, mountain biking – a sport where the field can be spread over a great distance, on a heavily wooded course – faced the possibility of being removed from the Olympic programme.

The sport remains, however, and organisers of London’s event have taken advantage of the natural amphitheatre that is Hadleigh Farm, land privately owned by the Salvation Army in Essex, to build a course designed with spectators and tv audiences in mind. The steeply-sloped terrain allows spectators to view large sections of the course and its man-made but visually appealing technical features from a number of vantage points on the hillside.

“The majority of the course sits in a natural amphitheatre, allowing spectators superb views of the majority of the course, ensuring they have a fantastic day and media coverage is maximised.

“I really do think more courses like this can only help bring spectators and potentially sponsors to the sport,” said Simon Ernest after racing the test event. Mission accomplished, then.

Essex, a county not renowned for its gradients, may not seem the obvious choice for a cross-country mountain bike course but there’s little flat land on the Hadleigh Farm track, with 172m of climbing per 4.7km lap. The men’s race will cover seven laps and the women’s event six, with both races expected to last about one-and-a-half hours on what is set to be a super-fast circuit, with technical sections which can be taken at speed, lots of overtaking opportunities and the added factor of the wind whipping in off Thames Estuary.

Work began on the course in July 2010 and was completed nine months later, although the course was updated earlier this year to make it “higher, wider and higher” following rider feedback from last summer’s test event, the Hadleigh Farm international, with the addition of new climbs, technical features and key overtaking areas.

The start/finish area leads straight on to a climb in order to avoid a bottleneck and then zig-zags its way across the farmland, and up and down the hillside, via a number of climbs and technical features, including Triple Trouble (a rock garden with three lines, the steepest being the quickest), Leap of Faith (a steep, wooded drop-off) and The Rock Garden (a new feature added after the test event).

You can see more of the original course (before it was updated) in this video of the test event from British Cycling:

Want to ride the course? The Olympic course will remain after the dust has settled on London 2012 but it will be adapted – tamed – to make it more suitable for wider use. Last week we brought you the news that Castle Point Borough Council has voted to allow a planning application to construct two biking tracks, a bike skills area, a visitor centre and other facilities on land at Hadleigh Country Park.

The course has 172m of climbing per lap

Contenders

Men

Julien Absalon
Nationality: France
Age: 31
Pedigree: Absalon became the first man to win back-to-back Olympic titles with victory in Beijing, having previously won in Athens, and continue France’s domination of the event after Miguel Martinez won the Sydney 2000 race. The Netherlands is the only other nation to have claimed gold in the men’s race after Bart Brentjens won the inaugural event in 1996. Four-time world champion Absalon, who won one World Cup this season, also dominated the test event, leading from start to finish.

Nino Schurter
Age: 26
Nationality: Swiss
Pedigree: Schurter took Olympic bronze in the 2008 race and is the form rider in 2012 having won the overall World Cup series. The Swiss rider  claimed three victories en-route to his second overall title, including a win at the final round of the campaign in Val d’Isere, France, on July 28.

Jaroslav Kulhavy
Age: 27
Nationality: Czech
Pedigree: Kulhavy hasn’t enjoyed the same dominance in 2012 as he did last year, when the Czech rider won the overall World Cup series and the World Championships, but the 27-year-old has been in the mix throughout the season, registering three podium finishes at the World Cup to finish third overall. That’s enough to make him the bookies’ favourite (you can see the latest odds here).

Liam Killeen will represent Great Britain at the Olympics for the third time

The Brit – Liam Killeen
Age: 30
Pedigree: Great Britain qualified one rider for the Olympic Games, with Killeen taking that spot. The 30-year-old will line-up at his third Olympic having finished fifth and seventh in Athens and Beijing respectively. Killeen’s best World Cup result this season was a 19th place finish at the Nove Mesto Na Morave round and the five-time British national champion is unlikely to be in the medal mix this time round.

Women

Catharine Pendrel
Age: 31
Nationality: Canadian
Pedigree: Pendrel has called the Olympics “the ultimate race” and described the World Cup season as the perfect springboard for success at the Games. The 2011 world champion will head to Essex as favourite, then, having won the overall World Cup series after notching up four individual victories.

Gunn Rita Dahle Flesjaa
Age: 39
Nationality: Norwegian
Pedigree: Dahle Flesjaa knows what it takes to succeed at the Olympic Games having won gold in 2004 and the veteran goes into the 30th Olympiad in fine form having won the final World Cup event of the season.

Julie Bresset
Age: 23
Nationality: French
Pedigree: London 2012 will be Bresset’s first Olympic Games and the young Frenchwoman has made gold her number one target this year. The 23-year-old won the under-23 World Championships and senior World Cup title in 2011.

Annie Last is the first female British mountain biker to qualify for the Olympics since 2000

The Brit – Annie Last
Age: 21
Pedigree: Team GB has a genuine outside shot at the medal in Last, who is the first female British mountain biker to qualify for the Olympics since Caroline Alexander and Louise Robinson in 2000. The 21-year-old Last, ranked fifth in the world behind Pendrel, Dahle Flesjaa, Bresset and the injured Maja Wloszczowska, has consistently registered top ten finishes in 2012 and is coming into form with perfect timing having earned her first World Cup podium finish in Val d’Isere.

Bikes

The smooth track, with technical sections which are fast but not too challenging, will suit a hardtail, according to course designer Martin Seddon.

“Most of the riders will be on hardtails but obviously they’re trying to figure out whether they should be on a 26-inch wheel or a 29er – or whether they’re going to do anything different altogether,” Seddon told us earlier this year.

Hardtails dominated the test event and we scoped out some of the pro’s bikes for this feature.

Great Britain’s Killeen will run 29-inch wheels in Essex: “A 29er suits the Olympic course,” Killeen told Bikemagic after previewing the course in April. “The bigger wheels roll over some of the rocks nicely and it feels good round here.”

Fine weather is forecast for the weekend but, should the heavens open, British Cycling have coated Last and Killeen’s bikes in a mud-resistant P2i nano-coating. Read more about that here.

Tackling a rocky section in the woods at Hadleigh Farm. Image ©British Cycling

The BBC reports that Castle Point Borough Council has voted to allow a planning application to construct two biking tracks, a bike skills area, a visitor centre and other facilities on land at Hadleigh Country Park.

The Olympic course was made more technical after initial reaction from riders. The public version will be adapted to make it safe for public use.

According to Essex newspaper the Enquirer, more than 300 people turned out to hear the outcome, with chief planning officer Steve Rogers saying there were no planning grounds to refuse the proposal.

There was criticism from some local people who are concerned about the effect on the Benfleet Downs area.

Conservative councillor for St Mary’s, Alf Partridge, said had been contacted by scores of residents. “The general message has been a call to leave our downs alone. It is one of the last quiet, unspoilt bits of open space in South Benfleet.

“I hope people don’t give up but carry on fighting this.”

However, a spokesman for Essex County Council told Bikemagic that the plans were still very much “up in the air. It will all be decided after the Olympics.”

He was unable to say whether there would be a charge to ride at Hadleigh Farm.

Previous statements from Essex County Council detailed the plans for the venue. Back in April, the Council said: “At the heart of the proposals are plans to improve and enhance the network of existing paths and trails across Hadleigh Country Park and Hadleigh Farm, improving access for walkers, cyclists, mountain biking, runners and horse riders. The trail network will include the adapted Olympic Mountain Bike course.

“This will be connected to the Country Park and the wider area by the network of multi-user trails for walkers, cyclists and other users. New walking trails with interpretation panels, enhanced horse riding trails and cross-country running trails will also be provided within the Country Park. The improved trail network also includes enhancements to walking and cycling access between Benfleet and Leigh-on-Sea stations.”

Sections like this may not survive changes to the Hadleigh Farm course, but making it ‘safer’ reduced the appeal of the Sydney 2000 circuit to local riders. Image ©Hadleigh Farm

If the venue does become available, it won’t be the first time an Olympic course has been opened to the public. Riders could use the mountain bike track at Fairfield City Farm in Sydney after the 2000 Olympics, but the trail was closed shortly afterwards.

Fairfield City Farm charged an entry fee to ride the trail and “the interesting sections were only open to people with club licenses as they were deemed too technical for bumblies,” according to Craig Flynn of western Sydney’s Central Tablelands Mountain Bike Club.

The fees were intended to fund permanent maintenance staff for the trail, but this proved too expensive for the level of use. The venue’s main focus was perceived to be on its existing equestrian users and local mountain bike clubs were not allowed provide volunteer labour to help with maintenance.

The hoped-for use as a race venue by local mountain bike clubs also failed to materialise as the AUD2,000 fee for a day’s use was beyond their means.

New owners recently revamped and re-opened Fairfield City Farm as Calmsley Hill but the mountain bike track remains closed. In an email to a member of the Rotorburn forum, the new owners said: “The track is currently heavily over grown and many of the crossing have been attacked by termites. I cannot give you a guarantee regarding timing nor any certainty it will be opened.”

Riders test the Hadleigh farm Olympic mountain bike racing course

The FBU had planned two periods of strike action and one of 999-calls-only action in Essex that weekend, in protest against what it calls “the worst cuts to frontline 999 services in living memory.”

However, Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary said: “This weekend I received some operationally sensitive information about fire and rescue planning for the event that I think had the potential to cause some confusion to 999 services if the industrial action I called went ahead. So, after consulting local Essex officials, I have decided to cancel two short strike periods and a period of 999-calls-only action originally called to take place that weekend.”

Management of the Essex County Fire & Rescue Service welcomed the union climbdown.

“But,” said Deputy Chief Fire Officer Adam Eckley, “if they are genuine about wanting to minimise disruption, then they will also call off the strike scheduled for July 26/27.

“This decision to cancel August 11/12 strike dates is about pressure from crews and pressure from the public, not to mention intervention on a national level politically as the tide turns against a trade union movement hellbent on disrupting national celebrations.”

Wrack insisted that the planned action would not have taken place during the races. “It has always been our priority to try and limit the impact of any industrial action on public safety – our dispute is with those who are cutting the frontline service and not with the people of Essex,” he said.

Nevertheless, Eckley claims support for the strikes is dwindling among firefighters as well as the public. “There is diminishing support for this strike in Essex – retained crews are incensed that they are to bear the brunt of the new campaign of strikes and wholetime firefighters have been trying to find out how this will impact their pay packets.”

Negotiations between the FBU and Essex County Fire & Rescue Service continue this week.

The 4.7km track, built on land on by the Salvation Army, is complete but remains closed to the public. After the Olympic Games the course will be converted to a red trail to form part of a wider cycling network. Read more about that here.

Great Britain riders Liam Killeen, Kenta Gallagher, David Fletcher and Grant Ferguson were given a sneak preview of the course.

Team Boardman rider Gallagher and Orange Monkey-Cannondale pro Fletcher’s training bikes sit ready for action.

Tools of the trade for British Cycling mechanic John Hewitt.

Annie Last was also present but walked the course, instead opting to get in some road miles on a bike which is part of Boardman’s B56 project.

Fletcher checks out the Oak Tree Drop feature.

Fletcher (top) and Killeen (bottom), riding through The Rabbit Hole, pose for the cameras.

The course was updated following rider feedback received at last July’s test event and now includes a new feature – The Rock Garden.

Fletcher picks his line through The Rock Garden.

Two routes proved popular through the rock-strewn descent.

Photographers vie for position as Killeen and Fletcher ride loops of the new feature.

Killeen climbs back up to the top of The Rock Garden…

…and drops in for another run.

The course is perched on a hillside with Hadleigh Castle and the Thames Estuary as a backdrop. Check out the gallery below for more pictures.

With 128 days until the women’s event at Hadleigh Farm, Essex, the updated course was revealed to journalists, while Great Britain riders Liam Killeen, David Fletcher, Grant Ferguson and Kenta Gallagher got a sneak preview at the new layout.

“Any opportunity to ride the course is a bonus,” Killeen told Bikemagic. “You get to scope out some lines and spend some time on the course. You can train for the physical exertion of the course but you can’t train for the rock gardens. Any extra time is a bonus and you have to make the most of it.”

Key changes to the course include the additions of a new feature called The Rock Garden, while the main climb has been extended and the start loop has been extended, with the addition of a new climb on the opening lap, to avoid congestion. Several areas of the course have been widened to allow for more overtaking opportunities.

“The course that was built prior to the test event was to get a feel of lap times and to get feedback from riders,” course designer Martin Seddon told Bikemagic. “Coming away from the test event we knew we had to add some time into the lap because, come the Olympics, they’re all going to be on top of their game, so we needed to add a really good technical feature to make the lap that little bit trickier.

“It’s also been widened in places where the riders said they wanted to attack and, after watching the riders at the test event, we could see where those attacks were trying to happen so it’s our job to react to everything that’s fed back to us from teams and riders to make sure we create exactly what everybody’s after.”

Seddon’s team began work on the site in July 2010 and the initial course was completed nine months later. An additional six weeks work after the test event has brought the track to it’s current state, with only routine maintenance and “a few tweaks” to get the course ready for the Games – although Seddon admits there is some way to go before it’s decided which wheel size is most suitable for the 4.7km track.

“Most of the riders will be on hardtails but obviously they’re trying to figure out whether they should be on a 26-inch wheel or a 29er – or whether they’re going to do anything different altogether.”

Legacy plans revealed

Meanwhile, the future of the site had been in doubt as the track is on Salvation Army land but Essex County Council has confirmed the Olympic track will be altered after the Games to make it the focus of a wider network of trails in the area.

The course will changed so it is graded as a red run, with the option to skip more difficult technical section on a blue trail. Green multi-use trails will extend west into Hadleigh Country Park.

The network will include cycling access to Benfleet and Leigh-on-Sea train stations, while a central hub will include ranger facilities, toilet/changing rooms, a cafe, equipment hire and a shop. A planning application will be submitted this spring, with building work expected to be undertaken next winter with a phased completion targeted for autumn 2013.

Essex County Councillor Stephen Castle said: “Essex County Council and our partner, The Salvation Army, are committed to making the most of the opportunity of hosting the London 2012 mountain bike event and creating a lasting legacy not just for Hadleigh but for the county of Essex.”