Extra Rider Places To Be Made Available For 2007 MTB Worlds

News Posted: 3 August 2007

Following discussions with members, Mountain Bike event organisers and stake-holders in the Fort William World Championships, British Cycling is to extend the number of British riders who will compete at the event in September.

Following negotiations with UK Sport, British Cycling's Performance Director, Dave Brailsford, has agreed a special one-off dispensation for British Cycling to select additional riders for this 'home' world championships.

UK Sport has strict performance goals for all their lottery-funded sports, linked directly to their funding. However, it has been agreed to allow British Cycling to run an additional number of riders in the event outside of these performance goals. The original Olympic performance based team, selected with the long-term performance goals of the GB Cycling Team in mind, will be unaffected.

A special meeting of a sub-group of British Cycling's Mountain Bike Commission will take place next week, and an announcement about the additional selections will be made afterwards.

British Cycling's Performance Director, Dave Brailsford, said:

'We have listened to the many members who have got in touch with us over this issue, plus Mountain Bike race organisers and the Trade. The groundswell of opinion from them was that the Fort William World Championships is a unique event, a unique opportunity to cheer on the leading home riders and that they would like to see a broader participation-based selection than our strict performance-based policy would allow.'

'The next step was to discuss the practicalities with UK Sport, who have funded the event extensively, but who also assess our performances. It has been agreed, as a one-off, that we can select additional riders free from the performance-related goals which normally govern GB Team selection in Olympic disciplines. We recognise the unique opportunity a 'home' World Championships represents for the sport.'

'As a result, an additional number of riders will be funded by British Cycling to represent GB at the event. Full details will be released after next week's Mountain Bike Commission meeting.'