National cyclocross champion Robin Seymour has said the resurgence in the sport so far this season should be enough to persuade Cycling Ireland to send an Irish team to the World ‘Cross Championships in Belgium in the New Year.
Seymour told stickybottle that the large fields at cyclocross races in the Republic and in the North in recent weeks should be rewarded with a team being sent to the Worlds in Koksijde at the end of January.
He also believed selection for the 2012 Worlds, or the hope of selection in future years, would inspire younger riders.
“I rode it in the past in St Wendel in Germany years ago, it was the thing that really started me in cycling,” he said.
“Because I won the championships in Ennis in 1999, they sent a team – pushed very heavily by Joe Barr at that stage – to the Worlds. I was the national champion so they had to send me. I had never been away before; I only went to the Six Nations in Leeds to prepare for it because it was on the same course.”
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“But the important thing is that as a 19-year-old when I turned up there at the Worlds and saw the Swiss and the French, the Germans and so on, I was just totally inspired.”
“And I’ve put 20 years into the sport since then; it was really based on the being sent there. I got lapped and pulled out of the race, but it’s all I wanted to do when I came home. So, you know, it’s a positive influence and for those that might go, they see what’s on offer for them.”
Seymour has won all but one of the Stevens Supercross Cup races in Dublin in recent months and along with Roger Aiken has dominated the Irish 2012 ‘cross calendar to date.
He told stickybottle he was considering taking in a festival of racing in Belgium over the Christmas period.
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“They have races on Christmas Day and the week afterwards. They’re all international races, World Cups and Super Prestige, a very high standard. It’s good to kind of show people you can go away and still race.”
Asked if he would like to take in those races and then go on to ride the Worlds himself, he said:
“I would. They (Cycling Ireland) asked me before to go but they asked me the Monday or the Tuesday before the race on Saturday, you can’t prepare that way. It’s on the end of January so I think you would need to know prior to Christmas. I think it probably should be done.”
“It’s not up to me. You know, I can ask but it’s up to them very much whether they are prepared to send a team or not. I think they probably should when the scene is that healthy.”
He was “delighted” with the strong interest in the cyclocross races this year in the Republic, which have been organised by his own Team WORC.
“Last year we put a cap on it, of 75 riders per race. But this year we have had an A and B race and I just really think that that has encouraged more people. You can now see the guys at the front of the B races and they’re having a great race for themselves, not riding around in the A race and getting lapped; it encourages people to get out and give it a go.”
“To finish 20th or something in the B race is much better than being lapped in the A race after a few laps; facilitating (riders who prefer B races) has made the biggest difference to the scene; I think it’s great, it really is.
“We have too many riders for the one race in any case; you’d end up with carnage. We’re getting in a mixture of mountain bikers and road riders and guys who are into cyclocross much more so than mountain biking than any other discipline; for me it is too, it’s the most important part of the season.”
We’ll keep you posted on whether a team will be sent to the Worlds.
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