Paul Watson, left, has been a commissaire for over 20 years and this season has presided over some of the biggest international track meets on the UCI calendar, including several hour records, such as Bradley Wiggins' effort in June.
By Brian Canty
Paul Watson has had a year to remember as one of cycling’s foremost commissaires. And the Irish man still isn’t done for 2015; not by a long shot.
Without question, presiding over Bradley Wiggins’ hour record in June was the high point of his season, and possibly the peak of his career to date working as an international official.
Remarkably, despite holding such high office in the UCI; he’s a part-time employee of the sport’s governing body.
By day, he’s the commercial manager for Philips Ireland; a high flier away from the bike game too.
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And just in case you wondered where he found the time; he's also a married father of two.
“I work for the UCI on my holidays,” he offers by way of explanation.
“I’m based in Dublin but I’m from the North and in my spare time I travel the world looking at bike races.”
It may look like a fun gig travelling around the world to bike races but it's usually all business for Watson. This year he was the commissaire president for the Women's Tour of Britain, amongst many other roles.
He rattles through his packed schedule which sounds (almost) as exhausting as riding the races he works on.
“I’m qualified across all three disciplines; road, track and paracycling,” he says.
“Road-wise; I’ve done the World Championships. I haven’t done a Grand Tour but what has really taken off has been the track.
“My next event is the UCI World Cup in New Zealand. And then I’ll be on duty for the World Track Championships in London early next year and then onto the Paracycling World Championships.”
He says the life is not just about being “given a blazer and away you go”.
“The UCI keep close eyes on you all the time, while riders and teams give feedback about how they think I did.”
To qualify as a commissaire one first needs to go through the various stages in their home federation; transition through the grades before deciding on the international route.
There, like his father Jack Watson, he took his first step into officiating on the world stage by undergoing what is term a ‘pre-selection exam’.
“There were 200 of us from around the world who sat that and it was whittled down to 22,” he explains of the first step into the top division.
“Then we did a 10-day international course and on top of that you’ve continuous assessment; written exams and various seminars to attend.”
Watson keeps a close eye on proceedings during an event in the Lee Valley VeloPark in the UK. The father of two is the commercial manager of Philips Ireland and only works for the UCI on a part-time basis.
He’s successfully presided over six World Track Championships and will be bumping that up to eight by the time the current season is over.
He was the first Irish paracycling commissaire and is one of just 22 in the world.
“I love it; being an international commissaire ran in the family,” he says in relation to Watson Snr; a well known figure on the domestic and international scenes.
“I waited until the kids were a good bit older before I really got into it. But now my track experience is phenomenal compared to what some other people have done.”
Some of those include his dad and another colleague from the North, Micky Robb.
Watson junior has had an unforgettable year thus far and he was the man making sure the hour record attempt of Sarah Storey went smoothly and according to the rules.
And following on from that he presided over the hour record rides of Alex Dowsett, Gustav Larrsson and the aforementioned Wiggins.
While all were terrific experiences, Wiggins was the biggest name by far to go for the hour marker and his shattering of the record during a no-hitch event significantly raised Watson’s profile.
That's how they roll: Father and son Jack and Paul Watson, who have toiled on the home scene for decades as well as branching out to work on some of the biggest races in the world. Above, at the National Cyclocross Championships in Belfast in 2014 (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)
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“Bradley’s attempt was one of the most special and definitely one of the funniest,” Watson recalled.
“People don’t realise the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes; equipment must be all checked and re-checked, right down to the height of his socks.
“And when you can imagine it must all be coordinated to the TV it becomes a bit tricky.
“So I was chatting through with Sky who were televising it and Wiggins was doing his routine.
“There were ad breaks and all that stuff to factor in; it was all being relayed to me.
“So he was riding up the track to this Oasis song. He’d usually come and sit at his seat; he’d have between one and four minutes there before doing his effort.
“But once he decides to go to his bike he has 50 seconds.
“Before that, he was going to do four laps to get the legs rolling but he decided to do two instead.
“Sky had decided to go to an advert break but when he only did two (final warm up laps) it meant he started without live TV!
“The director was screaming in my ear to tell him stop but it was too late.”
Watson described it as “one of the loudest experiences of my life in front of 6,000 people”.
But he still had work to do, including right before the event when Wiggins needed to modify dimensions on his bike, which fell outside the UCI’s regulations.
Watson giving a group of riders the news they've lost a lap at the London Six track meet last month.
“They had to cut 4mm off the front of his handlebars because that would have given him an illegal further reach.
“The dimensions had to fit within our limits. So the mechanics had to cut them by 4mm until everyone was happy.
“Motor checks are a big thing now as well; you hear all the talk of motors being used so the bike had to be stripped afterwards.”
There was no suggestion whatever that Wiggins was using a motor during his hour ride.
But the UCI has carried out more and more checks for motors at track and road events following speculative reports in the European media about their possible use.
And the inspection of Wiggins' bike was one in a series of checks through the year, with nothing untoward found at any of the inspections.
With such precautions required, Watson’s is a high-pressure job indeed, but one he wouldn’t change for anything.
“You get to see the world and that’s amazing. I’ve been to China, South America, Africa; I’ve done the tours of Rwanda and Iran.
“There’s nothing like seeing cycling develop in a country that previously had no cycling.
“It’s not easy though, and you have to make hard decisions. This year I was president for the World Junior Track Championships and an Italian guy had to be disqualified for dangerous riding.
“It’s very hard when you see young riders disqualified because you know they’ve put a lot in but rules are rules.
“I was also presiding over the Tour for Britain this year when Lizzie Armitstead crashed,” he said of the home straight smash the new world champion endured a split second after winning the stage.
“That was a big deal and you’ve to answer a lot of questions; everyone thinks they know the rules better than you.
“But that’s why I spend so much time reading and reading and making sure I am on top of everything.
“As well as that, you’re constantly under the spotlight and there’s nowhere to hide, especially in the track.
“As a commissaire president you work with other people, you’re conducting an orchestra so you have to keep an overview of what’s happening.”
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