| Subject: UK Race Series |
Author:
Ding Boston
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Date Posted: 15:16:46 07/25/02 Thu
Hi,
My excuse for being quiet is that I don't tend to browse the net much and was only alerted to the debate by Joel and Tom Worsley - so thanks to you both.
Having read Chris's reply to Joel's message, I can only agree with all he writes - and offer my sincere admiration and commiserations. In my experience, anybody who organises a street luge race in this country, especially one as ambitious as Aviemore, has to have balls the size of coconuts, nothing else to do, and pockets big enough for a couple of dozen more.
Anyway, also at the risk of sounding negative, but in a genuine attempt to temper (i.e. bring to proper consistency for greater strength) idealism with my own practical experience, I make the following observations...
I have been running the SSSprint British Street Luge Championship for the past 7 years - ever since a bunch of us went to the first ESPN Extreme Games in 1995.(Arguably an overweaningly portentious title, but hey - if it's the only thing going and it helps to get the thing noticed...)
At first, as it represented the only organised racing, or opportunity to have a go without buying the kit first, and as I managed to get to use both Gurston and Prescott hillclimbs, it was quite popular. However my also being the chairman of the Oxford Stunt Factory - the alternative/dangerous sports club at Oxford and Oxford Brookes Universities - was an enormous help in finding others to have a go. In fact, apart from Chris Beard and John Maher, OSF club members and friends made up 90% of racers/participants for the first 2-3 years. Unfortunately we lost the use of Prescott after three or four visits, and since that time we have used Gurston almost exclusively. Exhaustive attempts to find other closed/private venues that don't involve me driving the old club/course van, well over-loaded, more than a couple of hours to and from Oxford have come to nothing. Since that time the number of people interested has slowly dwindled to the point where I have had to cancel or postpone 6 meetings this year through lack of support (i.e. less than 10 people interested) - even from people wanting Taster Days to try the sport before getting more involved - or not.
This is in spite of being on TV - the endlessly repeated BBC'Radical Highs' - Pete Eliot on Big Breakfast, Record Breakers, Pop Factory, the Sony advert, Aviemore, the X Games and other International competitions, magazine articles - in Loaded, cycle mags, etc., etc.,. Not a huge amount you may say - but you would have thought sufficient coverage to get interested parties to enter street luge into a search engine and find streetluge.co.uk...
I have taken a stall at Freshers Fair at Oxford for the past four years, specifically for Street Luge, with leathers, helmets, boots, and shiny exciting luges - always including the legendary aerodynamic Hickey 'Eagle'. Out of 6000 plus new students, one signed up - and has yet to appear...Otherwise just 6 new OSF's have since had Taster Days, and, of those, only one is thinking about building their own luge. Draw your own conclusions.
Mine are these:
1)Street Luge is - and always will be - a TINY minority sport.
2)Mountain Biking is an offshoot of the most popular form of transport in the world. The reservoir of interest of every kind is vast and any comparisons are completely irrelevant.
3)Virtually all people just don't like the idea of hurtling down a road - on or off a luge - with high expectations of coming to rest suddenly against the scenery. They have no way of knowing just what degree of protection a set of leathers affords, little real inclination to find out, and endless horror stories to reinforce their suspicions. Even the closest friends of lugers tend to put them in the same pigeonhole as flagelatory monks and masochistic Indian Holy men, watching their 'antics' with the same degree of anxiety and with the indulgent smiles with which they view the mentally ill. Trying to get folk on a luge is damn difficult!
4)They may be wildly excited at the end of the day, and are dying to come back, but only a small percentage of those who come for Taster Days ever come again - having 'got the T shirt'. Of those that do, very few are sufficiently enthused to build their own luge, preferring to come again very occasionally for a novel day out with no strings/equipment attached.
5)I would estimate that there are - possibly - 100 luges in this country. 25 of these are mine or club luges. I estimate that they took me 6 months, full time, to build. At,say, £5 an hour that's £5200. Plus, say, £250 each for materials, thats another £6250. Plus 15 sets of leathers at say £100 that's another £1500.
Add another £3000 for clutches, engines, gearboxes, rental, and damage to course vehicles over the past years. Add another £4000 for 50 sets of boots, plus gloves, helmets, helmet bags, timing equipment, batteries, tables, gazebos, chairs, cones, boxes, banners, radios, gaffer tape, signs, tools, photos, video, printing, etc., used on the Hill. Add another £500 for repairs and servicing to leathers, gloves, and luges. Add another £1000 of phone calls, £2500 of petrol, and £2500 storage over the past years, and we are up to £26450 already. Because I'm boring you, add whatever notional sums you like for the 1000's of hours I've spent over the past 7 years writing up results, organising meetings, pleading with people to come to meetings, letters and emails to riders, the media, and other interested parties, acquiring all this kit, Hill fees, Official Timers meals, driving to and from the Hill, loading and unloading the van, driving all over the country looking for alternative sites, delivering and collecting leathers from repairers, etc. (The list is endless, and I take this opportunity to most gratefully thank all those who have ever helped - and particularly the long suffering Chris with the van!) With Taster Days at £40, and riders with their own gear now at £20, but previously at £10, lets divide the figure by an average of £25 per person per day - giving 1058, plus a few SSSprint memberships at £25. That's more than twice the total number of people days there have been, and so this ready reckoning makes a loss to date of approximately £13000. However, it must be apparent that as all these figures are low estimates,and with none of the latter included, the actual figure is a great deal more. I don't even want to start contemplating what this AND Chris's losses/contribution might tot up to...
I have long since given up expecting to see a return on the money - and never expected such on the time. However, having created the infrastructure and secured a venue which is excellent for beginners and intermediate riders, I am happy to continue providing an (as yet) unique resource for anybody wanting to start in, or simply experience the sport, at entry level. It is disappointing - but understandable - that riders who first cut their teeth at Gurston tend to drift away, but while there are members of the OSF - and others - who wish to enjoy and support these efforts, I will continue. I certainly hope that this posting will encourage more people, particularly less experienced riders, to get in touch and help make up sufficient numbers for meetings not to be repeatedly postponed.
On a positive note - and in spite of the indications given by that last plea! - like Chris, I really hope that your enthusiasm wins the day.
Ding
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