Is this some sort of joke?

According to Games organisers there are two “major hill areas” - crazy

ignore the games organisers they obviously havent been there!!

What matters is that the UCI have been there and theyve agreed it is suitable. Now maybe some of these lazy journalists will actually go and ride the place instead of printing rubbish about somewhere theyve never been - Ill be quite happy to show them round...

Its funny most of the XC orientated websites have no problem with it, but a predominately road based forum does!!??

You need to check out the venue on Google Earth, you can quite clearly see the snow capped peaks of the two major hill areas.

People often forget that Essex is in fact a major centre for rock climbing in the summer and snow boarding in the winter.

" This was an opportunity for LOCOG to show in a concrete way how serious they are about spreading the benefits of the 2012 Games beyond the south east of England. That opportunity has now been missed." "

SPOT ON , Wales should have got it, what a shambles.

bigdawg quote: Its funny most of the XC orientated websites have no problem with it, but a predominately road based forum does!!??

No sure which forums you are looking at but everyone I've seen thinks this is a bad decision.

And they will be right.

"..with a range of elevations that will provide a challenging course for competitors"

So that's low, quite low, moderately low, indifferent and perhaps a bit hilly-ish. Seb Coe, taking the out out of XC.

Presumably this decision has been taken to help demonstrate how the rest of the country will benefit from the Olympics.

Yep complete & utter rubbish..How in the world of all thats muddy can Essex be a better venue for XC than Wales?

Looks like Im off to Afan uh I mean Colchester this w/e..

A deals been done me thinks..

I have said it before so shall say it again for all you people who can't seem to get it into your heads....

IT CANT be in Wales because it too bloody far away!!! the venuse has to be a certain distance from the village.

and just another point... its the LONDON 2012 games not the WALES 2012 games, Wales isn't England.

It can only be a good thing for the money to be spent on our sport and for those of you who have never even been to the said venuse then you don't know what your talking about.

drewcole81 - what the hell are you on about? They're playing football in Scotland *and* Wales for the 2012 Olympics. Wise up!

I was brought up in this part of Essex and speak from personal experience having cycled/worked in and around this neck of the woods for 21 years and can certainly confirm that the gearing for these events should be a 48 x 17 fixed. (No need for deraillers) just keep it simple like the muppets behind this venue. If it wasn't for the money changing hands a sane man would have it take place in the Kentish hills where they do things like holding the National hill climb championships!!!!

Cherryup, you make a fair point.

Although the football is a different matter, as the team travel for the games anyway. same as the guy who made the point that the sailing isn't in London... well of course it isn't the water keep going out!

Perhaps it was badly worded...

As far as the Mountain Biking goes, the money is coming from London to pay for it, improvements etc... so why would they want to spend that money in wales?

Thats why it had to be around here.

How many people moaning have ever been for a ride at the proposed course I wonder... and how many people know what they are planning to build over there.... not that many I suspect.

"How many people moaning have ever been for a ride at the proposed course I wonder... and how many people know what they are planning to build over there.... not that many I suspect"

None - because there's no course there at the moment. It will be built for 2012...

Yes but you can still ride there....... hence why I wrote 'proposed' course.

Have you?

The money isn't coming from London ... it's coming from various sources including the national lottery.

ALL Olympics have locations all around the prospective countries .... a venue sited in Wales will be a far better used facility once the Olympics are over.

Well I've just looked on the sally armies website for the place and it does appear to have a hill. I just can't help feeling though that the Olympics is supposed to be the pinnacle of athletic competition and as such surely the race should be over the best course we can offer. This may in time be the one that is going to be built but somehow I doubt it. As for distance being a problem with people take a look at the current Olmpics where some events are being held in Hong Kong: 1200 miles away from Beijing...

I wonder is it a scheme of the health and safety exec " we cant have any steep sided terrain for the mountain biking someone may get hurt"

Lets just have all the events in LONDON and hope that it is on time and on budget just like Wembley stadium.

I think as far as the olympics are concerned we are called Great Britian not Great London

Mostly the money is coming from local councils as a large part from around the city... not bloody Wales.

The games should be spread around the country ie the United kingdom we are not Wales,Scotland,England & Northern Ireland at this olympic games. Nor is there only london to see in this country. Cant see distance being a problem seeing as the UK is small anyway and they are holding equestrian in Hong Kong and sailing in Qingdao for Beijing. Honk Kong is the opposite side of china and am sure that its a bigger distance than from one end of the UK to the other.

IMO Wales should have got the bid for it its the best place for it as usual everything is staying the in south of England.

drewcole..... a large part of the money is coming from the national lottery which is played more in areas of lower income.....such as the welsh valleys

i think it is a real shame that we couldnt have shown the world how amazing and exciting mtbing can be especially in proper mountains with awesome scenery and some real challenges for atheletes

ah well mediocrity wins again

Plenty of comments from us mortal MTBers....I wonder what the pros think?

The clue is in the title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least there will be a course for us East of England MTB-ers to ride, if we cant face the long journey west/north. Whilst I agree it probably isnt the best location, its nice to see something new being built away from the typically common but excellent MTBing hubs of Wales/Scotland.

There is no need for mountains for this though as it a XC race not downhill or anything like that. So Hadleigh will provide all that is needed.

None of us know what is going to be built or what the plans are at the moment for anything so all this talk of how crap it'll be is kinda pointless?

I hope they spend the right amount of money on it and do a good job on it to leave something in our end of the country for us ALL to use after the stupid F**king games have gone.

I hate the Olympics, I don't care that people can throw sticks and jump into pools without making a splash.... But if it get our sport some cover then so be it.

There is no need for mountains for this though as it a XC race not downhill or anything like that. So Hadleigh will provide all that is needed.

None of us know what is going to be built or what the plans are at the moment for anything so all this talk of how crap it'll be is kinda pointless?

I hope they spend the right amount of money on it and do a good job on it to leave something in our end of the country for us ALL to use after the stupid F**king games have gone.

I hate the Olympics, I don't care that people can throw sticks and jump into pools without making a splash.... But if it get our sport some cover then so be it.

Now then Drew.... I think you need to check out some of the distances in the Bejing games. No doubt money was involved and Wales just did not put up enough. Don't worry Wales, next time I'm sorting out a MTB holiday, Essex wont be in the equation.

There does need to be some equality in these games and a sharing round of the £ these games are reported to bring. We will wait and see if the london olympics does bring in the £'s, cant see it myself, if there is a chance of cocking this up then our government will cock it up and the tax payer will bail them out.. (__0__)

This decision is embarrassing. Simply embarrassing!

Folks, read the notes about the 2008 MTB, about the complaints from the riders because of their concerns that it wasn't technical enough, what are they planning for 2012, blindfolding the riders? Hiding their Bikes?

After finding out the the Kayaking was being held in London, now this, why don't they just rename it to the London Olympics and they can pick up the tab, what makes me really fall over laughing, are the comments on how far Wales is from London? isn't that about the distance Nicole Cooke Just rode to get a Gold!

I think having the MTB in Essex, is about as succesful as was the Millenium Dome in London.

The Eden project attracted more people over the same period of time, and that was in Cornwall!

"leshark

Posted Fri 15 Aug, 12:02 am BST Flag as inappropriate

After finding out the the Kayaking was being held in London, now this, why don't they just rename it to the London Olympics and they can pick up the tab"

It is called the 2012 London Olympics already!!!!!!!!! and they are paying for most of it.