DH #5 Val Di Sole - 11 Vids - Results added

gee deff is gonna win

[Aeropusher]

Beaumont!


....and 5th for Steve Smith!!!!



I got up late, just in time to see the podium ceremonies....can't wait to see the replay of the top 5 runs

[juan]

Talk about out of left field! Good for Beaumont. Yeah and Smith top five!
How close is it now between gee and greg

What a year

[cam@nsmb.com]

I think my prediction streak is still alive - mostly.

Results - including overall - here...

[JCL]

Brendan crashed and there were still 5 Brits in the top ten... That said, good result for Stevie at last.

[the Master Plan Dan]

Sweet Minnar and Blenki... 2nd and 3rd overall.

Can't believe the 7 point difference between Gee and Minnar is nuts!

[Tdiddy]

lewis buchanen with a smoking time for 16th place, that's the highest junior finish this year by far. Too bad for Gwin, he was 1.5 seconds up at the first split and was flying until he somehow landed badly on a rock to root double and had an insane cartwheel off the bike. Impressive he still finished, let alone only 7 seconds off. Watch him to take the last race in the USA.

[wa90]

Any vids up yet?

[Dean W]

Ummm thanks for posting the Men's winning times, but guess what, the women also raced the same track.

It would be nice to see the ladies mentioned on the front page as well.

[Tdiddy]

maybe if there wasn't a 25 second difference in the top 10 and a minute between the top 20 more people would care about women's dh racing. 8 women raced the 4x. I'm all for women's racing, but right now it's not competitive so it's not very interesting.

right now it's like watching Canada's women's hockey team beat Unknownistan 28 to nothing.

[Dean W]

Originally Posted by Tdiddy

maybe if there wasn't a 25 second difference in the top 10 and a minute between the top 20 more people would care about women's dh racing. 8 women raced the 4x. I'm all for women's racing, but right now it's not competitive so it's not very interesting.

right now it's like watching Canada's women's hockey team beat Unknownistan 28 to nothing.

Yeahhhhh................NO! You need to promote it to have interest. I'm not going to get into the disparities between women's and men's sports as it's a whole subject all it's own and we could both go on and on until we are blue in the face.

My simple point is that both the men and women raced this past weekend and both the men's and women's results should have been shown.

I am particularly sensitive to the issues in men's and women's sports because I have competed in competitive sports my whole life and I am the father of two girls that I'd like to encourage to participate in sports. It's somewhat rare to see women in sports on TV, online or elsewhere so it's a treat to show my girls some women racing DH broadcast by Freecaster. I personally found it a little upsetting that neither the ladies DH results nor race were mentioned on the front page.

Have a good one, and if one day you have a daughter that wants to compete in sports you might understand where I am coming from.

[Tdiddy]

I understand where you're coming from, but you can promote a product all you want, until it's a legitimate entertainment interest, it won't catch on. It will get there as the level of women's racing is getting better every year just as the men's level of competition has made leaps and bounds over the last few years.

I know that putting up the women's results is one thing, but look at the other media. Watch any of the dirt roundup videos or mtb cut videos. They usually only put in a brief clip of the top womens rider, maybe the top three, very briefly. That's because there isn't a big demand yet, and I emphasize yet. But don't worry, it will get there. With the likes of that junior Feniak girl putting up times faster than Canada's top elite women, the dh scene for women will get more competitive. But until then, you'll have a tough time seeing equal treatment in the media.

[Sparkplug]

Originally Posted by Tdiddy

I understand where you're coming from, but you can promote a product all you want, until it's a legitimate entertainment interest, it won't catch on. It will get there as the level of women's racing is getting better every year just as the men's level of competition has made leaps and bounds over the last few years.

I know that putting up the women's results is one thing, but look at the other media. Watch any of the dirt roundup videos or mtb cut videos. They usually only put in a brief clip of the top womens rider, maybe the top three, very briefly. That's because there isn't a big demand yet, and I emphasize yet. But don't worry, it will get there. With the likes of that junior Feniak girl putting up times faster than Canada's top elite women, the dh scene for women will get more competitive. But until then, you'll have a tough time seeing equal treatment in the media.

This is like the chicken and the egg argument. How does women's racing get more interest if it doesn't get any promo? I agree that the women's results should be posted. (It can be after the men's at the bottom of the page, but it should be there somewhere.)

[Tdiddy]

how is this the chicken and the egg? I said women's racing needs to get more competitive before it will receive proper coverage. That sounds pretty linear to me. It's starting to get there with a handful of French riders now capable of topping the podium, but as I said before, when it's a 25 second gap between 1st and 5th, and a minute between the top twenty, that's not very competitive.

There are people out there very interested in women's downhill, I'm not arguing that. But there are many orders of magnitude more interested in the tightly contested men's division, so that's going to get the lion's share of the coverage. There is a reason the UCI keeps decreasing the number of women that qualify for the finals.

How would you like to see women's dh racing gain legitimate exposure? Increase the number of qualifying women to 80 to match the men? Would this get more women involved? Or would people enjoy watching 80th place women struggle down the tracks 3 minutes behind? Even in the men's people aren't really interested beyond top 20, unless those riders have a very strong personality like Wyn Masters. I'm open to hear solutions to gaining exposure to the women's dh scene, but as it stands, I don't think the current crop of riders has enough depth to hold the public's interest.

[NAT0007]

Rachel Atherton could probably promote downhill racing to the general public better than any of the men.