Scottish Cycling: Paul Newnham Interview

Words: Niall Frost - Photos: Joolze Dymond

I think it been the best year yet for Scottish MTB XC. Every year I am astounded by the commitment and dedication of the club coaches, parents and riders but this year they have taken it to another level.  The highlight for me is the strength and depth we now have at youth and juvenile level. We won 5 out of 6 youth, juvenile and junior categories in the National XC Series and had between 25-35 riders at each round.  Grant Ferguson's rides in the World Cups, European Championships (silver medal) and World Championships have been an inspiration for the younger riders.  Lee Craigie has also stepped up a level this year with a medal in the British Champs and selection for the European and Worlds Championships. 

I raced at elite level XC for 3 years in the UK. I had some top 15's but never set of the world alight. I hope I am a better coach that I was a rider! I did a year of DH racing after I finished with XC which was a fun and taught me a lot of skills. 

I am based in Edinburgh and have lived there for 8 years, and am originally from Kent. The riding in Scotland is amazing and the people are great. The weather and the midges are the down points!

I am the Scottish MTB XC Coach. My job is divided between youth, juniors and seniors. My main priorities are to get riders onto GB programs and for them to progress from there to be world class riders.  With the Commonwealth Games coming up in Glasgow that is a huge priority as well.  I started out at Scottish Cycling as a Regional Development Coach, working at grass roots clubs and event development. I think this gave me a great grounding on what needs to be done at that level before I moved to the performance coaching side of things 3 years ago. 

The volunteers and clubs are fundamental to MTB development in Scotland. The SXC race series is a brilliant race series run on really tough technical tracks. I think this breeds a type of rider who is ready for anything and won't be surprised by the technicality of a World Cup track when they get to that level. The clubs are really strong as well; there are a lot of coaching sessions available for the young riders and grass roots racing in the form of dirt crits or 48's. I have been lucky enough to be involved in the each stage of the development and I am always amazed by the commitment of the volunteers. Peebles CC is the obvious club that stands out for MTB. They have a large workforce of coaches and leaders, run dedicated sessions for different level of rider and grass roots competition throughout the summer.

I think they have played a massive part in the development of MTB in Scotland. They provide a year round facility which means that riders can repeat sections again and again to cement technique. Having a caf� and a bike shop mean that they are more user friendly and family oriented, which is nice when it's chucking it down and 2 degrees!

We link in as closely as we can with British Cycling so our best riders have the British Olympic Development Program to aspire to. We have been quite successful in getting Scots on these programs and with riders such as Kenta Gallagher, Grant and Katy Winton doing so well, the younger riders can see the pathway and see that is works.  

The rest of my time is split between youth development and providing a program for youth or juniors who just missed out on getting onto the British program. I run 5 RSR's (regional school of racing) in different regions around the country for youth A and B riders, trying to give them the skills to race MTB at a national level. On top of this I have a wider "talent group" which I look after depending on the level they are at. 

At youth B level it may be technical coaching and a generic plan of what sort of physical training they should be doing. 

Youth A's who have the commitment and dedication can access one to one training from me with a view to progressing onto a GB program in the future.

The real focus at youth level is on skills, if they can be developed early, then the engine can be built on top of that, but it is always harder to do it around the other way. We are quite lucky as a lot of our riders grow up riding MTB's and will do dirt jumping or Downhill as well as XC so are quite well rounded bike riders in terms of skill.  We have a number of riders who at a youth level compete in XC and DH and will make a decision which way to go at junior level. 

Yes we had two teams for that event, Scotland North and Scotland South. It was a fantastic event for the riders to participate in. It was a stage race format over 3 days and it gave everybody so much racing. The atmosphere was electric for the racing and the team from British Cycling did an amazing job at making it a success. We need more of these types of races in the UK.   

It's a massive target for us. We want a strong team capable of winning medals and think that is a definite possibility with the riders we currently have in the system. The course is in a fantastic location with a great view looking out over Glasgow. You will be able to see all other venues from the MTB course.  I think with London 2012 next year then Glasgow in 2014 it is a great time to be involved in British MTB.  Annie Last has been an inspiration this year and I know a lot of the young riders are looking up to her and seeing that being a world class British MTB rider is realistic if you put the work in.  

I think it is productive in the long run to make world class level Mountain bikers, but only if there is the coaching and grass root competition to go along side to develop the rider's skill and racing ability. When I first started with Scottish Cycling as a development coach there was not enough grassroots competition and that is something we have started to address with by working with the clubs to put on the dirt criteriums and 48's. 

The 48's came about when we were trying to develop a stepping stone up to SXC level. They are simple open to all easy to organise races, in a fun and easy to understand format. We combine the youth A riders with the adults and they race for 48 mins, the under 14's race for 24 mins. The tag line for the series is 'You've done the 10 hour� you've survived the 24, now come try the 48�.. minute!'. We are also trying to tap into the type of rider that will do a 24 hour race or a 10 under the Ben. 

Yeah I got a ripping from some of the other coaches when I first had it on but I think it adds to the feedback you can give the riders.  It's good for them to watch themselves back and see what I see!

No I'm afraid that is me done with racing on the MTB although I do try to race Cross every winter as I really enjoy that even though it gets harder and harder to shift the summer lard every year!  

So many people deserve thanks, but the club coaches, parents and the riders themselves can take a huge amount of pride success of the program. There is a fantastic attitude amongst the parents and they all club together to get themselves down to the races and riders all ride together and cheer each other on (you may have heard them at the nationals!). I think this is important, it's more than just driving eight hours to a bike race, it's a social event with friends and if you have had a bad race, one of the group is bound to have taken a step forward so everybody is happy for them.  

Thanks very much Paul and good luck with the coaching in 2012.   

Thanks to Joolze Dymond for the pictures www.joolzedymond.com

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