MTBA National Cup

MEMBER UPDATE – The National Cup is returning for 2020! 

We would like to provide a brief update on some matters we have been working on in conjunction with the Sporting and Technical “Management Advisory Commission” (MAC) and which we know are important to the membership. As background, the MAC group’s role is to assist, advise and direct the MTBA office on sporting and technical matters. The MAC is made up of an experienced and knowledgeable cross section of the membership including athletes, club officials, race organisers and technical officials has historically met periodically via phone conference and face to face once per year. The MAC terms of reference is to devise, advise and direct on all issue’s relating to the operation of the respective disciplines for which MTBA is responsible as the NSO (National Sporting Organisation) across the nation.

National Cup Competition 2020

The first year of the NC (National Cup) has been very successful (in excess of 8,000 event registrations) but also challenging in some respects. As always when a new concept is introduced to any organisation it will have some teething problems and need some time, consultation and development to improve. At the most recent MAC group meeting several changes to this year’s Technical Regulations and NC competition guidelines were discussed and a consensus agreed upon.

• Technical Regulations– The need to re-draft the existing Tech Regs was identified as soon as the NC system was proposed unfortunately this has taken more time than anticipated, but is now in final review and will be published when available. There will be a single set of Technical Regulations, incorporating all disciplines, going forward which should provide greater clarity and simplicity for all.
• NC Competition Guidelines – 2020 season guidelines will also be released 1 November. Unlike in 2019 there should be consistency in both wording and rules between the Competition Guidelines and the Technical Regulations. Something that was not consistent this year.
• NC Expression of Interest for Tier 1, Marquee and National Championship Events – EOI’s for the first half of 2020 will be released 1 November with announcement of the calendar on 1 December. We were intending this process to commence earlier but unfortunately it has been held up owing to scheduling difficulties surrounding 2020 being an Olympic Year and the potential need to host Oceania Championships in AUS once again in early 2020. We have been advised NZ is now intending to host Oceania’s in 2020.
• State Championships for XC, DH, GE etc. – This concept was first instigated in 2017 and has been quite successful. Originally it was brought into play to recognise and control sanctioning of a single specific event in each state and each discipline to provide greater consistency and clarity for members, clubs and key stakeholders. The preferred timing of these events was determined via consultation with the membership and key stakeholders. The last quarter of the year is the preference for these events. 
• State Champs NC points multiplier – From 2020 on, the original x2.5 points multiplier has been reduced to x1.5. It has been determined this is more in keeping with the status of these events and provides a fairer distribution of status across all NC events. Riders are eligible to gain NC points from multiple State Championships but only eligible for the state championship title in their state of permanent residence.
• State Champions Call Up –After a year full of confusion, arguments and difficulty of execution, and in depth discussion, it has been concluded that the call up for all events in the NC (including National Champs) will be simplified with the preference previously afforded to State Champions being withdrawn. 
• Riding Out of Age Category –The updated Technical Regulations will specifically not allow this to happen. A Junior rider must ride in their correct age category. This decision is based on fairness to all riders in all categories. Key considerations here are the fundamentals surrounding our Duty of Care and the requirement to ensure insurance cover for members encompassed within our adopted Junior Guidelines on Participation, and maintaining fair competition for all (permitting a junior athlete to “ride up” will adversely affect the results of an athlete riding in the correct category while removing important competition from riders in the lower category).

National Cup Ranking

From 1 Jan 2020, a merit-based ranking system will be used to assist in determining seeding lists for Tier 1, Marquee, State and National Championships events registered in the National Cup Event Framework. 

Seeding order will be calculated as follows:

1. The defending format class National Champion;
2. Recognised UCI World Champion in the format;
3. Any rider ranked in the top 200 UCI World Rankings in ranking order*; 
4. Riders ranked in the top 30 of the current National Cup Ranking;
5. All other riders by entry sequence.

A riders National Cup Ranking will be made up of their top 12-point scores from eligible National Cup events based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. National Cup points are dropped 52 weeks after being awarded.

In order to appear in the National Cup rankings, a rider only needs to race in one eligible National Cup event in the previous 52-week period and be a current MTBA financial member at the time of said event.  It is the responsibility of riders to ensure that their MTBA memberships are up to date to ensure that any points they are awarded at National Cup events are added to their rankings.

When a rider changes age category (i.e from Under 15 to Under 17, Masters 3 to Masters 4), points earned in the riders previous age category will not be transferred into the riders new category with the exception of points earned at the previous years sanctioned MTBA National Championships. 

National Cup Rankings will be published on www.mtba.org.au with rankings being updated on a fortnightly basis.

We hope this helps a better understanding of the future direction for the sport as set out by the MAC – by members for members. Our aim is always to be fair to all riders and encourage more riders, riding more events, more often.

* the most recently published UCI Rankings need to be downloaded, updated and manually applied to the start lists.