 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
This time it's the road race around Box Hill.
I don't understand how anyone can think it's a good idea to charge people to stand outside in public to watch an event.
By all means sell tickets for stadiums, arenas, or whatever other specialist facilities/venues.
Is the UK olympic committee the first to attempt to do this or is this the norm for olympic cycling events? (I expect I know the answer to this already...)
Do events like the TdF have chargeable spectating areas? (at stage finish areas for example)
The best view of that one is out of my 1st-floor lounge window.
They'll be knocking on your door demanding money!...
Tour is free to watch everywhere. Don't see how they will make money on this - could it be more about crowd safety than anything else?
It shouldbe free - cycling events are usually, and always have been in the Olympics. GGrrrrrr
Tour is free to watch everywhere. Don't see how they will make money on this - could it be more about crowd safety than anything else?
Can't see how, it was due to be ticketed anyway, just with no charge, so the cost to Locog won't change, just a bit more revenue for the pot.
I doubt if it is about crowd safety as there are larger and more unruly crowds on the hilly stages of continental races. It's a cash grab.
That's pretty out of order, I've no issue with them charging if they've provided facilities such as seating but to charge to view it on the public highway is totally out of order. Be interesting to know how they intend to police it. For example say some kind hearted land owner decided people could watch from the other side of his hedge (and he's not charging them, or even if he is) how can they stop that.
Where does this all fit in with the much vaunted 'legacy' of encouraging young people into sport then? This would have been an ideal opportunity to promote that
I expect the 'L' word, with Seb,.... sorry [i]Lord[/i] Coe.... to go the same way as Call-me-Daves 'Big Society' and 'We're all in this together'. Its rapidly hitting the tipping point when even a money-grubbing Tory PR man won't be hard-faced enough to mention it without knowing they'll be laughed out of the room
I'm sure that they could use the Olympic Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Olympic_Games_and_Paralympic_Games_Act_2006
I wonder if they'll try and bar passage from all the "offroad" access points on the hill...
This boils my piss 👿
I live a 20 mins cycle away from Box Hill. Would love to watch it at the top as it is part of my regular training loop.
Applied fortickets for many events including various track cycling and got nil.
Do they charge to watch the sailing?
Yes. In fact they will close a public park to errect a paid-entry stand.
And there's more...
That's pretty out of order, I've no issue with them charging if they've provided facilities such as seating but to charge to view it on the public highway is totally out of order.
It's not a public highway: it's private land and a private road running through it. The landowners are perfectly within their rights to charge for it.
I wonder if they'll try and bar passage from all the "offroad" access points on the hill...
They did for the Test Event - there were threads on here with people saying "oh it's OK, I'll just ride my bike in along a BW or FP and get to it that way" then they found out that temporary fencing had been put up everywhere to prevent just that.
the tough Zigzag road component of the course - and at the top of the mountain at Donkey's Green
mountain? are they building a mountain on Box [u]Hill[/u]
I'd be up for a bit of mass trespass
I'd be up for a bit of mass trespass
You won't get anywhere ****ing near it! It's the Olympics - the biggest sporting event in the world. It will be total, complete lockdown. No ticket = no entry.
You won't be allowed to park near it, locals won't be able to get to their houses without special passes, you will almost literally have your hand held from the moment you get to the Park & Ride or train station to the minute you're in your allotted stand on the side of the hill. And if you don't have a ticket, you'll be politely put back on the train.
FFS! Other venues are available to view the race. Best place would be Richmond Park.
For Fort William world championships, they had fenced off a lot of off-road routes into and out of Leanachan Forest and had people selling tickets at some of them. (we found this not cos we were trying to get in for free but because where we were staying it was a lot quicker to walk in to the bottom end of the XC course than go via Gondola station end).
You could get in for free - some friends walked over the Aonachs from top end of Glen Nevis and followed the DH course down, but they were more out to do some munros than see DH practice.
While the tour climbs are busy, they are all pretty remote and it's only really the top couple of km that are mobbed - and there is a lot of them over a 3 week oeriod. With Box Hill being Olympics, UK having a strong team and being a kick up the hoop of That London Place, I reckon there is every chance there will be more people trying to stand on Box Hill than you'd get on Alpe d'Huez. I know I would if I lived remotely close to it....
Can't say it bothers me, given that I'd likely not get a ticket for it anyway I'm happy that those lucky enough to get one get charged for the privilege :p
So, for someone who's not familiar with the area, will any of the Box Hill loop be watchable for nowt?
It's a 15km loop so there will be plenty of places to watch for free. You'll just have loads of trouble getting to them and parking anywhere near. If it were me, I'd try to get to Leatherhead (train or M25), then walk out (approx 1 mile) to the circuit.
if I lived remotely close
Nice unintentional oxymoron there 🙂
Real question is why are we being charged for any tickets in the first place .........
Taxpayers money paid for it all and private money will benefit from the infrastructure afterwards at below cost!