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Camp Heart Break: a look into Australia’s women’s cycling selection camp

by Anne-Marije Rook

September 28, 2015

Over the past six months, we have published a series of articles explaining, scrutinising and defending the (extreme) methods and measures at the Australian women’s development team selection camp.

Now the Subaru High5 Australian National Development Team has published a 27-minute look at what goes on at selection camp, and what it takes to make the cut.

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  • Wish I was on the bike…

    Wow great story, great challenge! Congratulations to all participants and those who will go to Europe! And thanks to Rochelle and all who make it happen!

  • Winky

    I saw none of the controversial “boot-camp” pressure. Just seemed a well-focussed undertaking. Any pressure was applied by the girls themselves. As it should be if they want to fulfill a dream like this.

    • Dave

      Quite right.

      Any riders who are good enough to walk it in over all the others without raising a sweat wouldn’t even be there.

      They would already be over in Europe riding for a professional or semi-professional team instead fighting for a taxpayer-funded trip.

      • winkybiker

        A bit like those Idol shows. Any musicians or singers who are worth a cracker wouldn’t bother.

  • Annie.

    I only heard in a radio documentary on our very own general development programm (not cycling-specific) that Australia’s (and the UK’s) new programms are seen as examples for reasonable ways of fostering sports achievement. They say that – contrary to our “elite schools of sports” were sportswise-successful children are sent to to undergo a specific schooling and development schedule – your programms allow for late entry to the sport. Also, an expert said in that documentary that only few of the graduates from those schools win medals later in their life whereas a high percentage of “late bloomers” do. In Germany, that’s were I come from, people who enter a sport after childhood and youth have very few chances to get any support.

    A problem I personally see in both versions (as far as I know them) is that people tend to fall out of the system as soon as success dies down, even though that may only be transitional, for example when entering elite level, while finishing school/university or recovering from especially hard seasons (year after olympics maybe).

    In Germany, people easily lose their squad status so that not only they may suffer from a momentanous lack of success, but also from the means, support and surroundings to being able to (re-)achieve it. To me, that’s not how society should treat A) someone who probably has already given so much for his or her country, and B) it doesn’t seem to be a wise way to deal with a long-term investment of theirs.

  • Derek Maher

    Seems the video,s are blocked on my computer for some reason ?.
    Okay comments.Well done to the girls who were picked and went on to put up a great show in Europe as a team.
    Now the dodgy question to racing girls and women.How long when you take up racing do you intend to stick with it.
    The big thing a lot of coaches and managers dread is after helping a young racer to a pro level is being told the racer has fallen in love,Wants to have children etc.Now of course this is part of nature but it can sure wreck Team planning and many promising athletes decide family life beats racing ?.
    So do Teams only pick very young women who might be around for a few years or older ladies who are more settled in their ways and are less likely to drop a bombshell on the Team ?.
    Please don’t take my question as a sexist one its not intended that way as I fully support womens racing.

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