Why XC Is Now Must See

Crowds of 25,000 and growing online audiences mean cross country is exciting again

- Simon Scarsbrook

With Red Bull reporting ever-increasing audiences for its coverage of world class cross-country racing, it seems there is a distinct resurgence happening among spectators that have traditionally been dwindling. Crowds of 25,000 have even been lining the courses of Europe — so why the sudden interest?

Lee Craigie, a veteran of the pain and elation of the women’s circuit, has seen many changes take place in her career to help make it more spectator-friendly. “Historically XC racing has been hard to watch and expensive to televise, but they have got on board with the media and understand it a lot better now,” she says. “With shorter laps and figure-of-eight courses, as a spectator you can really get engaged. As the laps go by you can get emotionally involved watching folk getting tired, you can see the tactics at play.”