How every sport can learn from a man in gold socks going round in circles

In this blog James Stibbs, Head of Communications at the Alliance, reminisces while at the Olympic velodrome about past glories and how the sector can innovate and encourage future successes. 

On Sunday, I made my first return to the Olympic Park since 2012. There's a very different feel to the place now. It's much more...well...parky than it was in those heady summer days of the London Games when anything seemed possible for not just Team GB but also for GB in general.

But despite the carousels, the climbing equipment and the picnics, I was still there for the sport. Unlike during the Olympics and Paralympics, I'd finally prised open that most hallowed of places for those of us who think two wheels good - the velodrome.

Me and six thousand other people were there to see that most peculiar of sporting events - an attempt at the hour record. Wiggins v clock + track + air pressure. Or how far can you travel in sixty minutes.

On the question of endurance, there can be little doubt that this is right up there with the job of Hugh Porter who was tasked from the commentary box with bringing to life a man in gold socks going in circles. Only a man from Wolverhampton (home of the first ever hour event, so some claim) would be equal to a job like that.

On the wider question of why 6,000 people would tuck themselves into an airless crisp to watch said feat, there is much more to be contemplated.

We talk a lot in sport about progress and innovation, about new formats and changing demographics. We do it here at the Alliance. And it is important.

Yet Sunday reminded me of old dogs and new tricks, success and its fathers and Anna Jameson (she of "The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself" fame. You knew that).

The fact is that the hour record has been recognised for more than 120 years. There reached a point where technical advances rendered it meaningless and efforts all but ended. But it has been revived by a smart act of intervention by cycling's world governing body.

The UCI has freshly codified the discipline and in doing so has revived a whole new level of interest in part of its sport. Which raises the question of what is there in the armoury of your sport or activity which you can breathe new life into?

Is there a new way of delivering it, of popularising it or of selling it that makes it perfect for the 21st century?

A second fact is that this was a great example of a sports event that wasn't the preserve of a governing body . Supported by a circus ring of sponsors, from Sky to Vitality to Rapha, there was no doubt that this event was making money for someone. But that didn't deflect from the sense of sporting occasion which presaged the breaking of a world record.

British Cycling enjoyed a low profile at the event but whatever their role (and they may have wanted to have been more proprietorial; I don't know) there can be no doubt that the governing body will be the ultimate beneficiary of another piece of cycling silver coming to these shores.

Whilst the relationship between Sky, Wiggins and British Cycling may feel like a piece of alchemy, perhaps it's time to think about how you might loosen the grip around your sport to make partnerships like this one work for you.

A third fact - or really an observation- is that this kind of solo effort may well be a feature of our sporting future.

As reported in our Future Foundation report, the notion of the quantified self (competing against yourself and your own performance) is one that is gaining currency. And whilst the hour record may not be a pure example, there is something very simple about racing against your own time, as Wiggins was every lap. There were no competitors - just him and the clock - and yet he was still the winner.

So finally I pose the question, what can you do in your sport to make winners of the wise men (and women) who only compete against themselves?

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