London's Olympic MTB venue at Hadleigh Park in Essex is apparently in varying states of disrepair, with several features being out of action for long periods of time, according to local riders.
Only a month ago we were celebrating Tom Pidcock’s dramatic win in the mountain biking at the Paris 2024 Olympics. An Olympics where GB riders excelled, backing up Pidcock’s gold with an impressive 8th place for Charlie Aldridge and 5th for former World Champion Evie Richards. Frankly, Britain has not been this strong in cross-country mountain biking since the era of Tim Gould, David Baker, and Gary Foord 30 years ago.
ELANCOURT, FRANCE – JULY 29: (L-R) Mathias Flueckiger of Team Switzerland and Thomas Pidcock of Team Great Britain compete during the Men’s Cross-Country on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Elancourt Hill on July 29, 2024 in Elancourt, France. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
But back home, it’s a different picture, with 2012 Olympic MTB venue, Hadleigh Park, falling into a sad state of disrepair, according to reports from locals that have been highlighted by the Southend Echo. Hark back to 2012. It’s the London Olympics, we’ve won everything there is to win (almost) in track cycling. Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead) has won silver in the road race, and Bradley Wiggins has just won the time trial weeks after winning the Tour de France. Then came the boom in cycling. More people bought bikes because of Team GB’s success that year – particularly road bikes. Britain had arguably never felt so great, with a wave of patriotic optimism sweeping the nation.
HADLEIGH, UNITED KINGDOM – AUGUST 11: A general view of the Women’s Cross-country Mountain Bike race on Day 15 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Hadleigh Farm on August 11, 2012 in Hadleigh, Essex. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
But what about mountain biking? Hadleigh Park was the location chosen for the cross-country mountain biking with a purpose-built course constructed and a plan to be lasting legacy of the London Olympics. 12 years down the line and it doesn’t look good. According to various riders, the park is full of “loose gravel” and “deteriorating features” – a far cry from the well-maintained legacy track the UK XC racing community had in mind. What’s even more disheartening is that a brilliant mountain bike racing venue was bulldozed to make way for the Olympic Velo Park. Eastway was an extremely popular site for road, cyclocross, and mountain bike racing during the 80s and 90s, hosting regular Wednesday evening summer XC races – known as the Beastway series – that attracted 200 riders from London and the South-East, week in, week out. All that was lost in the construction of the Velodrome, meaning XC racing, and London’s huge population, lost a real grassroots opportunity to get into the sport. But is it as bad as they say? And what can be done to preserve bike parks and trails for future generations, and aspiring Tom Pidcocks and Evie Richards?
HADLEIGH, UNITED KINGDOM – AUGUST 12: A general view of the Men’s Mountain Bike race on Day 16 of the 2012 Olympic Games at Hadleigh Farm on August 12, 2012 in Hadleigh, Essex. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
What is the Hadleigh Park 2012 mountain bike venue?
Hadleigh Park in Essex is a MTB cross-country park, with trails for beginners, families and more advanced riders. It was the site of the London 2012 cross-country mountain bike race, which saw Julie Bresset of France and Jaroslav Kulhavy of Croatia win respective gold medals. It’s since been revamped, with some of the more technical features removed to make it more accessible, and there have been easier routes added as well.
There are now green, blue, red and black graded trails, as well as a skills and pump track area. It’s part of Hadleigh Country Park, which is also open to walkers and other users. There is also a hub and café as well as toilets and parking facilities, so it’s certainly got the foundations of a site that could be a fantastic asset and training facility for aspiring Olympians and Team GB. We’ve also seen comments from some riders suggesting there are grazing cows often in and around the trails.
A course map of the Olympic track – including features like the Leap of Faith, which is now unusable
What state is Hadleigh Park in now?
While we haven’t visited Hadleigh Park – remarks by and photos taken by local riders build a picture of a venue where neglect has started to creep in. There are reports of parts of the all-weather track now resembling loose gravel, and some even complaining that the signage is inadequate, making trails difficult to follow without a map.
Speaking to a reporter from the Southend Echo, local rider, Dennis Angell, said:
“I used to ride there all the time, but it has been terrible for a long time. Features have been closed off despite it seeming there is little wrong.
“Erosion was a real issue, the track cracks in the summer and it has all grown over. The main path has grown over so much you cannot get down to it.
“Essex County Council haven’t done anything to it for years and I swear there was a clause about keeping it up to scratch for 30 years in their original contract.”
Others have complained about several features being closed long-term, including the ‘Leap of Faith’ being closed for over two years. The rock garden has also apparently begun to fall into disrepair. The problem appears to come from lack of investment in good trail maintenance. Of course, with council budgets being constantly stretched over the last decade or so, it’s not a massive surprise that another council-run park hasn’t been a priority. But, when a facility has been built with a longterm legacy the express intention to continue that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a shame.
HADLEIGH, UNITED KINGDOM – AUGUST 11: Annie Last of Great Britain in action during the Women’s Cross-country Mountain Bike race on Day 15 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Hadleigh Farm on August 11, 2012 in Hadleigh, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Robin Grant, Chair of the UK MTB Trail Alliance commented on the state of Hadleigh Park:
“The tragedy of this story is that the council have acted in such bad faith, with key features closed for years now, making it unrideable as a complete track.
Hadleigh Mountain Bike Club, which was also set up as a legacy of the 2012 games, used to put thousands of volunteer hours into the track each year to help maintain it, but have become so frustrated with the council that they’ve withdrawn their labour.
Hadleigh represents a microcosm of the situation facing mountain bike trails across the UK, where there has been relatively large amounts of historic initial capital spending, but with little to no money set aside for ongoing maintenance or revision of the trails to keep them relevant. Volunteer groups are prepared to do a lot of this work for free, but the public sector needs to adapt to accommodate working with them, otherwise, all of that capital spend will be wasted”.
A county council spokesman told the Southend Echo that: “The Hadleigh Country Park team is working to reopen these closed features as quickly as possible.
“Since the 2012 London Olympics, we can assure residents that Essex County Council has carried out repairs and renovations to the trails, and this is an ongoing project.”
HADLEIGH, UNITED KINGDOM – AUGUST 12: A general view of the Men’s Mountain Bike race on Day 16 of the 2012 Olympic Games at Hadleigh Farm on August 12, 2012 in Hadleigh, Essex. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
So what can we do about Hadleigh Park?
The fact that it’s been designated as an area of ‘legacy’ from the Olympics means that it still attracts high numbers of visitors, even despite its lack of maintenance. Looking at the positives, it already has the foundations of a great place to ride a bike – it’s got the infrastructure in terms of parking, toilets, a bike shop and a café. And if the council wants to encourage more people to ride mountain bikes, get people confident on traffic-free trails, then significant investment is needed to turn it back into a useable and enjoyable place to ride.
So what can be done? The park needs professional trail builders and a maintenance plan. Many features remain closed, and the actual surface of the trails are overgrown or becoming dangerous with loose gravel and marbles of rocks. As Grant said in his comment, there are volunteers open to doing a lot of the work for free, they just need to be given access and permission to do so.
Luckily, with groups like the UK MTB Trail Alliance coming to the fore, mountain bikers and trail builders have more of a backing and more of a voice. So we hope that this can be leveraged into a constructive conversation with the local council (and British Cycling) about maintaining this London 2012 Olympic legacy site for future generations.