Cameron Mason: "The way to raise UK riders' level is not to just host a race that costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to put on"

Cameron Mason has been having a season of ups and downs. But this past weekend in South Shields he took his first win of the winter, conquering with comfort the British national Championships. He now aims for the final races of the season, whilst evaluating the modest state of British cyclocross.

"I think I can do something in Maasmechelen and Hoogerheide. Even if I shoot for Worlds and then miss, I’ll still be good enough – there are other races," Mason shared in words to Cycling Weekly. "Every race is so different. Every time you turn up, there's different competition, there are different weather conditions, the context is always so different. It's not like in track cycling or in track and field, where the conditions are so controlled".

Mason has had a few second places this winter, namely at the Koppenbergcross; as well as in Hamme and Kortrijk, but the victory in Belgium didn't come. He is also second in the X2O Badkamers Trofee, but the 2:52 minutes he has back on Joris Nieuwenhuis certainly doesn't make for an easy task to try and recover it.

However Mason, racing a full winter, had and has plenty opportunities to show his worth. "I think it's good because you could have an absolutely shocking day on a Saturday, and then turn up on Sunday, and you might still remember how rubbish you were the day before, but no one else will. Then equally, it could be the other way. I had it this winter that on some of my Saturdays, I was just on top of the world, just floating, and then the next day I just felt like such a terrible bike rider."

"It's so easy to make comparisons, because they have the same name, we're racing the same sport in Belgium as we are in the UK. But I wouldn't see them as the same sport," he says of the current situation of cyclocross in Great Britain. "Fundamentally, the cycling races I do in Belgium are professional, whereas the ones I do in the UK are amateur races [...] Every time I come home to the nationals, okay, it feels like I'm at an amateur event, but it's super important - it's one of the most important races of my year".

"I think people want to copy and paste the Belgian scene into the UK, but I think that would be a mistake – everything's different. The public want different things, the racers want different things. I know that what works in Belgium just won't work in the UK - there's just not the money or the support to do that. I want British Cycling to create more races and more stepping stones so that juniors can race more UCI races in the UK, and then take those points over and race in Belgium. They should work together".

The British national trophy series has over the past years given opportunities for riders of a high level to perform in the nation and also obtain a meaningful amount of UCI points, but the series also has its recurring issues - whilst over the past and this current season, there were races cancelled.

For the 25-year old, now the main representative of the men's side in the discipline, the wrong actions are being taken to try and improve the British scene, and the money isn't being distributed properly. "The way to raise UK riders' level is not to just host a race that costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to put on. It would actually be to just spend normal amounts of money on the races that already exist, because there's already race organizers, clubs and series that are super keen and super active," he concluded.