How successful was the Media trip to Europe – covering WMX Round 5 and Women’s Enduro GP? Straight up – the objectives were clearly defined from the get go – to elevate production of media content on women racing 2 World Championships, capturing interviews, happenings, and experiences of women racing at Round venues.
Starting with Women Motocross World Championship, Round 5 at MXGP of Maggoira. Having covered WMX for 10 years now, along with attending WMX Rounds in Qatar, Assen, and Ernee, the main focus was to create visual previews of the track, snap-shots of rider’s preparation to race, interviews, pre-gate line-up, and post racing results.
For certain, challenges exist, namely how to sync rider’s available time for film interviews amid racing schedule which altered due to weather conditions. And, how to capture shots – still and film – to edit, post, and share to viewer’s around the world within tight time-frame.
With the focus squarely on creating content in real-time, the changes to the race schedule from Free Practice on Saturday to cancelled Qualifying Race and Race 1 red flagged after 2 laps, only added to capturing the roller coaster of experiences women go through during a race weekend.
Interviews were completed with Daniela Guillen and Lynn Valk on Friday in their Team set-ups, followed by speaking with Kiara Fontanesi post Race 2, amid family and close friends celebrating P2 podium overall. These face-to-face interviews provided the exact opportunities to ask questions and dive deeper into understanding how these rider’s carve a racing career in WMX, recording and sharing their thoughts in film productions.
From a Media perspective, covering women at MXGP of Maggoira was significantly important for extending reach to global audience. The fact that the film interview on Kiara Fontanesi Part One and Part Two alone has produced 7.2K views and 12.8K views respectively confirms the validity of the work completed, and prompts further Media coverage in the future.
The main principle of thought covering Women’s Enduro GP was to complete preview of Round 3 at Bettola, interviews with 3 rider’s, and capture racing content over the course of the 3 day event.
For sure, navigating the race schedule across various locations, from Super Test in the next town, to Extreme test, to the paddock for interviews, to Cross and Enduro Tests remained challenging as rider’s compete against the clock within a lap, as opposed to WMX racing within 40 gate line-up.
And, when encountering the dynamic range of racing to film, the challenges these 7 women face became even more real, from riding over obstacles under time, to staying upright and safe on the extreme special tests, to racing the greasy tracks in Cross and Enduro Specials which went from rolling uphills to slippery downhills.
Interviews were completed with Rosie Rowett and Mireia Badia in their Team set-ups on Thursday, followed by Rachel Gutish on Friday. Timing was crucial as these women are pressed for any spare moments to speak and share their thoughts on racing, operating at full-gas from Friday through to final specials completed on Sunday.
With 2 Rounds remaining – Round 4 in Wales on August 2 – 4, and the Final Round in France on September 13 – 15, elevation of Media exposure on these talented women rider’s remains top of the list for broadening the appeal of Women’s Enduro GP to global audience.
From Media and MXLink’s perspective – was the 27 hours of flight time x2 worth the opportunity to shift the dynamics of creating content on Women racing WMX and Women’s Enduro GP? Most definitely – YES.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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