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Thanks to Australian XC News for the following interview.

Australian Cross Country News interviews...
...Matt Murtagh, Australia's fourth ranked skier

If one Australian X-C skier can be seen as suffering from bad luck last year it would have to be ACT Academy of Sport and ASI Development Team skier, Matt Murtagh. With a great off-season of training behind him, Matt scored win after win in the 1996 NSW domestic scene, including one of the most convincing KAC Martini victories ever seen.

Buoyed by these results and a solid spring of training, Matt travelled to Sweden with the ASI team seemingly headed towards his best overseas season ever. However, despite the hours of training, Matt's northern winter was ruined by a mystery virus contracted around the New Year. Matt's results were well down on his own and many other people's expectations.

Despite this, Matt has bounced back to record some great results this domestic season to once again fill the number four national ranking. But before you think Matt has fought his way back from illness and the disappointment of his poor results at last year's World Championships to return to Sweden and have a shot at Olympic selection, think again.

With no ASI Development Team and the lack of funding within Skiing Australia, Matt finds himself stuck in the ever widening void between the ASI team and the Skiing Australia development teams. Here Matt Murtagh talks to Australian Cross Country News about Trondhiem, the ASI and the struggle to be a full-time skier.

1. Matt, the 1997 overseas season must have been a huge disappointment to you. How hard was it to build up to this season?

MM: To get the motivation back took a while but its a long-term sport and you can't think about the one season. I know that my troubles were related to the virus and that's why I had such a bad time.

2. You seemed to be very unlucky to get the virus after such a good build-up. Do you think it was all bad luck?

MM: A lot of the blame can go on luck but I also felt the blood testing in Sweden was inadequate in that it only tested for iron and haemoglobin. It was only seven weeks later in Switzerland that I discovered I had the virus. I think it could have been picked up earlier and possibly dealt with.

3. You also had a pretty disappointing time at the Falun World Championships in 1993. Was that a similar situation?

MM: I can relate one to the other in terms of skiing in really bad form and having nightmares about it again. Just knowing that you're in such bad form when its really your big chance to build up to one thing and be at your best - its pretty shattering.

4. But leading up to Trondhiem you must have been training harder than leading up to Falun. Did this make it even tougher?

MM: I was really motivated leading up to Trondhiem. I'd trained really hard leading up to and throughout the Australian season and I'd stayed training in the mountains until well after most of the snow had gone. I kept up the volume when we arrived in Sweden. So yes, it was a lot more disappointing because all the hours were a waste. Well, not a waste but they didn't really pay off.

5. How has your training changed from Falun to the present time?

MM: Well, I now look at the Australian season as just a short bit of the overall year. I still want to do well in races but the big races for me are the European races in January and February.

6. What about selection and teams?

MM: It seems that the hurdles keep moving. I've got a few questions about how people gain full scholarships. You've got the problem of people who are capable of gaining the necessary points putting in the work but not getting any support to help them achieve that - they show they're dedicated and yet get left on the bench in Oz. I'd just like to point out that I've got nothing against people on support, it just seems that many others fall into the abyss!

7. Since you've become a senior can you see much of a change in the way other skiers train, particularly today's top juniors such as Paul Murray and Mick Brennan?

MM: I don't know that juniors are training much differently to the way I trained because you do different sports as a junior. For example, Mick Brennan is a top swimmer and he uses that to his advantage. He knows how to quality train and he knows how to peak. But its hard for juniors - they want to have a social life and they don't always do all the training.

8. Do you think you had more support as a junior than the current top four or five?

MM: I think the Australian juniors today are perhaps at a bit of a disadvantage compared to when I was a junior. There was a big group with Anthony (Evans), Paul and Mark (Gray) and Tom (Landon-Smith). It was a really good group of skiers and it was also a social group - everything was about skiing. There was also support for the top junior which was a real motivator. Its not good when Paul and Jim have to scrounge for good skis to compete at World Juniors. But I really think that juniors really need to serve an apprenticeship. Its a hard sport and you can't just step in and expect to do well.

9. What about the next level? There seems to be a big gap between a top junior and a top senior. Do you think this is where our support system is failing?

MM: Yes. I think this is where a skier really needs support. There is a big gap and its not an easy time. Your results aren't as good and at the same time you're making career choices. If there is no support, then its extra hard. At the moment, there is a huge hole in our system where a skier steps out of the juniors and finds - nothing!

There needs to be support, preferably financial because that's the hard thing - to study, train and live and still earn the $7000 needed to get overseas each year. Someone like Paul Murray who's put in the time and the hours when he's had to needs support to get up that next step. Paul's already doing well as a senior, but he's not going to catch Anthony or Paul within the next year or two and this is the big abyss he's stepping into.

10. What about yourself? It must be hard to come back from your bad season, place so well and still be left with no real support for the northern winter, especially in an Olympic year.

MM: Yes, it is disappointing. But you've got to think long-term again. It's been a big goal of mine to ski the Olympic relay and it sort of hurts that I won't even get a shot at it. Next year is another year though and if I can regain the motivation I'd love to ski a World Championships again. Its just hard to sort out priorities in your life. You put in so much and its just a big sacrifice if you're not even getting a chance. Skiing won't be it forever!

11. Have you made a decision yet - can you afford to make that sacrifice again?

MM: I'm not sure. I've got a lot of options. It depends on what sort of support is around. I don't know what my next move is going to be. There are advantages to skiing - but I've got to live!

12. You talk a lot about support. Has the ASI increased your support? What other advantages has the ASI got?

MM: I think the ASI is great if you're in the top of the sport but if you're not, then you're worse off then under the old system. Skiing Australia had big fun camps at Howman's with juniors and seniors. No ASI camp has had the same feeling as those camps. Everybody had more fun so they were more likely to make the big sacrifices. Now you're in it more by yourself - you want to beat people to get into that top three instead of helping other people. I help Jim and a few others, but I'm not going to wax Finn or Ben's skis!

13. Is the head coach theory - that a top coach will improve us all - working?

MM: We've got to come to the realisation that Christer doesn't ski for us all. He can help us a lot but he's not going to train for you or race for you. You have to do it yourself. Also we're not the only country with a good coach. If Christer was the best coach in the world, we still don't have the full support structure that Norway has. Once again, Christer is great for the top three but the others have to look elsewhere for support. Some of the best performances this year were by Camille Melvey and she's had very little exposure to Christer. Mick Sullivan is an excellent coach and we have to realise these Aussie coaches exist. I think that we've possibly put all our eggs in one basket. Let's fact it, ASI won't last forever, Anthony won't be competing forever. What happens when Christer finishes up and these top skiers retire?

14. Is this different to other sports? You've competed a lot in mountain biking and triathlon. Are their structures different?

MM: I think you can be a triathlete or mountain biker in Australia because if you're the best in the domestic season, you're going to be competitive at World Cup level. With skiing, we're not the best in the world and there's no money so the support structure has to be different.

15. Can you see yourself competing seriously in another sport?

MM: Yes. You get such good training that crossing over is pretty easy. Geoff Vietz and Triston Hargraves have had success on the bike and Ben Derrick's a good runner. You can do so well in other sports with more money and support. Its hard not be tempted.

16. If you stick with skiing, when do you think success will come? Will it be Anthony or Paul or will it be guys like Mick Brennan and Andrew Johnstone?

MM: I think Paul and Anthony can ski top twenty World Cup but there's a lot of skiers in the World Cup who can do it as well. You have to be in top form with perfect skis and have some luck. But I hope they can do it. I'd love them to do it!

 


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