Multi-talented individuals are rare birds. Even in the current era of people switching careers, starting various businesses and side hustles, not to mention moving between different sports, those true all rounders who possess an array of skills and actually apply them in life are few and far between. But they are out there.
Scott Richardson has worn many hats throughout his life. Take his tertiary qualifications for instance. Film and video technology, human movement science and sports administration are all industries in which he holds diplomas and degrees, not to mention extensive work experience. Throw in stints in cycling team management and high performance athlete training and development and it would be fair to say that his CV is rather comprehensive. Now based in Saudi Arabia, Scott is immersed in sports administration and talent identification with the fledgling Mahd Sports Academy. It is a role that he knows well after over a dozen years spent developing similar systems in Qatar and Malaysia. Yes, he is a busy man and, as he says, he loves a challenge. And it was these very traits that saw him forge a successful elite cycling career in the 1990s.
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The world was a different place in 1992. Having only been readmitted into the international sporting arena the year previously, South African athletes were finally getting the opportunity to compete against the world's best. While some sporting codes fared better than others, it was certainly a challenging time for South African sportsmen and women as a collective. This certainly applied to elite cycling and with the international opportunities on the horizon, Scott and others found new purpose in their racing careers.
'South African cycling was strong on all fronts during that time,' he explains. 'The quality of racing was pretty good given our isolation from the rest of the sporting world and there was a full calendar. I was part of a generation of amateur riders coming up behind the likes of Willie Engelbrecht and Andrew McLean, who were racing professionally. We were hungry for success, both on the track and road.'
It was during this time that compulsory military service was in its twilight years. Even so, the old SADF had an excellent sporting program. This especially applied to cycling where the two year period of national service for talented riders was effectively a period of full time training and racing funded by the government.
'We were well looked after as riders when I was in the army in 1989 and 1990,' says Scott. 'Brigadier Scholtz and Major Van Velden ran a great cycling program and that meant racing all the time against the professionals and amateurs. Based in Pretoria, we would race on the track and road two or three times weekly all over the country. Costs were obviously covered which made it a pretty good life.'
This momentum continued after Scott left the army. With his government pro days behind him, education was now a priority and he enrolled in a film and video technology course at the Natal Technikon. He continued to train and race around his studies and part-time work. It was a busy time of his life indeed, but one that he thrived on and really enjoyed.
'Cycling was still divided into professional and amateur categories back then,' he says. 'So while the SA racing scene was pro-am, amateur riders like myself supplemented equipment sponsorship with various jobs that allowed time for training.'
Not that Scott had much spare time at his disposal. The solution? Bicycle commuting, which doubled as training. Resident in Kloof at the time, his early morning commute to his Durban-based employer was around 35km. Fortunately, the Natal Technikon was within walking distance of the bike shop where he worked after classes and he would then retrace his cycling route home. Weekends were reserved for racing, where he would often ride to and from for additional kilometres.
'Cycling was still very mileage-based back then. There was no internet, no online training platforms and fewer coaches. Heart rate monitors were only just coming on the scene, but even then most training programs were generic or derivations from previous professional riders. Fortunately for me, the Durban-area is not exactly flat, so riding to and from Dave Wiseman's shop for excellent preparation.
'Dave was one of my primary sponsors, and covered costs for racing and some equipment. Gotty Hansen also supported me with a bike. But like most of the other amateur guys, I wasn't making any money from racing.'
While local professional teams like Topsport-VW Fox and Southern Sun-MNET started to explore opportunities to race in events like the Hofbrau Cup and Nissan Classic, the young South African amateurs had other races in their sights. And with the Barcelona Olympics being reserved for amateur riders, Scott and others began to identify the Olympic road and track events as their primary objectives.
'The South African national team had been in-house up until that point,' he explains. 'With so much uncertainty owing to the political situation at the time, we had very little lead in time for specific preparation. So the selection policy for Barcelona and other overseas tours was definitely not clear cut. I was a one day specialist and, fortunately for me, I was in good form in both 1991 and 1992. So I was on the radar given my results at races like Il Campione and the Zoo Lake Classic. But I, along with the others, never had a definitive piece of paper outlining the key selection races or criteria. In the end, I was selected for Barcelona based on current form, along with Malcolm Lange, Wayne Burgess and Sean Bloch. The tour riders were sent to the Milk Race.'
Along with the lack of concrete selection policy, the limited lead in time meant no pre-Olympic racing block in Europe. Scott and company were going into Barcelona effectively blind, not that he was exactly bothered.
'We were just happy to be going to the Olympics, albeit under a neutral flag,' he says. 'Apart from knowing that the conditions in Barcelona would be hot and humid, we had no knowledge of the parcours or our competitors. Then there was the lack of racing on the Continent in order to build up to the Games. Even a short period of racing there would have been beneficial but it was not to be. Nobody was using these factors as an excuse, though.'
As expected, the road race in Barcelona was a race of attrition. And the field was loaded with future talent, as Scott goes on to explain.
'It was a massive learning curve. I was eventually dropped on the penultimate lap and finished in around 80th. The European nations had well-drilled squads with a definitive plan, while the smaller nations like us just had to adapt and survive. And the field was of the highest quality – Lance Armstrong was competing in his final race as an amateur before turning professional with Motorola and the race was won by the late Fabio Casartelli ahead of Erik Dekker.'
While Scott's Olympic experience brought down the curtain on his road and track racing career, he would go on to represent South Africa again the following year in mountain biking. The technicality and community of off road racing suited him well and a few years of professional XCO racing in the US would follow, before he called time on elite-level racing.
'Racing mountain bikes in the States was great but it was similar to my road and track days in South Africa. Equipment and expenses were covered but I wasn't exactly making a living. So it was time to explore alternative career opportunities and enter the working world.
'Film and video technology was great but I didn't see it as a long term career path. So I did some research and decided to pursue a degree in biokinetics, with undergraduate studies at Stellenbosch University followed by post-graduate the University of Cape Town. It ended up being the correct decision and I applied many of the lessons I learned as a rider to that industry and the subsequent high performance working environments in which I found myself later on.
'That said, I look back with immense fondness on my racing career. It was a great time of my life and those experiences and environments forge friendships and memories for life, of which I am forever grateful.'
