The runup at Boulder back in 2011. © Jody Grigg
The eighth Annual Boulder Cup Cyclocross race is this Sunday, October 13th at Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, Colorado. The race is regarded as one of the most prestigious American events in the elite racing circuit, with 900 world-class racers collecting in Boulder from across the world and 3,000 spectators.
The Boulder Cup is recognized as the most competitive cyclocross race in the Rocky Mountains. The top American cyclocross racers will battle it out at the varied terrain at Valmont Bike Park, which is also the site of the Cyclocross Nationals in December. See Issue 22 (out now) for more details on Valmont. DBC Events, in contrast to years past with multiple races, focused all their energies and funds into the Boulder Cup.
“A lot of times, because we’re churning through so many different amateur categories, we have to dumb the course down,” says Grealish. “For the Elite men and women, it’s sort of a disservice because it doesn’t really allow them to showcase their real true skill set, and makes the courses easy. Well, this year, we decided we’re going to create what in skiing would be a double black diamond course.”
Some of the notable elite talent that will hit the course this Sunday includes Jeremy Powers; Todd Wells, Ben Berden and local racers Danny Summerhill and Yannick Eckmann, who placed first and third, respectively, at the Trek Cyclocross Collective Cup in September.
On the women’s side, a tragic and notable absence is Amy Dombroski, who was fatally hit by a truck while training in Belgium with team Telenet-Fidea on Oct. 3. 26-year-old Dombroski spent several years living and training in Boulder, and was a three-time under-23 National Champion. The Boulder Cup was one of her first cyclocross race and she came back year after year.
In honor of Amy, there will be a Lap of Honor at 2pm for anyone that wants to ride a lap of the course. It is important to the cyclocross community to celebrate Amy at Boulder Cup. In addition to the Lap of Honor the newly organized Amy D. Foundation will be in the expo selling Amy D socks and raising funds to help keep Amy D’s dream to support junior cyclist.
In addition to the high powered competition on the race course Boulder Cup provides a festive and fun atmosphere for spectators. There is a full expo with bicycle related companies as well as local nonprofits such as Cyclists 4 Jamestown and Community Cycles. Cornmasters provides some great food for everyone to enjoy while Boulder Beer can be found in the beer garden. There is a big screen for the webcast so no one misses the action.
Boulder Cup is sponsored by Flatirons Subaru; Victory Circle Graphix; Bicycle Village; Castelli; Clif Bar; Eldorado Natural Springs Water; Foundry Bicycles; Gates Carbon Drive; P.M. Fabrications; Ruebens Burger Bistro; Singletrack Maps; TRP and WD 40 Bike.
