At a spectacular venue at Lake Cunningham Park in San Jose, CA, Murphy Mack and SuperPro Racing in conjunction with USA Cycling will be hosting the UCI’s Masters Cyclocross World Championships this January. The event, to start on January 22, 2016 will be the fourth time in a bit over two years the venue will see cyclocross racers.
There’s plenty of sand on the beaches of Lake Cunningham to test racers and welcome the Dutch. © Steve Anderson
San Jose’s Lake Cunningham Park, just 10 miles from San Jose International Airport (SJC), first featured cyclocross racing on December 14, 2013, with the “San Jose Supcat presented by Cyclocross Magazine” race, and will feature a warm-up event on December 12 as part of the SuperPro cyclocross series.
Here’s the details, as provided by USA Cycling so far:
UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships in San Jose Details:
Masters Worlds coming to the States this season in January 2016?
Who: Race Director “Super Pro Racing” announces in conjunction with USA Cycling
What: hosting the 2016 and 2017 UCI Masters Cyclocross World Championships
When: January 22-24, 2016 and TBD 2017
Where: Lake Cunningham Park, San Jose, CA. Closest to SJC airport, but also an hour from SFO and OAK airports.
How: Registration information will be available soon.
Qualification Criteria:
Masters racers interested in attending of course will want to know what’s required. In the past, UCI points disqualified Masters from competing for a Masters Worlds title, but due to the late announcement, USA Cycling and the UCI may be modifying the rules to Masters who earned points this season a chance to attend.
Tentative Eligibility (NOT Official/Final Yet):
- Riders must have a 2016 International racing license
- Racers may have UCI points if gained before November 22, but cannot have participated in the Pan Am Championships in Ohio.
- Riders cannot be in the top 250 in the UCI rankings at the time of the event.
- Seeding details to be confirmed, but National Championship placing will have seeding implications.
Lake Cunningham Serves Up a Bit of Everything
So what’s the course like? While the Masters Worlds Course is not finalized, the San Jose park features a tough course with a bit of everything: flat grass, rideable stairs, two climbs, a run-up, two sand sections, mud and a twisty route in the woods. Cyclocross Magazine’s Andrew Yee, the 2013 course designer, describes the course as “really challenging, with little place to hide in terms of both fitness and technical skills.”
Don Myrah leads teammate Brock Dickie through the trees at the Lake Cunningham SuperPro San Jose race. January 17, 2015. © Cyclocross Magazine
Of course Mother Nature will play a major role in course conditions, but grass, mud and sand are all likely to greet racers. “I think the venue, and the course that’s been used, is championship worthy. It’s hard, I suck at it, but it will test champions,” Yee said.
The course will likely be modified a bit to meet UCI requirements and keep racers more in view, but a past course design is seen below (this is NOT the approved, final Worlds course):
The tentative 2013 San Jose Supcat course, with some Cyclocross Magazine inluence
The City of San Jose is fully behind the event and use of the venue. Andre C. Morrow, San Jose’s Maintenance Supervisor, told Cyclocross Magazine, “The City of San Jose embraces the sport of cyclocross and is looking forward to a future partnership that the athletes from Northern California can benefit with as well as the athletes around the world.”
The venue also features a skate park, a summertime water park, and will also feature a to-be-built bike park. Might Masters Worlds warrant a cyclocross course being one of the permanent features as seen at Valmont? Morrow hints that it might be a possibility. “I am excited for the future of what cyclocross can bring to our new bike park coming aboard summer of 2016,” said Morrow.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest details on this breaking story.
