Cornell mixes cyclocross and motocross in their upcoming "Red Cross" race
Ithaca, NY – On October 24, 2009, the Broome-Tioga Sports Center, which has, over the years, played host to some of the Mid-Atlantic’s premiere motocross action, will switch speeds for a day, allowing cyclocross to rule the day. Red Cross, hosted by the Cornell University Cycling Club (“The Big Red”), will allow riders to tackle some of the terrain that makes motocross a spectacle, while maintaining all the features of a classic cyclocross event. According to event planner Brian Lawney, “every time we’d head up to Cornell from the south, we’d drive past the Broome-Tioga race track, and every time, we’d say to each other, wouldn’t that be an amazing place for a ‘cross event? Turns out we were right.”
Course designer and Cyclocross Magazine contributor Jake Sisson stressed that the course tried to stay as close to the regional norm for a cyclocross course as possible, while giving riders the unique event that the course would be able to provide. “The possibilities that a motocross track presents are virtually endless,” he said. “Contrary to other venues, we’ve got almost an unlimited ability to be creative. If we don’t have the course element we want, we can just build it!”
Before anyone presumes that Red Cross will stray from all that makes cyclocross what it is, the course will contain features that cyclocross regulars have come to know and love. Run ups, technicality and barriers will all be on tap when riders hit the slopes, and if there’s anything that Red Cross will be known for, it will be elevation gain.
Racing will start at 10 AM, with the category 3/4 division, followed by the Master’s division, Women’s division and Elite Men’s division. Not only will the race itself provide excitement, the Broome-Tioga Sports Center’s annual Halloween Party will be on the agenda as well, and the atmosphere promises to be raucous.
For more information, head to cornellcross.blogspot.com, and for registration, click here.
