Cyclocross Magazine’s eagle eyes noticed a change in venue for the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup, moving the event from its historical Long Island location near the tip of Long Island to East Meadow, Nassau County, also on Long Island but 67 miles closer to New York City. The venue change impacts two series: The NACT (North American Cyclocross Trophy) series, and the MAC (Mid Atlantic Cyclocross) series. Both final weekends were planned to take place at the Whitmore’s Landscaping event, but now sources tell Cyclocross Magazine the NACT finals will move back one weekend to Tom Steven’s Baystate Cyclocross UCI C2 weekend on November 27th and 28th in Sterling, Massachusetts.
The MAC finals will remain the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup promoted by Myles Romanow, but will be a non-UCI event at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York.
UPDATE: The news has just confirmed the news with the following press releases:
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by Brook Watts
Faced with an issue with the venue of the final race weekend of the North American Cyclocross Trophy Series the directors have selected Bay State Cyclocross as a replacement. The annual Sterling Mass weekend of racing scheduled Novermber 27-28 will serve as the fourth and final weekend of NACT action that will decide overall series winners in both Women’s and Men’s categories.
As it had for the past two seasons, the NACT finale weekend was originally scheduled to take place in Southampton, NY. However the venue for the Whitmore’s Landscape Super Cross Cup faced an unexpected obstacle.
Rather that cut short the 2010 season, the series directors selected Bay State Cyclocross to take over. Series Director Brook Watts described the change, “It’s a natural fit for NACT. Race director Tom Stevens has a reputation for some of the best courses nationwide, the race attracts the cream of the ’cross field, and the timing fits nicely with the season schedule.”
For NACT information: http://nacyclocross.com
See our coverage of last year’s Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup and NACT Finals: 2009 Whitmore’s Day 1: Johnson leads Cannondale Sweep, Dombroski Wins, 2009 Whitmore’s Day 2: Johnson and Dombroski Repeat.
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by Ken Getchell
Venue logistics have prompted big changes to the back-end of this year’s U.S. cyclocross schedule. As a result, the NACT Finals have been pushed back one week and relocated as part of the two-day UCI Baystate Cyclocross in Sterling, Massachusetts on November 27 & 28. Meanwhile, the two-day Whitmore’s Super Cross Cup will continue as a two day USA Cycling-sanctioned event for the Champion System MAC Series at an impressive new venue near Hofstra University that’s over an hour closer to the vast majority of east coast racers.
On short notice, Romanow approached officials of heavily populated Nassau County, who offered Romanow the use of the 9/11 Fireman’s Memorial at their showpiece Eisenhower Park. Even with a new venue in hand, however, the available time frame was too short for Romanow and his staff to single-handedly handle the logistical and financial details of relocating two UCI events that are part of two different racing series. Help came from both the New England and Mid Atlantic Regions. “Tom Stevens graciously offered to host the NACT Finals during the Baystate Cyclocross,” said Romanow. “It was a perfect fit. He already had the infrastructure for a two day UCI race, and it was only a week later than the original date.”
With the NACT portion of the event passed off to New England, Romanow turned his attention to keeping the Super Cross Cup on the schedule so that the Champion System MAC Finals could proceed. After a phone call with Champion System MAC Series Director Mike Hebe, it was agreed that the best course of action for 2010 would be to host the two-day finale of the Champion System MAC Series event at Eisenhower Park as a USA Cycling sanctioned event on the original dates of November 21 and 22. “Over the last several years, MAC has become an increasingly important part of the Super Cross Cup,” explained Romanow. The NACT got a lot of attention, but it’s the MAC affiliation that gave us the opportunity to do stuff in the community that we wanted to do and often make charitable donations after the race. It is my intention to carry forward with the events. Realistically if the swan song was last year, I can walk away being fairly happy with my contributions to the sport of cycling, and what we have managed to achieve over the last decade. Bringing cycling at a high level to a place where it simply did not exist prior and helping to create the NACT obviously come to the top of that list. Having national, world, and regional champs come to race, and, of course, striking a blow in the battle for equal rights for women with better prize lists is a big deal. We’ve been extremely fortunate, both in our sponsorships in the past, and in the venue. I mean really, a bike race with showers, what a novel idea! That being said, I do still have some personal goals remaining, and am refocusing my efforts for 2011 as we speak.”
One of Romanow’s motivations for keeping the race on the schedule is his kid-in-a-candy-store enthusiasm toward this year’s venue at Eisenhower Park. “Wait to see this place!” he says of the park and 9/11 memorial that will serve as the backdrop to the Champion System MAC races. “People talk about what the most beautiful course in cyclocross is. Hands down, this is it. It’s not even a contest anymore. And it’s right off the highway and more than an hour closer to Baltimore and just about everyplace else.” Romanow, who spent much of last year trying to navigate the famously byzantine New York City bureaucracy in an attempt to bring a UCI race to the Big Apple, was also impressed by the cooperation of the Nassau County officials. “At our first meeting, I’m explaining the event to them and someone says ‘let’s go take a look’. So they put me in their car and took me on a tour of their park. And they were happy to do it! Then they offered the most central and scenic portion of this jewel of a park so we could use it for a bike race.”
Eisenhower Park abuts a complex of facilities in Nassau County that includes Hofstra University, Nassau Community College, a major shopping center and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home of the NHL New York Islanders hockey team (four-time winners of the Stanley Cup). It’s an extremely accessible location that hosts nearly 50,000 people for the annual TD Bank Fourth of July Fireworks and Show at the park’s Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater.
More details about the revised plans for the NACT Finals at the Baystate Cyclocross in Massachusetts and the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup Champion System MAC Finals on Long Island will be published as they become available. Registration for both races will be through BikeReg.com. For revised NACT information as it becomes available, see nacyclocross.com.
Venue logistics have prompted big changes to the back-end of this year’s U.S. cyclocross schedule. As a result, the NACT Finals have been pushed back one week and relocated as part of the two-day UCI Baystate Cyclocross in Sterling, Massachusetts on November 27 & 28. Meanwhile, the two-day Whitmore’s Super Cross Cup will continue as a two day USA Cycling-sanctioned event for the Champion System MAC Series at an impressive new venue near Hofstra University that’s over an hour closer to the vast majority of east coast racers.
On short notice, Romanow approached officials of heavily populated Nassau County, who offered Romanow the use of the 9/11 Fireman’s Memorial at their showpiece Eisenhower Park. Even with a new venue in hand, however, the available time frame was too short for Romanow and his staff to single-handedly handle the logistical and financial details of relocating two UCI events that are part of two different racing series. Help came from both the New England and Mid Atlantic Regions. “Tom Stevens graciously offered to host the NACT Finals during the Baystate Cyclocross,” said Romanow. “It was a perfect fit. He already had the infrastructure for a two day UCI race, and it was only a week later than the original date.”
With the NACT portion of the event passed off to New England, Romanow turned his attention to keeping the Super Cross Cup on the schedule so that the Champion System MAC Finals could proceed. After a phone call with Champion System MAC Series Director Mike Hebe, it was agreed that the best course of action for 2010 would be to host the two-day finale of the Champion System MAC Series event at Eisenhower Park as a USA Cycling sanctioned event on the original dates of November 21 and 22. “Over the last several years, MAC has become an increasingly important part of the Super Cross Cup,” explained Romanow. The NACT got a lot of attention, but it’s the MAC affiliation that gave us the opportunity to do stuff in the community that we wanted to do and often make charitable donations after the race. It is my intention to carry forward with the events. Realistically if the swan song was last year, I can walk away being fairly happy with my contributions to the sport of cycling, and what we have managed to achieve over the last decade. Bringing cycling at a high level to a place where it simply did not exist prior and helping to create the NACT obviously come to the top of that list. Having national, world, and regional champs come to race, and, of course, striking a blow in the battle for equal rights for women with better prize lists is a big deal. We’ve been extremely fortunate, both in our sponsorships in the past, and in the venue. I mean really, a bike race with showers, what a novel idea! That being said, I do still have some personal goals remaining, and am refocusing my efforts for 2011 as we speak.”
