2013 COTR is done. There were winners. And at our series….there were other winners. We don’t have “losers” at COTR!!
Before we really “get into it” for this last newsletter. This is YOUR series. Fire me a note. What you liked. What you liked less. Which courses you liked. Which ones you liked less. What you would change. What you would not touch. And other stuff. Without feedback nothing will change….well that is not completely true as Roland and I and others are already working on “stuff” to swap it up….but we still want your feedback!!
A nice shot of Patrick Burnham’s dislocated finger from COTR #6. The pro he is he kept on racing, then stuck around shooting, also sticking around to collect his award for best photo this year and THEN went to emergency on the way home.
Check out his photos from COTR #6 here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/palleus/sets/72157638067968034/
We also had Duane Martindate shooting a LOT of images at the race. When I last checked he only had Expert up but by now he might have a few more categories: http://duanebc.com/raceresults2013/VCL2013results.html
Before we pull our skis out and wait for snow at Mt Washington (The snow cam does NOT look good right now) we have one more newsletter to get through. (Some people have said my newsletters are LONG….how can they not be as there is SO MUCH INFORMATION!!)
What recycling day looks like at my house.
HOT TOPICS
- There is no beer or rumble at the end of this one but I can tell you if these guys get enough POSTIVE feedback about the event last weekend at Shawnigan Lake School…..there is a great chance it could happen again. 240 racers……goal should be 50 e-mails to these guys?? Takes 2 minutes: David Roberston c/o of his admin assistant: sblair@shawnigan.ca
Barry Welsh: bwelsh@shawnigan.ca
- Dragons Den! You have heard of it. Check out RUMBLE on Dragon’s den on December 4th.
- Lap Splits. In case you missed Roland’s Face Book post. The lap sheets are on the results pages. Keep in mind these are done by hand and the first lap is always chaos. Regardless you will love the numbers.
- Pelle edits….not ready yet. We are waiting for one from Ladysmith and one from Hogwarts…..at least we have something to look forward to!
- National Champs. This weekend in South Surrey. I think it will be the largest number of people from COTR going to a National Champs of all time. Remember. When we are at COTR it is club against club. Town against Town. At Nationals COTR is one family! Bring some hardware back to the Island.
- Speaking of National Championships: Pedal Magazine is looking for assistance with coverage of the 2013 CX Nats this weekend for reporting and video interviews – pls contact benjamin@pedalmag.com or at 416-977-2100.
- June CX. I have heard they have a race director but no more information at this time.
- Great having Rafael Lalumiere out racing this past weekend after his crash at COTR #2. http://www.crossontherock.com/php/racer/?racername=Raphael+Lalumiere
- VERY WEIRD: Someone grabbed someone’s old Blunstones leaving the Rugby Club house after the awards. Size 10 Ladies. The more unfortunate thing is this racer also had a specialized jacket (black, white zipper, ladies small) taken from on top of my car at the Kona Kup. Double Whammy! Traditional curse of many flat tires and DNF’s to the person if they do not return them to the rightful owner.
- Blubber Burn is being put on the last Sunday of January so the 26th. Stucky Life is also planning on doing 2 other races. A CX TT and a regular CX race in the next two months. Keep an eye on their FB page for more information. Maybe a boxing day CX race??
- Need a hotel room for Nationals? A bit of a drive from race site….but might work for you: Discount rate at the Accent Inn in Richmond, near the airport. Quote the “cross on the Rock” rate to ($79/night). The hotel is right on the highway and a short drive to both the ferry and Surrey. Phone 604.273.3311 Accent Inn Vancouver Airport. 10551 St. Edwards Drive (off Hwy 99) Richmond B.C. V6X 3L8
- If you won shoes at the last race. Se don’t expect you to jam your feet into them Come exchange them for the right size at Frontrunners Nanaimo OR fire me an e-mail and I can arrange to bring a size to Nationals, stock transfer one to another shop OR mail one to you. Sweet shoes so don’t miss out.
Some numbers.
205 Average number of racers per race.
Highest was 270 at the Binab Property Group GP
497 individual racers this year.
In 2006 our individual racers for the series was 159
At the last race the age range in women’s beginner category was 9 to 54.
In the men’s beginner category the range was 8 to 60.
Ronde Van Hogwarts. The race that finished us off (both the series and my energy this year!)
From Course Director Drew MacKenzie
Thanks to all the many great people who just show up on the day and end up helping out!
Special thanks to Patrick and Iain Craib, David Beggs, Peter Stevenson, Peter Wellsman, Geoff Large and Joele Guynup for course set up. I will let Ian add the list of other volunteers, some I only met quickly on the morning of and I don’t know all of their names.
Highlights:
- Post race awards inside, room crammed to capacity with crossers youthful and aged, smiles on their faces, just hanging out, laughing and sharing in the good times. It’s a real community.
- The cheering section in the forest at the rooted off camber piece – awesome.
- The crowds in general, all the various cheering/heckling sections all over the course – awesome.
- Seeing everybody having so much fun – awesome.
From Venue Director Ian Craib
Thanks to:
Written thanks to the Shawnigan Lake School Community (David Robertson, the school headmaster, Barry Welsh, deputy headmaster)
- Will Arnold, Experience Cycling (provided prizes and mechanics)
- David Begg, Cycle Therapy (special thanks for coming out both days to help with the set up, take down and the prizes)
- Karl Ulrich, Oak Bay Bikes (prizes)
- Cowichan Valley Cycle: Robin Dutton
- Norco, Steve Pukesh
- Fernwood Inn, Mike Colwill (prizes)
- Shawnigan Lake Kitchen Staff: for the 100 muffins
- Coffee: Shawnigan Lake Coffee House, Martine Thomson
- Pizza: Bonterra Pizza, Rick Restell
- Course Set Up and takedown Volunteers: David Begg, Patrick Craib, Pete Stevenson and Geoff Large (Brent Hooper with the takedown)
- Duane Martindale: for coming to take all the pics at no cost
- Bruce Falk: for coming up from Victoria to help with timing
- Registration: Michael Schindler, Heather Craib, Connie Epp, Cheryl
- Shawnigan Lake Maintenance for the Gator (and hopefully being tolerant to the marks on the grass)
- Medical standby support: Heather Craib
- Matthuw Ronald-Jones…..put in a long hard day on Sunday
- Hilary Grant……the robot timing master.
Highlights:
- Getting all the Cowichan Valley bikes shops and business to contribute to an amazing event.
- Getting the support of the School and staff.
- Working with Drew: he encouraged me and provided my with a template to make the process a breeze
- Being part of a great group of people.
- The weather was outstanding!
- All the people who came out of nowhere to help out with the takedown.
From Norm.
Thanks to Drew and Ian as well as everyone who pops up. Races. Helps out without anyone asking.
Highlights
- An even better course and more spectator friendly than the last time we raced there in 2009.
- No snow to cancel the event.
- A great mixture of all types of riding and conditions that make up COTR in one course.
- The crowd in the lower forest was really cool
- The packed awards. Amazing.
- Seeing that many youth racers out….always great.
- All the people that brought someone new to cross out to race.
- Having a front line of Nutcase Helmets in the little nutcase kids race!
LOST and FOUND.
I have found homes for 4 of the items that were in our Lost and Found after this weekend.
I still have 10 more items. Take a look. Read the description below. If they are yours….make arrangements to pick them up or get them dropped off or let me know if I can re-cycle them or send them to the salvation army. I will give it a week.
- Pro City Cycling Team Jacket
- Tripleshot Cycling Jacket
- Specialized Leg warmers
- Cannon Lens Cap
- Tommy Hilfiger Jeans.
- Pearl Izumi Arm Warmers
- One muddy Fox Cycling Glove (right)
- Trail Bikes Bottle with “Damery” on it
- Loius Garneau Helmet
- Nakamura Helmet.
Youth Grants
Thanks to everyone that submitted applications for the youth grants. We had 24 application for the $200 grants and the final drawn selections were:
- Sage Steed Parikh
- Thomas Hill
- Isaac VanDer Vilet
- Kia VanDer Vilet
- Tarryn Cote
- Joel Taylor
- James Grant
- Casey Garrison
- Talia Hill
- Sam Ogden
- Holly Simonson.
Good luck to all the COTR youth that will be racing the new youth categories debuting this weekend at Cross Nationals.
Photo of the year
Patrick Burnham’s photo won the COTR Photo of the year competition with this submission.
One of our judges/professional photographers had this to day about it:
Criteria first. Comments second.
- Quality of photo. Vibrant colours, Great action
- Composition.. Rider in the clouds stands out nicely, like the rider in the foreground just leaving the frame too
- Framing… kinda part of composition isn’t it? (Norm’s note….snobby photographer talk there from the judge)
- IF the photo captures “Cross”… Cant see how this isn’t “Cross”
- If the photo captures COTR?… GAP JUMP!!!!
Calendars
Patrick Burnham will be putting together his AWESOME calendars again. E-Mail him if you want 12 months of COTR race action to look up at every day!! His e-mail is: palleus@hotmail.com
What do we have planned for 2014??
You should not be surprised to learn that the race directors are already sorting out the race calendar for next season. We have the opening date already planned: September 14th Sunday in Cumberland. We have the closing date planned. Sunday, November 23rd. The middle is pretty much planned. Return of NICSSCOTU in there as well. June cx. Possible Mid-Summer BBQ Cx. The stoke is already high. We try hard to improve every year…..and I think we will set the bar even higher next year!!
We are going to shuffle a few things around (Calendar). Tweak a few things (Adding options for pre-registration payment as one). Hopefully dial in a bunch of little items as well. There is an “Action Items” list….we will see how many of those we get to. Even if we did not change a thing I think we would all still have a great time racing…..but we WILL change a few things so hopefully we will have a GREATER time racing!!
Who kicks ass? Our Sponsors do!
Without our sponsors we would be….well a lot less than what we are. Sponsorship is TOUGH. Limited $$. Limited time to chase down everything. It is the hardest part of the COTR series by far. SO when you have a great bunch of sponsors…you keep your fingers crossed that everyone supports them and makes them feel like they are doing something worthwhile to support cycling so that they continue to help us out.
Series Sponsors:
Nutcase Helmets. The kids races have become one of each of the race day’s highlights. Some of the “kids” racing the beginners race and then also the kids races in order to get the loot bags and have a bit more fun. Nutcase was there again this year with 8 helmets, super cool bells and “magical” wristbands.
Saltspring Coffee. With Bryn gone from our great coffee supplier we were a bit worried but his replacement, Chantal Ireland, had it all dialed in. Each week before the races a box would arrive at the shop that would take the runners smell away and make us smell like a high end coffee shop for a day. The sponsor of our LAST NOT LAPPED competition (ie. You need a coffee) at all the races. We also had some for the podiums at Provincial Champs and for the series overall. A great local sponsor and worthy of your support every time you are shopping for a pound (or 454g) bag.
Shimano, Pro, Pearl Izumi. Joele uses a LOT of her marketing budget supporting COTR. We HOPE we make it worth it for her and the companies she represents. The Pearl Izumi Shoes for the winners of the categories at the last event was SWEET. Lots of nice tools and parts from PRO as well as the parts for the Naked Frame. WHEELS from Shimano at COTR #5!! Great to have the support from these companies (and Joele).
Rumble. Paul comes out and races. They drag more people out to race. The only sponsor that has had a double lung transplant. The only person that has ever raced COTR that we know of that has had a lung transplant! Cases of Rumble. Sponsor of the “lets get ready to RUMBLE” first lap prime. Series prize sponsors. They sample product at some of the events. They deliver more than they promise. They are pretty much a perfect fit for us. Don’t forget to watch Dragon’s Den on December 4th!!
Phillips Beer. The “Heist” edit from Pelle was our most popular edits this year. And of course Phillips beer was our most popular prize! We swapped it up a bit this year with the sweet GROWLERS for both Provincials Champs as well as the Series Champs. Top single speed (if they were of age) still got the 6 pack which was always a great and welcome prize at every event.
Zed Wheels. Brad Head also races the series. One of the many sponsors that races but in this case it helps him build wheels specific to the conditions you will face at COTR races. Great wheels! Pretty sweet series prizes!
Frontrunners. Without Frontrunners support I could not put on the events. Simple as that. They also provide the numbers for all the events. Partners with Pearl Izumi for the footwear and suppliers of lots of other draw prizes. Not to mention tents and time off. It was great to see the Splashes-Frontrunners team at all the events this year supported through Frontrunners-Westshore.
Kona. We did not get Dik Cox out for his lifetime second cross race but Kona has been along with us since the beginning. The title sponsor of the Kona Kup Provincial Championships. We had great KONA beer mugs for the podium places as well as a complete Jake the Snake for a DRAW PRIZE!!
Cycles Lambert-Leyzene. Peter has been sponsoring COTR since….well a LONG time. He always digs deep and does what he can for us. The Leyzene Pumps for the series awards….Peter. The Leyzene Pumps for the series awards for the past few years….also Peter. Thanks Peter!
Oak Bay Bikes. We started with Nanaimo but the support is spreading and now coming from all the OBB’s! They have been involved since the very first underground-unoffical race in 2003. Organizers of Kona Kup. Always there when we need them. Hunting down more sponsors for us where ever they can.
The Howard Johnston. Dan Brady the General Manager from the Howard Johnston in Nanaimo and at Elk Lake always supports what ever we are doing. I can him up and say, “we are doing this”. He replies, “What do you need”. It is a great relationship!
Action Motorcycles. Don’t sign your kids up for hockey might be the message from Jamie Emery this year. Rink time takes away from riding as well as racing!! Jamie still made it out for a bunch of our races and their family took great care of Tycho and Tessa so Wendy and I could both race the Expert race at COTR #6. Now that is a sponsor!!
Naked Bikes. A Naked frame from the (formerly) worlds fastest cyclist. Might be the best draw prize of all time for the series. Although Sam was standing right beside me at the awards….I did not hear a word of his speech as I was SUPER-Focused. I hear it was great! Another one of our sponsor that races. Another one of our sponsors that race that make their own equipment! Jen is super excited to win the frame and we look forward to seeing it in action next year at NICSSCOTU.
Bike Shop Sponsors.
The bike shop support on Vancouver island has grown with the series. We have a solid group of shops that do rides, come to races, donate draw prizes, staff race, sponsored clubs race. It is a win-win situation!
Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, Westshore and Nanaimo
Trail Bikes in Courtenay
Experience cycles in Duncan
Cowichan Cycles in Duncan
Cycle Therapy in Duncan
Frontrunners in Nanaimo
Straight Up Cycles in Victoria
Dodge City Cycles in Cumberland
Ozzie’s Cycles in Port Alberni
Pro City Cycles in Victoria
Our goal is to have all these shops have a weekly cross ride from September to the time change….so think about it people and lets make it happen!
Get NAKED for 2014
If you want to be riding one of these sweet rigs….you already have to be thinking a head to NEXT COTR season.
Check Sam’s bike out this weekend. You will want one….I know I do!!
Series is Organized by the Cross Council:
With the following cycling clubs: MIVA, VICC, Trail Bicycles-Eatmore Sprouts Cycling Team, Cowichan Cycling Cartel, ASS and Pro City Racing club
Supported by:
Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, Westshore and Nanaimo
Trail Bikes in Courtenay
Experience cycles in Duncan
Cowichan Cycles in Duncan
Cycle Therapy in Duncan
Frontrunners in Nanaimo
Straight Up Cycles in Victoria
Dodge City Cycles in Cumberland
Ozzie’s Cycles in Port Alberni
Pro City Cycles in Victoria
Supported and Sanctioned by:
Cycling BC
Normon Thibault
E-Mail: normont@islandnet.com
Frontrunners-Nanaimo
www.frontrunners.ca
Cross on the Rock
www.crossontherock.com
We are done….why are you looking down here at all? Have you missed the “Parting Shot” and last word this year? Thought I would bring it back on request.
Here is a shot from Paul from RUMBLE of me on the ground at the finish line of Kona Kup Provincial Champs. I think I was down on the ground for about 10 minutes. Honestly 5 of it was recovering from the effort of the race. The next 5 was just nice to not have to do anything for 5 minutes and just have some quiet time in a very-very busy weekend!
