There is SO much information that it is going to take TWO e-mails this week to send it all out. Making your in box even more fun than your normal Black Friday flyers (come on people….Black Friday is AMERICAN! trying to get you to shop for things that are not bike or cross related…..so do you really need them? Probably not!)
This e-mail will cover: T-Shirts (Last Call) My Little Pony Follow up. Series Follow up. Photo Contest.
The Next e-mail will cover: Looking ahead to 2015. Where COTR is going. Semi-Prestige Series. MFG Seattle Race. And a crash compilation photo special.
OK. Newsletter……thanks to a few people that have sent me notes in the last couple of days about the series. It means a lot. This series is MAJOR: Putting on 7 races every year with 7 groups of organizers. 548 Racers. Averaging 236 riders per event. 1671 races raced (# or racers X # of times they raced). In 2006 when we started our own series we had 159 total racers. Averaged 65 racers per event. 264 races raced on that year. It continues to grow. We will talk about “next year” in the next newsletter but in the meantime feel free to send me your ideas and thoughts. What you liked. What you did not. What you would like to see. We have our ideas (think half track for 7/8/9 year olds)….think “Fasters” (old but still fast masters)….think another double header. You might have some other viable ideas as well…..we love to hear them. normont@islandnet.com
Check it out: Patrick Burnham’s Photos from My Little Pony Cross: Check them out: https://www.flickr.com/photos/palleus/sets/72157649033758628/
Also check out the submissions for our 2014 PHOTO CONTEST HERE (hidden by Roland to a secret gallery): http://photos.rabien.com/Other/Photo-Contest-2014/45889529_NKBSGr
Thanks to our Council of Cross as well as Pro-Photographers Dave Silver and Erik Peterson (in Uzbekistan) for judging the competition. The judging was TIGHT. With one judge left we had a 3 way tie between Photo #11, #14 and #18. After our last judge we still had a tie between #11 and #14. So one of our KEY personal gave the final vote and #11 from Nick Kupiak won the (100% purchased with CASH) Snow Case from Phillips Brewery. We did not actually have the photos printed out on site this year but here is the winning photo (more clear obviously on the web site):
Western Speedway and Shawnigan Lake had a tie for 5 photos submissions. Port Alberni next with 3. The winning photo was from Port Alberni, Farmer Bills.
T Shirts. LAST CALL!
I am going to put the re-order in for shirts first thing tomorrow (THURSDAY). IF you want one….this is your LAST CHANCE. PLEASE E-Mail me by 10:00am!!
This is the Shirt Status:
I have shirts still for pick up for:
Elietha Bocskei
Ian MacLeod
Ben Moore
Robin Dutton
Heath MacHinley
Peter Reid (knows)
Can you guys confirm that you still want these shirts and when, how, where we are going to make it happen.
I have orders for shirts from:
Regan McKeever 1 Kids Med, 1 LG
Monica Eickmeier 1 Kids Med, 1 LG
Geoff Wong Med
Fluffly Med
Mathew O Hagen Small
Gary Croome Med
Bill McMillan Med
Patrick Burnham XL
Colin XL
Corey Friesen XL
Riley Pickrell Med
Sara Ponchet Med (women’s or men’s?)
Dan Owen Med
Justin Baily XL
Carmen Welta. 1 Men’s Small. 1 Women’s Small
Carolyn Moore Men’s Med.
Ritchie Hughes Small
Graeme Coop. Men’s XL
IF ANYONE ELSE WANTS A SHIRT PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY FIRST THING TOMORROW MORNING (By 10:00am)
Series Final-My Little Pony Cross – Sunday. Arbutus Meadows. Nanoose.
Norm’s Notes
Really. The best of both worlds. WET. Saturated ground. But racing in short sleeves in November. Add to that a closed venue. Epic Mud. TIGHT racing. Series wrap up. It was a great day of racing at a great venue.
My Highlights
* The men’s Intermediate race while I was helping with the kids event. At the end of lap 3 I looked over and there were still about 10 guys all together within 20 seconds heading up the road. Awesome battle!
* Another heavy throw down with Peter Reid and Ken Owen. I was certain my heart was going to explode.
* And by far my BIGGEST highlight was seeing Lisa Ludwig (Last raced November 22nd 2008), Kristenn Magnusson (Last raced November 24, 2012) and Dawn Anderson (*most wins and most podiums of any COTR racer. Last races November 24, 2013) line up for the women’s Expert race with 13 other exceptional Expert women making it the biggest Expert Women’s field of the year (outside of Provincial Champs).
* BIG crowd in the arena for the awards….super positive and fun group!
* 7 years old to 62 years old. That was the age spread for the Beginner Boys/Men’s category. 55 years difference. In the women’s 12 to 50. 38 years difference. This is truly an amazing sport when you can race with someone 55 years older than you! From 2 years old in the kids race to 71 years old in the masters race. 69 years difference. All having a great time. Pretty special!
* Malaika’s Schwinn.
* Expert women also the only category to finish all starters at MLP!
Not Highlights
* Women’s re-start. 2nd year in a row for miss-direction on this course for this category. Was really happy the way everyone sorted it out though and got re-started. Good co-operation and sportsmanship by everyone.
Thanks.
MIVA Notes from President Corey:
Course Setup and Volunteers: a huge turnout, I’d like to think Ron and I putting the word out many times helped this but who knows. Either way the club did seem to step up and come help out Saturday which was good to see. Ron delegated out tasks to 2-3 groups of us and each worker bee set off, it was efficient..
One thing I’ll say is the timekeeping/stats side of COTR blows my freaking mind. I love it. Done so quick so accurate and displayed perfectly on the site. The whole COTR crew honestly looked PRO, like a finely tuned machine just churning through the races everyone calm and chill.
MIVA Highlight Notes from Race Director Ron:
Ken Olson’s top 5 consistency once he got a proper cx bike. MIVA membership kickin ass and really getting behind MLP. Each race in the entire series gets better each year. COTR has built a culture of improvement and there are no dicks, everyone is fun and supportive. That kid who raced Speedway in jeans and a SS dirtjumper geared way too tall. That picture of his buddy doing a full on faceplant (he was fine btw).
2014 Series
A great wrap up in the BIG arena after the race for the series. Major thanks to Peter Creighton from Cycles Lambert for helping me organize the order for the wash kits, Home Hardware in Brooks Landing for getting the buckets in time and Signage for getting the stickers printed in time. Even BIGGER thanks to Wade Luksay for making the Youth Category prizing happen again this year with his contributions. AND Jamie Cameron and Paul Brend for the little trophies. Joele for the Shimano brake kit and camera. Kestral Helicopters Mike Gillen. Brad Head-Zed Wheels and SAM WHITTINGHAM—Naked Frame!! And Phillips for the Growlers and Root Beer.
Tight battles in Expert Men 2nd and 3rd Tie. And Expert Women 2nd and 3rd Tie. 14 points in Intermediate Women 1st and 2nd. 1 point in Intermediate Men 2nd and 3rd. After 7 races….TIGHT!
It was nice to recognize “the Faithful” that have made the 50 races mark this year:
Derek Steel 52 races
Roland Rabien 51 races
Bill McMillan 50 races
That is some serious experience between that group!!
Rob Parkin wining the Most Improved this year….tough to judge as always with so many people getting better and faster.
Young Riley Pickrell winning Best Rookie Season with his win in U17 at the age of 13! It will be interesting to see how he goes in Expert next year after winning the Intermediate Category as well as the U17 category. As Mark Nelson described Riley, “I couldn’t believe the power Riley put down on the back stretch on that last lap! For 13 he can really pedal.”
COTR Series 2014 DONE
Sunday Sept 14 – Cumberland. Coal Cross DONE
Sunday Sept 28 – Victoria. Possible New Venue DONE
Monday Oct 13 – Bowen. Kona Kup. Provincial Championships DONE
Sunday Oct 19 – Farmer Bills. Port Alberni DONE
Sunday Nov 2 – Speedway. Binab Property Group GP DONE
Sunday Nov 9 – Shawnigan Lake School. Ronde Von Hogwarts DONE
Sunday Nov 23 – Arbutus Meadows. My Little Pony Cross. Series Final DONE
COTR Series 2015-Stay tuned for details in your 2nd e-mail of the week.
Hard to believe but even before this year’s racing is done our dedicated crew of race directors is already planning for 2015. We have the schedule almost hashed out and we will fire it out in our last e-mail blast of the season. Knowing it will be our 10th COTR race season as well as with SSXCWC in Victoria….it will be a season to remember for Cyclocross on Vancouver Island.
