Cross on the Rock

Cross on the Rock 2015. Season #10. Newsletter #8.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday night getting super excited for
another race weekend. You might be in Winnipeg (if you are good luck and
thank you for representing COTR and Vancouver Island). You might be in
Vancouver getting ready to do Castle Cross in Port Coquitlam and then
heading over for Bear Mountain. Or you are settled in nicely on Vancouver
Island saving it all up for Sunday.

First things first. Don’t forget to pre-register. It helps us all. It
helps you. Here it the link:
https://www.raceonline.ca/events/details/?id=1001
Pre-registration closes at 7:00 PM on Saturday Night.

One of the most important things you need to know about this weekend’s race
is…it is in the SAME spot as last year. We THOUGHT that we would be using
a different location on Bear Mountain. A lower golf course that was
supposed to be closed by this point in the year. BUT because of the great
weather that course has not yet been shut down so we are using the same spot
as last year. Don’t go to the wrong spot!

In this Newsletter:

1) The Ticket Noir
2) COTR-2015. Race #4. Bear X-Ing. Preview.
3) Accommodations for this weekend.

1) The Ticket Noir

Mazda will be giving away 8 of these sweet tickets to each of the top single
speeders in each of the starts on Sunday. This ticket is a paid entry into
the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championship event being held in Victoria
on November 22nd. You must be registered as a Single Speed and ride a bike
with only 1 gear. First one person on a one geared bike in each event wins
a ticket!

2) COTR-2015. Race #4. Bear X-Ing. Preview (Map and Poster Below)

Don’t forget the Harbour Air Hand Up Zone!!

Costumes….there has been a question posted about costumes. I LOVE seeing
costumes at EVERY race. Especially around Halloween….so YES if you have
one PLEASE fire it up on Sunday. Even if it just for warm up, hanging out,
cool down or for the awards.

Bear X-Ing at Bear Mountain.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Making use of the entire Bear Mountain Golf Driving Range, plus some new
“off range” sections, the race course will be like last year’s super-fast
rolling and flowy endeavour but changed up to make full use of the
undulating and perfectly groomed golf course terrain to create lots of
bermed corners, off camber sections and high speed momentum sectors.
TEAM TENT AREA – make sure to RSVP
There will be a designated TENT ALLEY course section (with barriers!) for
this year’s Bear Crossing. ALL TENTS must be secure with spikes (at minimum)
and or weights. If you want to reserve a team tent spot fire Drew a note
(drew.mackenzie@triathloncanada.com).
Keep in mind that Bear Mtn has very limited parking down at the driving
range and so team’s wanting to be part of TENT ALLEY will have to drive
down the gravel road, drop off their tent and then drive their vehicle back
up to the main parking lot.

IMPORTANT – PARKING
Just like last year traffic control signage will be directing all cyclocross
participants and fans to the corporate parking lot holding up to 280 cars.
From the parking lot, signage and volunteers will guide participants to the
race venue area 600m away.
BIKE WASH
Water and bike cleaning area will be available at the back of The HUB
located en-route between the main parking lots and the course. (IF there is
a hose bib that we can locate at the driving range we will also set up the
power washer for pre and during events. Post event washes are expected to
be done at “The HUB”)
EVENT SPONSORS:
Shimano (http://bike.shimano.com/)
Pearl Izumi (http://www.pearlizumi.com/)
Pro Components (http://www.pro-bikegear.com/en-gb)
FOOD and BEVERAGE:
There will be a BBQ on the course with burgers and dogs as well a beverage
cart at the venue with snacks and drinks. Bring cash if you plan on eating.
AWARDS and APRES RACE:
Following the races, Awards will take place on the Masters Lounge Patio at
the Westin Bear Mountain Resort. A racer’s deal on burgers and plenty of
other food options will be available along with BEER and one of the best
views of any awards venue out there.

Amongst the usual assortment of cycling specific draw prizes from race
sponsors Shimano, Pearl Izumi and Pro, the Westin Bear Mountain Resort. We
will have series sponsor prizes as well from WD-40, Harbour Air, Howard
Johnston, and Filthy Taco. Also a variety of resort gift certificates,
rounds of golf, and room night stays.

Also happening up at Bear Mountain this Sunday is the Pro Dirt Jump Demo.
http://bearmountain.ca/Bike/Am-Jam at Bear Mountain Bike Park
(http://bearmountain.ca/Bike/Bike-Park).

After the awards take the opportunity to ride Bike Park Avenue, the all new
super sweet flow trail that runs from the Westin all the way down to the
Bike Park, to watch the Pro Dirt Jump Demo @ 5:15 pm.
Bike Park Avenue will be clearly marked from the Cyclocross venue so riders
and spectators are welcome to check out the Bike Park at any time during the
day too!

3) Accommodations for this weekend.

If you are planning on heading down to Victoria early to
hang out or staying after to do the same we have two supporting hotels
offering special rates for the event.

The Howard Johnston
Near Elk Lake and Commonwealth place (which supports COTR year after year)
has a room rate for COTRers of $94/night . Just ask for the Cross on the
Rocks rate.

the westin BEAR MOUNTAIN GOLF RESORT & SPA
is happy to offer any COTRers wishing to stay this weekend 15% off of their
flexible rate when booking online.

The link to use to obtain the discount is: Westin Reservations
<http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/rates/rate.html?&propertyID=1747&rp=SN :346749> .

Under the comments/special request section, just need to put “Bear Mountain
Cyclocross Race” in order to receive the discounted room rate at check in.

Cross on the Rock 2015. Season #10. Newsletter #7.

I hope everyone got out for a cross ride this weekend and are now curled up in front of a screen watching the world cup cx action from earlier today in the Netherlands.

Women’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK_mrQ2grw8
Men’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK2FlQsCzN0

Or maybe you are looking over the results from Mahon Park in North Vancouver to check their participation #’s and see if any COTR racers went over and how they did.

And now you have a new newsletter from COTR. Weekend complete! One week to go to the next race!!

Thanks to everyone that sent note to the Parks and Recreation people expressing their pleasure with racing in Topaz Park!

In this Newsletter:

1) Helmets
2) Dawn Anderson
3) COTR-2015. Race #3. Pro City Racing GP Review.
4) Expert Women and Super Masters

1. Helmets

Not 100% sure why this has to be an item in a newsletter each and every year. I would think that by now people would learn. If you need me to publicly shame….I can. I have photos. The message is; If you are at a COTR race and you are riding your bike….put your helmet on. Pretty simple. Pretty easy. BUT at the last race for some reason quite a few people felt a toque, baseball hat, Hood from their jacket, or their hair would protect their brain on a slippery pre-ride of the course than a helmet would. Consider this a mass warning to everyone. After this there are no warnings and things happen the hard way. You don’t want to find out what that is. It is not fun.

2. Dawn Anderson

If you are new to COTR you may not know who Dawn Anderson is (http://www.crossontherock.com//php/racer/?racername=Dawn+Anderson). But take a look over the stats page on our web site (http://www.crossontherock.com//results/statistics/) and you will see that she owns the top spot on many of the stats lists.

Oak Bay Bikes Victoria recently did a great interview with Dawn and you can check it out here:

http://oakbaybikes.com/q-and-a-with-dawn-anderson/

We saw Dawn racing her MTB (back is injured so can’t race cx bike right now) at Coal Cross. We hope to see her out soon again this season….maybe padding her stats up a bit more.

3. Review: Race #3. October 12th: Pro City Racing GP.

Norm’s Notes

Almost a decade ago at the National CX Champs in Nanaimo in 2006 I was talking to the then president of Cycling BC about Cross on the Rock. I was explaining our approach and our philosophy to him and that we wanted to be the biggest cyclocross series in Canada. He outright laughed in my face. I won’t forget that. It is not what drives me now but it is funny to look back on that lack of vision on his part.

Roland and I always wondered when we would crack 300. Well it was this year. We did not expect to also crack 350! Roland is getting VERY good at predicting numbers. For the Pro City GP Roland predicted the pre-reg number within 1 person. We love stats!

Katie also sent me a stat earlier in the week that we had 86 women racing on Monday and it was not until 2009 that we averaged more than 86 racers/race for the season.

Pro City Racing GP-Mini Notes

· Peter Creighton. Bike wash HERO!
· Topaz! Did not disappoint!!
· Mud. Tough on bikes. Amazing for races!
· Haldor’s cornering (if you have not seen it on our FB page yet)
· The stats battle between Drew and I…..must….pull….a head.
· Sean Cruickshank. Racing together since 2003! His 3rd COTR win in 25 races.
· Cantilevers still can go fast….even in Expert Men
· 59 year age difference between the youngest and oldest in Beginner Men.

Race Director Scott Mitchell notes:

What an amazing race!

The record setting turnout, the spectating and heckling (especially at the baseball diamond), the course, the mud, a personal best COTR result for me, the waffles…. so many highlights!

I had so many people come up to me and say how much they liked the course, that means a lot and Drew deserves most of the credit for that. We had a great team of volunteers that made this event happen, leading the charge was the volunteer co-ordinator Sylvia.

Big thanks to:
· Drew
· Joele
· Sylvia
· Richard
· Curtis
· Peter
· Barry
· Kyle
· Mitch
· Shanna
· Cam
· Carlin
· Jae
· Pete H
· Roland
· Katie
· Danielle
· Alex
· Christyna
· Laura
· Bruce
· Ed
· Sabrina
· Clara
· Tarryn
· HERO ALERT: Pete Creighton from WD40 Bike for driving down from Nanaimo on his day off to wash your bikes for you for 6 straight hours!
· I can’t forget Sandor for making those amazing cowbells.
· Renat for bringing your majical waffle making machine.

· And finally the race sponsors:
o Shimano
o Pro
o Trek Bikes Victoria donating over $2000 worth of prizes.

Anyone else who I may have forgotten, Thanks!

Cross on the rock races are the result of some hard teamwork and this race was full of awesome volunteers. Next time you are doing a pre-lap of the course consider thanking the timing crew that stands under that timing tent for 6 hours and all 8 races. Maybe volunteer to help with teardown of the course.

Consider the shops and companies that sponsor the series and support them next time you are considering an online purchase.

4. Expert Women and Super Masters

It is time (it is ALWAYS time…but with the numbers so lot it is REALLY time) for those racing Expert Women and Super Masters to start dragging their friends out. Anyone in other women’s categories that should move up. Those in Beginners that might want to move up to Super Masters. These categories are VERY-low compared to all others. Recruit. Recruit. Recruit.

That is it for this Sunday night. Look in your in-box later this week for a preview on Bear X-ing COTR coming next Sunday in Victoria!

Cross on the Rock 2015. Season #10. Newsletter #6.

In this Newsletter:

1) Building C.O.T.R. since 2004
2) COTR-2015. Race #3. Pro City Racing GP Preview.
3) Update: Cross-sitters

You’re missing something….if you are not on Face Book! We know the social media scene is not for everyone so to make sure that you don’t miss all the action here are a few links to get you fired up for Monday:

Pelle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFe0ccCr98

On board with Jon Watkin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh5nC4fzWWM

1. Building C.O.T.R. since 2004

Thanks to a couple of people that made an effort to talk to me at Tugboat Cross about how the series has grown and developed over the last decade. It was nice to hear. I just want to be clear though that the series is a partnership. A partnership between race organizers, series organizers, sponsors and racers. It is a group effort. It is rider driven. The racers make it happen! If you look at the number we have truly built this series 1 to 2 racers at a time. Let’s keep building. Let’s keep it positive. Let’s keep COTR a heathy place and a heathy series. See you Monday!

2. PREVIEW: Race #3. October 12th: Pro City Racing GP.

If you have not registered yet for Topaz Park the link is here: https://www.raceonline.ca/events/details/?id=1000
Pre-Registration closes right in the middle of your Turkey Dinner on Sunday…..so don’t wait until then. Get it done!

BIG NOTE: No pre-riding of the course. We will not be posting a map of the course until Sunday night for that reason. NO post-riding of the course. Parks and Recreation took note in 2011 that a lot of people were riding the course AFTER the event. PLEASE allow the course to re-generate. It will help the course and it will improve our chances of having another event at Topaz Park.

Norm’s Notes

It was Canadian Coach and part time COTR racer, Dan Proulx, (http://www.crossontherock.com//php/racer/?racername=Dan+Proulx) that came up with the idea of a race on Thanksgiving in 2007. We had our first “Turkey Cross” at the velodrome at J.D.F. Ever since we have kept that day as a COTR stronghold and almost every year it is our biggest race of the season.

The last time we had a race in Victoria at Topaz park it was 2011. Looking back at that year to Condo Cross (http://www.crossontherock.com//php/race-results/?raceid=32) we see some historic names in COTR. On that Monday 2nd place in the beginner category was Rob Parkin our winner of Tugboat Cross. He was bested by someone more than double his age. Every category has names of people that are still racing, have made their mark, or are still on the way up and improving. In the intermediate category first and second were Adam De Vos and Nigel Ellsay who at 22 and 21 now have already had some great international results on the road. Second in Master Men was Robert Russel…what happened to that guy? Our top racers in the men’s and women’s categories, Tyler Trace and Dawn Anderson still hold #1 and #2 spots for most wins by any COTR racer.

Cool to look back at it.

Here is some video from the day:

From Zed Wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvzspoQZyJU

From CHEK 6 News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx1NyFDsmVo

This Monday we will have our second race at Topaz park and one day we will all look back on that event….actually by Tuesday we will be looking back on it! It is going to be wicked!

Race Director Scott Mitchell notes:

TEAM TENT AREA

There will be a designated TEAM TENT area along the straight away that goes by the parking lot on the east side of the course. ALL TENTS must be secure with spikes (at minimum) and or weights. If you want to reserve a team spot fire Scott a note at: scott@trekbikesvicotria.com

Please keep the parking in that lot for teams only to make it easier to haul tents out etc.

TOPAZ PARK

Course Description:
Taking advantage of Topaz park’s varied terrain including grass, wood chip trails, rocks, and some bike path pavement the 2015 race course is fast, fun, and flowing with a mix of high/low speed riding, wide open power sections, tight technical cornering, off camber sections and fluid long radius turns over varied surfaces.

The City of Victoria has allowed the use of Topaz park again for 2015. With the wet weather over the weekend we have some concerns with damage to the sports field areas. We still have a great course planned and have a bunch of technical corners planned for the south end of the course, 2 off the bike sections, and yes… some straight power sections as expected.

For those that did Topaz back in 2011 there will be less pedalling and more cornering in 2015… plus maybe even a brand new homeless tent city gauntlet section (news link – http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/tent-city-proposal-sparks-protest-at-topaz-park-1.2012336)!

Venue:
Topaz Park is located at the corner of Finlayson Street and Blanshard Street in Victoria. Parking is available on the north end of the park off of Finlayson Street or on the East side of the park by taking Spruce St off of Quadra Street. Additional parking is available at Mayfair Centre and SJ Willis School, a short walking distance to the park.

Please be courteous to other park users during race day and keep off the sports fields. The park is still open to the public so please be respectful.

We encourage team tents along the East side of the course near the Spruce parking lot. If you have a tent please park in the east parking lot off of Spruce Street, we will have about 10 prime parking spots reserved for team vehicles . This location will be great for spectating and close to the finish line. If you do not have gear to haul please consider those that do and try to find parking a bit further from the fields.

Event sponsors: Shimano Pro and Trek

Hand Up Zone
Remember to grab your ticket to win in the Harbour Air Hand up Zone on the course. You will see it marked with the Harbour Air bunting and there will be people there handing out tickets and screaming at you. Grab one and put it someplace for later.

I have heard that there will also be a beer hand up zone….well not actually. Frontrunners-Splashes will be handing up $5 Gift cards for Liquor Plus so you can grab a Phillips on your way home *never drink and drive of course*

Event Schedule (The one on the web page is not correct….if we do not get it fixed before Monday GO OFF THIS ONE!)

Cross on the Rock Categories 2015 (There have been some changes) and start times.

Beginner Men/Women
Including those racing the series as U13 and U15 Youth
10:45am
Kids “Zoom Zoom” Half Track
Kids around 7-10’ish (parents welcome) riding on the regular adult course.
11:30am
Intermediate Men
Males under 39, including those racing the series as U17 Youth
12:00pm
Intermediate Women
Including those racing the series as U17 Youth or Masters 40+
12:01pm
Lil’ Nutcase Helmets Kids Race
Kids under 7 – parents discretion. Ride on separate kids course.
12:10pm
Masters Men (40-54)
All males 40-54 not wanting to race Expert (or Beginners)
1:00pm
Super Masters Men (55+)
All males 55+ (Unless racing Beginner)
1:00pm
Expert Men
“Fasters” Welcome (Fasters = Fast Masters)
2:15pm
Expert Women
2:16pm

3. Update: Cross-sitters.

We have 7 Cross-Sitters and only 2 parents needing them so far….so if you need someone to watch your kids while you warm up-race-warm down. Let me know and I will put you in touch with some cool kids!

Cross on the Rock 2015. Season #10. Newsletter #5.

In this (Incredibly short for us) Newsletter:

1) A Look Back at Tugboat Cross
2) Update: Cross-sitters

The van is still not completely unpacked from last weekend. The bike is still dirty. And I still can not get cross out of my brain. Business as usual!

Keeping an eye on the www for results and reports from Cloverdale, Providence and Superprestige. Tomorrow if you are in Vancouver there is the BIG race at Vanier park (it has potential to break our record).

If you have not registered yet for Topaz Park the link is here: https://www.raceonline.ca/events/details/?id=1000
This is “normally” our biggest event of the year for participation. Looking forward to the return to Victoria (Preview to come)

1. REVIEW: Race #2. September 27th: Tugboat Cross. Ladysmith.

68 photos from COTR contest winning photographer Patrick found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/palleus/albums/72157659409800962

Norm’s Notes

· Amazing turn out. Our biggest cross race for COTR in 10 years with 312 racers. 352 if you count kid racers and half track kids (some races do count kids into their stats….not Roland)

· Might be the biggest cross race in Canada ever. For sure this year so far.

· 4th lowest DNF rate out of all of our races….not sure how many we have done? 58-60??

· Firsts: First win for Carson Damery. First win for Talia Hill. First Intermediate win for Mark Grant. First Intermediate win for Emily Johnston. First win for Joel Lutz. First expert Win for Janna Gillick. First expert win for Rob Parkin. 7 of the 8 categories had new winners! I find that absolutely wicked!!

· 20 kids in the Mazda Zoom Zoom Half Track race

· 20 kids in the ‘lil Nutcase kids race

· Age spread in the Beginner Men’s category was 8 years old to 62. Beginner Women 10 to 55

· Oldest racer 72 years old (Derek Steel)

· Welcome return of Phillips Beer for top SS in each category.

· Amazing weather.

· James Robillard from Saltspring who was the first racer to show up. Got it out of him that it was his 42 birthday and he was doing his first cross race. In reality he was doing his first race of any type in his entire life. So awesome! Photo below!

Mike and Tara Report

The Tugboat Cross goes down in the books as one incredible day!! A record number of participants, many racing for their first time, superb volunteers, fantastic battles out on the course, topped off with beautiful sunshine and gorgeous ocean views.

An enormous thank you goes out to all the volunteers and businesses that helped to support our event! The Tugboat cross was an awesome success and it could not have been achieved without each and every one of you!!

The Allairs (Jim, Joanne and Morgan)…(set up and course marshalling)
Brian Kuhn (set up and course marshalling)
Trevor Jones (set up and marshal)
Pete Stevenson (set up and marshal)
Robin Dutton (set up, marshal, amazing sponsor)
Kari Thompson (registration)
Jennifer Ostle (registration)
Kathy Theobald (registration)
Jennifer Carmichael (bun and brat hand up gal)
Verna Buhler (timer extraordinaire)
Clare Mackinnon (creator of Urchin bags…amazing sponsor and timer)
Sue Glenn (tear down gal)
Shannon Wilson (tear down gal)
Tiffany Chapman (cookie baker and tear down gal)
Norm (world champion multi tasker… incredible).
Hilary (I hope i did not drive you too crazy… I do get excited cheering in addition to calling out numbers).
Roland and Alex (incredible team of number crunchers!)
Cowichan Cycles (prizes)
Urchin Bags (prizes)
The Old Town Bakery (prizes)
Bouma meats
The Lion’s Club
The Town of Ladysmith

We are happy to be back in the series! Such a wonderful community of people that come together for cyclocross on the island! It is truly something special!

Tara and Mike

2. Update: Cross-sitters.

We had 2 parents use the Cross-sitters crew for our first attempt. Both reported positive feedback!

If you are a parent that races cross or a racer that likes kids….sign up with our crew.

See….shortest Newsletter EVER!!!

Preview coming next week.

Cross on the Rock 2015. Season #10. Newsletter #4.

In this (short for us) Newsletter:

1. Preview: Tugboat Cross
2. Update: Cross-sitters
3. Welcome Back to these Sponsors (Part 2)

Pre-Registration for Tugboat Cross this weekend. https://www.raceonline.ca/events/details/?id=999 will close at 7:00pm on Saturday night.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE WEEKEND?
This should get you fired up. Pelle’s first COTR edit since 2013. CHECK IT OUT!
Brought to you by MAZDA. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfW-eRDgzA&feature=youtu.be

1. PREVIEW: Race #2. September 27th: Tugboat Cross. Ladysmith.

The Course:
The Tugboat Cross takes place at beautiful Transfer Beach in Ladysmith. The course has fantastic views of the Ladysmith harbour in addition to twisty tree sections, pebbly and sandy sections, punchy, grassy climbs, swift pavement sections and last but not least, the new secret addition, “the stairs of despair”! Racers will temporarily disappear from view at the end of the beach only to reappear on the road above.

Other new additions to the course will be the Bouma Meats sausage hand up and the Old Town Bakery cinnamon bun hand up section.
Less exciting but just as important, the start will be different so make sure you know where it is… there will be signs.

Here is a further description from designer and co-director Mike Pollock:

Course is similar to years past, other than a safer grass start and a half lap on the dog-park side ( to create some separation ) before racers need to cross the road. The usual twistiness through the mature shade trees is to be expected on this half of the course.

Once crossing the road (through a cinnamon bun hand up), the course continues down a fast descent past a brand new playground that all the kids will be able to enjoy, then into and out of the amphitheatre before the first taste of sand in the volley ball court.

From there it’s around the lions shack (timing, sign up area and official lap point/finish) into some more sand, and then across the gravel and driftwood beach.

After negotiating the beach, it’s a straight grass shot to the stairs of despair – it’s a mandatory run up and new to the cx course in Ladysmith. Then a short gravel road section, around some benches, up a switch back grass climb before crossing the road again ( through a bbq smokie hand up) and back to the dog park side.

Repeat.

And we will wrap it all up in Kona tape

PARKING: We have extra parking this year designated to us. Please park where you see race parking signs. We want to keep some of the parking within the park for regular users.

FOOD: The Lions club will be there selling brats for $4 and drinks for $1 as well as other stuff. Also Hank and Sandy from LY Cart BBQ and Grill will have the Transfer Beach Concession will be open as well (looking at the menu the fish taco looks like a great option and a milkshake after your race)

Also: Prizes will include the best cinnamon buns on Vancouver Island from Old Town Bakery.

NOTES:
· Please keep registration JUST for Beginners up until 10 minutes before their event starts so that we can clear them out and make sure they get on the start line.
· SUPERMASTERS. We had trouble with timing at the first event without the distinguishing helmet stickers. We will go back to having those on the FRONT of SM’s helmets for this race and the remainder of the season to try to make scoring and timing your event easier. We will also be starting you 2 minutes behind masters so that there is no intermingling on the first lap. You will be following the PINK lap board and estimated that you will do 1 less lap than Masters.

2. Update: Cross-sitters.

Excited about the response so far.

I have a data base of 5 sitters and 1 parent. I will do my best to put parents together with child care.

Also open to anyone being a mini-administer of this initiative.

E-mail me if you are a parent looking for help or a racer that can help out and would like to be a “Cross-sitter”.

Thank you!

3. Welcome to our Returning COTR Sponsors (Part 2)

It takes a LOT of sponsors to make this series what it is. PLEASE go out of your way to support those that go out of their way to support what we love to do!

Phillips Brewery.
Sponsors of our Single Speed category (simple to do). Makers of GREAT beer (harder to do)

Nutcase
Nutcase has been supporting our ‘Lil Nutty kids race for a long time. If you take a look at the kids you will see how many Nutcase helmets there are protecting their little brains. They look great and work.

Pro City Racing
Pro City has evolved over the years from a supporting shop to being a series sponsor through their event on Thanksgiving Monday. They also support a large number of racers that you see out at every series event. Now if only we could get owner Troy Woodburn, winner of the 2006 Coal Cross, back racing the series.

Frontrunners
Since cross involves running and biking it is perfect to have Frontrunners on board with the series. Plus….well….without them I would be lost and thus the series would not exist. So pretty important!

Oak Bay Bikes
Since there was COTR Oak Bay Bikes has been involved. They know cyclocross as good as any shop on the island. Locally owned (not a massice heartless box store). Great mechanics (that race or have raced). Organizers of the Kona Kup in Nanaimo. Plus they let us park our equipment trailer in their parking lot which is great.

The Howard Johnson
Dan Brady and the Howard Johnson in Nanaimo as well as Victoria have supported COTR since year #1. They always step up and help out. Special room rates for Provincial Champs and double headers. Provisions for bike washing. A very sports oriented and thoughtful group to work with year after year.

A HUGE thanks to everyone that supports this Island born, Island bred race series