WCC Cyclo-Cross Races - Mad & Dam Cross - Sept 14/15th

The Waterloo Cycling Club is running the first two cyclo-cross races of the cx calendar, Mad and Dam Cross on Sept 14th and 15th in Woodstock at Pittock Conservation Area. All the proceeds from these races go to the club and most of the volunteer work comes from the WCC with some help from the local Woodstock crowd.

Mad is a relaxed regional event that usually sees a smaller turnout. It’s the perfect event to try cross racing and has been the first race for many over the years. All you need is a Challenge Membership, which is a slight upgrade from the Ontario Cycling Community Membership.

Register for Mad Cross here if you’re interested or volunteer here. We really need the help filling a few positions, especially the start/finish assistant and registration positions.

Dam Cross is an O-Cup and sees a pretty good turnout. It’s also a great intro to cross racing, just with bigger fields and faster competition than Mad Cross. Register here, and volunteer here. As with Mad, we need help filling those important positions.

If you know any high school students that need to fill out their volunteer hours this is a great way to do it.

Registration for both events closes Thursday, Sept 12 at 11:30 pm, and no, we won’t be able to open it up the next day if you forget, so register now! So far we have a big local crowd going, but I hope to see a few more out. It’s a fun relaxed time and no one takes cross racing too seriously.

Mark

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I’m excited for the freezies!!!

Looks as though the temp will be close to 30 degrees next weekend, freezies and maybe even a volunteer with a hose to spray those wanting it will help keep everyone cool.

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I can help out before/during/a little after Alex’s race on Sunday (I’m not sure what time he plans on arriving at the venue or what time his race is) but I can volunteer while he’s there.

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I have a battery-powered power washer that has a low power setting that works great for a shower.
And lots of batteries. Just need a bucket of water as a source.

I can get it there on Saturday afternoon and will have it on Sunday if needed.

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The race weekend is looking good. Lots of racers signed up, hot weather…probably too hot for cross but we’ll make due.

We’ve had a bunch of people step up to volunteer their time. Sunday there’s lots of help. Saturday we’re still in need of a couple people between about 10:30-2:30. If there’s anyone that can lend a hand we could really use it.

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Big thanks to @MarkW and all the volunteers for putting on a great race weekend! Weather was about as hot as the pace through a very fun course. Great work and thank you!

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Hear, hear, Lucas. I’ll echo the thanks to Mark and the team - you put on some awesome racing. Thanks for fostering the healthy CX scene!

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That was an awesome event. Great course, fun vibe, and lots of competition. Special thanks to @MarkW for all of the work to make this happen and @bike_daniells and @KevRidesGravel and the other volunteers for setting up the course and running the event.

Just a few pics that my wife had taken of faces she recognized :slight_smile:





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Well the races were a success, everyone had fun despite the heat and there were lots of kids out racing free of charge. We had 94 people out racing at Mad Cross, the regional on Saturday which is about what I expected. Good turnout for a regional race and hopefully we’ll build on it.

Sunday was Dam Cross the O-Cup and we had 164 racers which was a little lower than I was hoping, but considering the crazy early race date and other events (Hurtin in Haliburton) happening on the same weekend it wasn’t bad. Hopefully we’ll get back to an October date next year and get the entries up to around 200.

A huge thank-you to all the racers, there were a ton of locals out, many raced both days.

As most know, Kevin Gibson and Rob Daniells have always done a lot of the work to make KWCX and now Mad and Dam Cross happen. I’m just the paperwork guy, they are always there to build the course, help the events run and tear down after. It takes a team to keep bike races going. I can’t thank each of you enough.

To all the volunteers, we couldn’t have done it without you, literally.

Saturday we had Dirk and Vikram bike from Waterloo to Woodstock (arriving around 8 am!) volunteer all day at registration, on the mic, at the start/finish and just wherever needed and then they biked home. Crazy awesome. Also on Saturday Andrew L made the drive with his wife and newborn, helped at reg, on the mic and wherever was needed for a few hours.

Rob, Lauren and Devin were around in the morning to help get everything on track and going for the day which was a massive help.

Thanks everyone above, you made Saturday run smoothly and stress free since we were running the day without Ontario Cycling staff or any commissaires.

Sunday we had the tag team of Kevin and Nicola Goertz running registration and helping at the finish line all day then they, and their sons, stayed hours after the race helping us take the course down. Thanks so much for all the help Sunday, it would have been hectic without you.

Angela Quick was there with Alex and she took on number calling duty at the finish line for the final races of the day. One of these years I’ll convince her to race cross, but I suppose she has a good excuse for once.

After two days of racing in the heat Adam Myers helped out until the end taking down the course. Thank-you for sticking around and putting in the work.

Of course both Rob and Kevin were around all day Sunday helping wherever it was needed and to tear down the course. I even recruited Lauren and Devin to help on the mic and with podium presentations.

Finally we had a surprise appearance from our president Kerry. She lent a hand around the venue and was given the all important duty of spraying riders (at least the ones that wanted to be sprayed) with the hose to help keep them cool.

Thanks to everyone above, these events don’t happen without you.

I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention some names, the days were kind of a blurr. In addition to our club members many people there racing offered to help wherever it was needed and I took them up on the offer. The cyclo-cross, and in general the Ontario racing scene is very friendly and supportive. I’m glad we could help keep the cross calendar healthy by keeping these races alive.

Now to relax and enjoy the coming races…right after I spend a bunch of time organizing all the race stuff before I get in too much trouble from my better half.

Mark

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I know that it takes a huge amount of effort to plan, organize, and execute a race like that.

Mark you are an inspiration and a leader. Thank you for pulling this together and helping to support CX racing in Ontario!

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Sounds like you ran a couple of great races Mark! Congratulations!!

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