Friday, November 19, 2010

Missouri State Cyclocross Championships - Flyer and Info

I have to preface this post, as I do most of my screeds, by apologizing to you racers for taking so long to present to you the flyer and information for the 2010 MO State CX Championships. As most of you know, I travel a lot for work, and I just completed a 6 week stay in Northern Michigan. I came home a couple of times to put on Boss Cross 3 and visit the fam, but mostly while I was away, I was pretty isolated from the rest of the world living in a cabin 20 miles from any town... So, I didn't get this information posted, and I received more than a couple desperate emails from people who aren't familiar with my ineptitude and lax manner of taking care of business requesting details regarding callups, classes, and all that stuff. In response to these guys, and the silent majority, we'll get to that.

First, I would like to say how excited that Joe and I are to be hosting the MO State Champs. It's been a goal of mine since I started promoting cross races in the 90s to bring the state champs to KC. I never got around to it, and others did it first, and probably better, but I'm still stoked.

The venue is bitchin. EH Young Park in Riverside. Boss Cross 1 & 2 were there in October. Anyone who showed up knows how badass the park is and how good the course was. Most said it was harder than it looks at first glance. We are using the course from BC#1 with some modifications. We will be changing the starting area and a couple of other minor features, but you get the idea.... Our sponsors have come through with some great prizes, we have John Lefler providing PRO race calling and announcer services, probably a DJ or two pumping out the tunes, and chili/pasta that Joe and Kathy do so well. Roger will be there cranking out the super enthusiasm and pictures. I'll be there drinking beer provided by Boulevard Brewery.

Procedures:

There's been alot of constructive criticism regarding our original callup plan. That's good. There have been some accusation about our west-side bias.... This is wrong. As much as I want our KC guys to keep the jerseys on our side of the state, there was no inherent stacking of the deck to forward that advancement. The original design was borne of one thing. Not only is this race the State Champs, it is the Boss Cross Series Final. That means, that not only bragging rights and a sweet jersey are up for grabs, but cash, prizes, and a sweet jersey are up for grabs. My intention was to make it fair for participants in both races (the meta race?) to be competitive. This maybe wasn't the best way to do it. No big deal. We're flexible and want to look fair, as much as we can... So, here's what we've come up with to be as unbiased and efficient, while still getting people lined up where they need to be. Also, in order to extend our hand across the state, we heard that this race is also doubling as a double points race for the Bubba Cross Series in STL. Cool. So in order to kick you State Champ contenders in the nuts just a bit more, we will be lining up the Bubba Cross points leader in the front as well. So... without further explanation here is the revised callup procedures:

FIRST ROW: Defending State Champs, 2010 Boss Cross and Bubba Cross points leaders, Pre-registrants by order of registration at www.sportsbaseonline.com.

SECOND ROW: Preregistrants and everyone else. This should be amenable to everyone.

Scoring/Champs:

As you probably know, only MO residents are eligible for the MO State Championships medals and jerseys. In addition to the champs, 12/4 is also the Boss Cross series finale, which will be run concurrently with the champ races. We have added a 30-34 and 35-39 mens race at 10:00 in order to accommodate all of the USAC championship categories. Prizes for this race will only be medals and State Champ Jersey. Also running as a Championship-eligible race is men and women singlespeed, which will entail the Boss Cross-standard prize list as well as State Champ jersey/medals.

Additional clarifications:

*One day license holders are not eligible for state jersey/medal.
*No medals awarded in Men 4 40+ race
*Women Open race is championship race for Women 1/2/3. Women Open will race at 10:00am instead of their normal 11:00am time.
*Men Open race is championship race for Men 1/2

And as far as anyone who's used to racing w/A,B,C categories, it's up to you to figure out where you fit in.


Flyer:Bc10 Mo State Champ Flyer

3 comments:

cleeland said...

First, thanks for putting the info up and staging the race in the first place. Can't wait to race it! Any tips on hotels for those of us not local? I'll be bringing my son, also, to race JRs.

With regards to the callup, there's a distinct west-side bias in there. I know that we have our east/west rivalries and all, but that seems a bit beyond the rivalry.

Somebody had the following suggestion: "Since KC is hosting, after the defending state champion, call up the Boss Cross series leader first, then the Bubba series leader, and continue alternating through three places. The only negative is that the east side uses A, B, and C classes while I believe KC uses categories." Still gives some "home-field" advantage, but nods to both sides.

For possibly obvious reasons I like the alternating callup idea. But I think what's most important is that whatever procedure used not be east or west biased. Either make it suck for everybody or beneficial to everybody.

Thanks for listening to what I hope isn't perceived is vacuous bitching.

Anonymous said...

Leave it... if you are 1/2 serious about trying to win (or place high) at the state race then surely one would pre-registered early (since that is how the majority of races handle it - minus STL, but then again they still live in the A,B, and C world).

Justin said...

I would just prefer to see the call ups be as they have in the past, prior year state champs and then in order of preregistered. Then there is no East vs West bias and it rewards those that did preregister. Otherwise, even with preregistering first, you'd be in the second or third row after all the callups for whatever race/series points leader. And this is another reason why STL should ditch the A,B,C groupings.