ECCC Winter Planning Meeting 2009
The inaugural ECCC Winter Planning Meeting was held at Yale University in February, 2009. Major themes for the day were checking in on road promoters, some road issues such as refining aero gear restrictions, and a healthy dose of MTB, CX, and Track season discussion.
Raw Notes
Raw Notes By Caitlin Thompson
Raw Notes By Emma Bast
Cyclocross Discussion
Slides from Mark V's excellent status update are available here:
- Slides on CX Status and Directions, by Mark Vareschi
The white slide at the end outlines major discussion points. Detailed notes are as follows.
Nationals
Should push nationally for other conferences to make restrictions
- Must be Cat 1--3
- Must do collegiate races
What effect will CX nats moving to January (possibly if ever?) have?
- Probably can't run our schedule past mid-December anyway
- Holidays, finals
UCI Races
Costs are arguably higher
- Registration for A race $35 pre-reg; $45 for late fee
- UCI License required for A racers
Large field sizes are good, bad
- Exciting event, lots of racers
- Less accessible for new people---huge and cutthroat
- Sportsmanship in collegiate vs amateur
- Angry non-collegiate CX racers...
- Learning how to manage such big fields is an important skill
- Sportsmanship in collegiate vs amateur
Registration issues
- Staging based on pre-reg...
- Put all collegiate racers in one section at the back?
- Tough to really be in race then, stuck at back
- Would require management & oversight
- Need to pitch to promoters that ECCC requires no extra effort
- Put all collegiate racers in one section at the back?
- Concerns about riders being excluded by field limits
- CX promoters in general should run more categories...
Standalone or non-UCI ECCC CX
Not yet at point of having standalone CX races?
- Financial costs still significant at many venues
- Especially given small attendance for foreseeable future
NE non-UCI races worried about attendance
- Bolster w/ collegiate categories?
- Try to get $15/racer
- Offer volunteers, labor from collegiate team hooking up with promoter
Scheduling
Drifting CX season earlier and overlap MTB or fill empty MTB weekends
- Might allow more elite racers to race collegiate
- Meet requirements before trade team obligations kick in
- Make Nittany CX an official part of the season?
Running CX at same time as MTB, at the same venue?
- Logistically possible?
- Could do at common venues: UNH, UMass, UVM
Categories
NE next year cat 2s are elite race now
Scoring based on numeric categories?
Scored B points last week, score B points this week...
When there is a choice of categories, rider must pick lower?
- Some sandbagging, but forcing up pushes newer riders too fast
Specific Races
PSU enduro CX race?
- Possibly w/ Iron Cross (same weekend as Gloucester)
LI hard to get to; not a big draw...
Innsbury? UNH, Tony E
Warkwick, URI talk to promoter?
Mercer---probably avoid
Southhampton---on the line
Puttany--Nov 8; date change?
Size issues at Northhampton
NBX collegiate cross fees?