Adam Myerson addresses the crowd as champion last year at the Verge Series Championships in Warwick, RI. © laurakozlowski.com
Boston, Massachusetts: The Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series returns in 2011 with a new focus – to develop and crown the best amateur racers in New England. This year’s Series will crown eight champions – for men, there are Masters 35+, 45+ and 55+, Juniors 10-14 and 15-18 and Amateur (Cat 3). For women, 2011 sees the second year of the Amateur (Cat 3/4) Women’s competition as well as the proud addition of a Masters 35+ contest within the Amateur Women’s race. With the continual growth of the Amateur Women’s field, it became important to add a second category within the race for the fastest category 3 or 4 woman over age 35. Of course, as in years past, there will be races at all events for Category 4 men. Each weekend will also feature at least one UCI-level Elite race that will attract some of the top competitors in the country and the world.
The Schedule.
This year’s series will be contested over 15 races spanning New England. The traditional first weekend comes on the 17th and 18th of September with the Green Mountain Cyclocross Weekend in Williston,Vermont. A new addition to the series comes next with Nor’Easter Cross, which has moved with the Nor’Easter Festival to Burlington, Vermont on September 24th. The third and fourth weekends coincide with the first two weekends of the new Shimano New England Professional Cyclocross Series as the bookends of the New England Cyclocross Holy Week – the Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester on the first and second of October at one end and the Providence Festival of Cyclocross at the other, on the 8th and 9th. After a weekend off, the series returns to New Gloucester, Maine for Downeast Cyclocross, on October 22nd and 23rd. Once again, the series will overlap with the New England Pro Series and head to Western Massachusetts for the Cycle-Smart International in Northampton in its 21st edition on the 5th and 6th of November. From there, the home stretch takes the series to its traditional home in Sterling, Massachusetts for Bay State Cyclocross on the weekend after Thanksgiving, November 26th and 27th.
The final rounds of both the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series as well as the Shimano New England Professional Cyclocross Series come on the 3rd and 4th of December at the NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross where the coveted cowbells will be distributed by the water in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The Sponsors.
The New England Championship Cyclocross Series is proud to announce the return of Verge as a title sponsor. Their commitment to the community of racers is unparalleled. BikeReg once again will be the official registrar of the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series. Cycle-Smart has returned as a sponsor, not only of two races, but of the series as well. In their 25th year of making sport-specific and performance eyewear, Ryders Eyewear will once again be sponsoring the New England series in 2011. Challenge Tires, makers of fine hand-made tubular and clincher tires, also return to New England as a series sponsor.
