EAST COAST ‘CROSS RANKINGS RELEASED
Wednesday, December 01, 2004

EAST COAST ‘CROSS RANKINGS RELEASED

There have long been regional rivalries in US cyclo-cross. Because the
sport is
generally practiced in city- or region-based series’ in pockets of
popularity
around the country, each region has had it’s own idea of how a ‘cross
race
should be run, and whose riders were the best. Over the past few years,
however, those rivalries have died down as events like the SuperCup and
the
growth of a US National Cyclo-Cross Racing Calendar of 25 events
brought the
regions together more often than just the national championships each
year.

In the Northeast where the ‘cross scene is always strong, a unique
blend of
friendly rivalry and long term cooperation between New England and the
Mid-Atlantic has generated some of the best cyclo-cross racing in the
country, and created a unified "East Coast ‘Cross" scene. With 15 UCI
events
from Maine to Virginia and over $50,000 in prize money, more and more
riders have based themselves on the east coast or made repeated 10-day
trips
to attend back-to-back big races. Add in the fact that both series’
share the same
title sponsor in Verge Sport, and cooperation was inevitable. The
Mid-Atlantic’s Andrew Albright of Monkey Hill Cycle Sports and New
England’s
Adam Hodges Myerson of Cycle-Smart decided it was best to make the
cooperation "official," and East Coast ‘Cross
(http://www.eastcoastcross.com/ ) was born.

This season brought the deepest partnership yet, with both series’
working
together to make sure that none of their UCI events conflicted. This
has lead to out-of-town riders at or near the top of many of each
regions standings, a sure sign of the success of this cooperation.

To take this one step further, a calendar and ranking system comprised
of
every east coast cyclo-cross event was created, including the Whitmore
Landscaping race on Long Island, which doesn’t officially belong to
either series but which offers valuable UCI points and an equal prize
list for women. The East Coast ‘Cross
points system mirrors the UCI points scale for Elite/U23 Men and Elite
Women, while
the Masters and Juniors follow the women’s points scale.

Currently, Mark McCormack (Clif Bar-Colavita) has been Mr. Consistency,
rarely leaving the podium and holding a comfortable lead over Todd Wells
(GT-Hyundai) and Ryan Trebon (Kona) going into the final weekend. In a
race that will go down to the wire, Jesse
Anthony (Cyclocrossworld.com) has a very slight lead over his
season-long
rival Matt White (NCC-Bikereg.com) in the under-23 standings.

On the women’s side, Mary McConneloug (Seven) has a 16-point lead over
Anna
Milkowski (Rona), and with Barbara Howe (VeloBella) and Anne Knapp
(Kona)
not expected to be in attendance in the final weekend, it’s a two-women
race
for the top spot, with Mo Bruno-Roy (Cyclocrossworld.com) hoping to
leapfrog
into 3rd.

Going into the Gearworks Bay State Cyclo-Cross in Massachusetts last
weekend, California’s Rich Maile (Art by Opsal) was leading the masters
category, showing the depth of competition even in that field. But with
Corner Cycle’s Jonny Bold’s second place to the Mid-Atlantic’s Greg
Ferguson
(Fort-GPOA), Bold picked up enough points to move into the lead.

The junior’s race is another national affair, though Verge New England
Series and USGP Series leader Charles "Toby" Marzot (Corner Cycle) is
also
at the head of affairs in the East Coast ‘Cross standings, with a large
gap
over Redline’s Adam McGrath from Colorado.

There are two events remaining on the East Coast ‘Cross calendar, with
the
Verge New England series finals on Saturday in S. Kingston, RI, and the
Verge Mid-Atlantic series finals on Sunday in Reston, VA.

Full standings, schedule, and the ever popular East Coast ‘Cross gear is
available at <http://www.eastcoastcross.com >

East Coast ‘Cross. The Revolution continues…

END

—-
Nathan Mealey
Director of Operations
Cycle-Smart, Inc.
P.O. Box 1482
Northampton, MA
01061-1482
[email protected]
(413) 587-3133
(413) 210-7984 Mobile
(512) 681-7043 Fax

photos by Jonathan McElvery, Jack Milton, and BikeReg.com