August 29/14 15:17 pm - USA Pro CX Series Offers $40K Prize Purse

Posted by Editoress on 08/29/14
 

The 2014-15 edition of the USA Cycling Professional Cyclo-cross Calendar (Pro CX) begins on September 6th, and runs through January 4th, and will once again feature a $40,000 prize purse to be split between the top riders in each of the men's and women's standings at the conclusion of the season. The 2014-15 edition of the Pro CX calendar features 44 dates on the domestic schedule, including the addition of two C1 events which brings that total to eight for the coming year.

All riders who finished in the top 20 in last year's Pro CX have been given the option to have a permanent number. Numbers range from 2-99, with #1 being reserved for race directors to assign as they wish. Riders may keep their numbers as long as they remain in the top 20 of the Pro CX following each season.

This year's calendar features at least one event in 18 different states around the country, beginning on September 6th, with the first of two consecutive days of Nittany Lion Cross in Breiningsville, Pa. It continues under the stars in Las Vegas, Nev., on September 10th, with Clif Bar CrossVegas, the first of the calendar's C1 races. The spotlight quickly moves to Colorado as riders vie for points in the Colorado Cross Classic and the Boulder Cup in Boulder, Colo., on September 13-14. The Trek Cyclo-cross Collective Cup in Waterloo, Wis., and Charm City Cross in Baltimore, Md., will each be held September 20-21. The action remains in the northeastern United States the following weekend as riders will compete in the Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester 1 and 2 in Gloucester, Mass., September 27-28 before the focus shifts to Providence, R.I., October 4-5, when riders will compete in the Providence Cyclo-cross Festival.

The following weekend, Rochester, N.Y., will be the site of Ellison Park Cyclo-cross Festival on October 11-12. The Pro CX circuit continues in the east with the HPCX in Jamesburg, N.J., October 18-19, before heading west to St. Louis, Mo., for the October 25-26 Gateway Cross Cup. On October 31st, the focus will be in Fairfield, Ohio, where riders will compete in Cincy3 @ Harbin Park before traveling to Mason, Ohio, to contest the Cincy3 @ Kings CX After Dark on November 1st. The action that weekend concludes in Covington, Ky., where riders will compete in the Cincy3 @ Devou Park on November 2nd. Covington will also be the site of the Pan Am Continental Cyclo-cross Championships that day, a non-Pro CX event that features races for Elite women, U23 men and Junior men. Also on that weekend, riders can compete on the east coast at the NEPCX- Cycle-Smart International on November 1-2 in Northampton, Mass.

From there, the riders return to the site of the 2013 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Louisville, Ky., to contest the Derby City Cup on November 8-9. In the middle of November, the Pro CX action will be in Iowa City, Iowa, as the 3 Day Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross is slated for November 14-16. Riders will then travel to Stony Point, N.Y., to compete in Supercross Cup 1 and 2 on November 22-23. The following weekend, riders can burn off those U.S. Thanksgiving calories on either coast with the CXLA Weekend in Los Angeles or the Baystate Cyclocross in Sterling, Mass. Both races are slated for November 29-30.

The week after U.S. Thanksgiving, December 6-7, will feature more bi-coastal action as riders can score points in Warwick, R.I., at the NBX Gran Prix of Cross and Deschutes Brewery Cup in Bend, Ore. The calendar includes a pair of races in Hendersonville, N.C., on December 13-14, the North Carolina Grand Prix, before concluding in the New Year with the Kingsport Cyclo-cross Cup in Kingsport, Tenn., on January 3rd, and the Resolution Cross Cup on January 3-4 in Dallas (Garland), Texas. Both those races will serve as final tune-ups for the 2015 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships in Austin, Texas, January 7-11. The national championships are a non-Pro CX event.

The Pro CX tracks standings winners among Elite men, Wlite women and Junior men. Riders in those categories accumulate standings points by placing within the top 15 of the races on the Pro CX. In 2014-15, there are eight races ranked by the UCI as C1 on the Pro CX where the standings points available to riders are tripled.

Those eight races are listed below:
September 10th - Clif Bar CrossVegas; Las Vegas, Nev.
September 14th - Boulder Cup; Boulder, Colo.
September 20th - Trek CXC Cup; Waterloo, Wis.
October 4th - Providence Cyclo-cross Festival; Providence, R.I.
October 11th - Ellison Park Cyclo-cross Festival; Rochester, N.Y.
November 1st - Cincy3 Lionhearts International; Mason, Ohio
November 8th - Derby City Cup; Louisville, Ky.
November 15th - 3 Day Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross-2; Iowa City, Iowa

For a complete look at the Pro CX, visit Here.

USA Cycling press release