May 3/05 12:45 pm - SISU World Tuesday Night Championships Start Tonight!

Posted by Editoress on 05/3/05
 

SISU World Tuesday Night Championships Return to Vancouver

The SISU World Tuesday Night Championships, presented by Team Escape Velocity return to the University of British Columbia campus on Tuesday May 3rd, 2005. The Thunderbird Stadium short course has been approved, numbers are ordered, and prizes will be there for opening night.

If it is RAINING then the WTNC are not on. If it's cloudy, sunny, windy, or somewhere in between, then WTNC are held. Sign-on starts at 6:00 PM, first race at 6:30 PM. To speed up first-night registration, please download, print, and sign a WAIVER, and have it ready for our sign-on team. The sooner you get your number, the sooner you can start racing. Bring $15 for the first night ($10 for your series number, $5 for the race). And finally, no proof of Cycling BC license, no racing for you...

The Course:

Over the past two years, UBC has embarked on turning our once-quiet corner of campus into a booming construction project. Condos are sprouting around the course as UBC fulfills its promise to create University Town. The "short course" will run again in 2005, starting at the parking lot, rolling down Main Mall, down the hill at 16th, up Stadium Rd for the start-finish near the front of Thunderbird Stadium.

While not as appealing as the old long course (some would argue), no-one will argue this course is easy. Its uphill/downhill nature means not much place to rest and a tough final sprint.

Escape Velocity and Cycling BC will continue to meet with UBC Land and Building Services, Campus & Community Planning to establish a permanent home for cycling at UBC, hopefully part of their vision for a thriving community.

The Details:

First race costs $10 (number + race)
All races after cost $5

All cyclists require a Cycling BC license. If you do not have a Cycling BC license, a day-of-race license can be purchased at the Tuesday Nighters for $20. See Cycling BC's website at http://www.cycling.bc.ca for more info on licenses.

Schedule:
6:00 PM - Sign on starts
6:30 PM - Women's 1/2/3, Women's Novice, & Cat 5
7:00 PM - Cat 3 & Cat 4 men
7:30 PM - Cat 1/2 men


Some History:

The Tuesday Night Series has been a staple of the road racing scene in Vancouver since the early 1980's.

Started by a club riding out of Cicli Forsa in the West End, it's first incarnation was a simple route out at the University of B.C., 2 km up and down either side of 16th Avenue.

After a couple of seasons, the race was moved a few blocks closer to the campus and a more interesting configuration similar to the one still used today.

Escape Velocity has continued the tradition of running these races, extending the course to it's current 2.3km length while turning it into a genuine race series, with points tallied through the season to determine an overall series winner.

Despite the fact that these races are designed to be simply training events, the level of competition has always been high. For many people, nothing is more important in their racing lives than doing well at the Tuesday Nighters. Its when their parents, friends and sponses come out to watch them race. Because of this fanatical need to succeed the event has long been known as the "World Tuesday Night Championships" (we couldn't use Tuesday Night World Championships due to UCI issues....) Recently, SISU has become our title sponsor for the event, providing their great product at our start/finish.

On warm summer evenings, we can get close to 200 racers putting it all on the line for the best part of an hour. The reasons for such a healthy turnout are many:

• the course is close to where people live: most can ride there in half an hour from their homes or their workplaces

• it's still cheap . For the 2005 season, it still costs only $5 to race ($10 for a season-long number, $5 to race),

• we have prizes galore from our sponsors: (SISU, PowerBar, & Ryders Eyewear), who see this event as the heart of road racing in B.C.

• it's well organized - races start on time, the roads are properly marshalled, the courses are interesting

So come out to the friendliest, most competitive, best attended road racing in Western Canada.

Racing happens every DRY Tuesday (rain = no race) during the months of May, June, July and August, from 6.30pm until 8.30pm.

See you there.


Gordon Ross
President, Team Escape Velocity
www.escapevelocity.bc.ca
gordonr@escapevelocity.bc.ca