Published January 17, 2020 02:30AM
Fayetteville selected to host 2020 Pan-American cyclocross championships
Fayetteville, Arkansas to host 2020 Pan-American 'cross championships on the site of the 2022 World Championships
Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing) winds her way through the forest. Photo: Wil Matthews
The 2022 UCI World Championship cyclocross course will get a good grooming early this autumn.
Fayetteville, Arkansas was selected to host the 2020 Pan-American Cyclocross Championships Nov 8-9 at Millsap Mountain, the site of the World Championship event in January, 2022.
The weekend of events, dubbed “FayetteCross 2020,” will host races for riders of all abilities, in addition to the continental championship opportunities for elite racers and masters athletes. Fayetteville 2022, the group behind the 2022 UCI World Championships, is partnering with Experience Fayetteville, the convention and visitors bureau for Fayetteville, to host FayetteCross 2020. Parkven Productions is managing the event.
In a release Thursday, Experience Fayetteville CEO Molly Rawn said, “COPACI’s selection of Fayetteville for the Pan-American Championships confirms the preeminent position of Fayetteville and our region as a cycling center. We’re uniquely suited to host events of this scale, and the Pan-Ams will be a great way for both visitors and residents to get excited for the 2022 World Championships.”
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FayetteCross 2020 will also offer plenty of non Pan-American championship competition fun throughout the weekend. In addition to the amateur and elite racing titles, the event will host two relay races for co-ed teams of five racers.
“On Saturday, we’ll offer both a fun relay race and a pro relay race,” said Race Director Brook Watts. “It’s a great way to gather your friends or training buddies and see how you match up against others. And, racers for the Pan-Am categories on Sunday now have a way to preview the course under race conditions on Saturday.”
Watts, who is president of Parkven Productions, was instrumental in first bringing the continental championships to the Pan-American Cycling Confederation in 2014 but has never produced the event himself.
FayetteCross 2020 will be his first event, and he sees it as a boon to racers from the Americas and Caribbean.
“More points are awarded in the continental championships than in any event, excluding the world championships,” he said, “and, that makes it a tremendous opportunity for Pan-American racers.”