Cross on the Rock

Season #15 - 2021 - Back Racing!!

6 Races. 1 new venue with our first time racing at Jordie Lunn in Langford. Besides a bit of weird stuff like masks at check in and the start line it was the BEST feeling having people back together and racing!! So great to see everyone!

The general theme for the season was "wet". This theme was pounded home by one race that if you were there and raced....you will remember it until the day you die. Our first introduction to "atmospheric river" came just before and during the masters race at the Muc Off Cup at Bowen park. It stands as one of the most gnarliest races off all the races we have put on. To finish....or survive is a badge of honor for for the 71 (4 DNF) Masters and 21 (4 DNF) Super Masters men. We salute you!!

By the time the Open women and men took to the course it was the a mess! Through the mess came 15 year old Sarah Roberts and Evan Russell for the wins!

The Half Track racers transitioned from to a FULL lap which was a big change....but they were READY!

We hosted 656 racers that year which is our highest in COTR - the 3rd Era and averaged 335 per race.

In the Team Competition out of nowhere the Powell River crew came out and crushed everyone for the win. Again....Rock City Cycles was second with previous dominator, in third. Some of the category winners for the year included Adianta Cocksedge U13, Sam Schum and Ella Egan U15, Kip Manktelow over Zachary Croom in U17, Eleanor Winchell and David Opko (helping Powell River to their win) in U17 and Super Masters, Peter Mogg crushing in masters and Sarah Roberts and Evan Rusell showing that it was their season in Open.

The season ended was supposed to end with National Championships at our old Laritz Park venue but it was cancelled......because of an atmospheric river!

2020. We all know what happened. In 2019 we had the HIGHEST average number of racers per season in 14 years. Great participation. Most importantly a community that extended beyond our 6-9 gatherings a year. It all came to a halt.

In many ways 2020 was amazing. We know how the world slowed down. How we were "stuck" in "lock-down" in pretty much the best place to be stuck! We checked in on each other. We got outside. We exercised and moved to make ourselves feel better and for really no other reason. No racing but we were still racers! A year off.

2019 - Season #14. The year of the dark mark! In many ways 2019 was the end of the second phase of .

Months before our race season started a huge number of members of our community gathered for one of the best events around. In the spirit of COTR and the Cross Fondo a group including Jak Mar from Island Cycles and the Study Build put on the Quadra Island Quest. If you were there you know how cool it was. If you were not it is a good reminder to not wait "until the next year" as we found out there was no next year for this event!

The fall kicked off with Coal Cross. This event captured one of the best photos in COTR history....have a look and see if you can figure out which one. We made our second trip to Qualicum Beach. Unfortunately it was our LAST trip to Western Speedway for the last Day of Thunder as the property was sold and dismantled soon after. now iconic Hot Crossed Bunnies closed out the 7 race season on a Saturday in November. The Saturday part is significant as on Sunday our title sponsor MAZDA showed up for the event......not cluing in that the last race was done. (Photo included)

Once again the racing was HOT!

The team competition results were the EXACT same order as the previous two years! Factory #1 followed by Rock City Cycles/Frontrunners/Kiyo Salon/Swet Haus and Tripleshot racing. Same top three.....three years in a row!

Looking at the racers we saw some solid performances including Sam Schum doing amazing in the U13 Category. Ella Egan and Brailyn Webster going back and forth all year in U13W. Multi Sport Athlete Heidi Henry making her COTR debut in U15 with her sister .henry winning Open Women. Liam Sargent and Sarah Robers Winning U17. Joel Lutz making his first Series podium in Masters.

And then.......

The logo for season #13 was a natural. How could we ever do a different theme? There was not supposed to be a Mid-Summer CX this year....BUT then we got word that the Adventure team was rolling into town....and we knew we had to put on a race. , , and of couse . It was a perfect night to start off the cyclocross season complete with Freezies! One down....8 more to go for the year. The first appearance of Qualicum Beach in the series and a return to McLean Mill in Port Alberni. Also our first ever trip to Lake Cowichan which had the first ever floating section of COTR course along with one of the most technical DH sections. (Check the FB post for more photos). Starting the season with an unusually wet Coal Cross we finished the season with an unusually dry Day of Thunder. 2018 still ranks 4 events in the top 10 of all time biggest races and 4 categories in the top 10 of all time. joined us for the coveted Last not Lapped prizes for each race. Racer notes for the year included an almost perfect Mical Dyck winning 6/7 races she entered only being bested in the final by taking her 3rd Expert Women win. Hugh Hart had a tear that year in the Super Masters category and Tracy Egan won the masters women. did not lose a race.....but needed one more score to take the series overall.....so had to settle with 2nd with only 6 event scores. The top 3 for the team title remained the same as the previous year Factory #1 followed by Rock City Cycles/Frontrunners/Kiyo Salon/Swet Haus and Tripleshot racing!

Season 12!! We are rolling in 2017. 9 events including a return to Diver Lake for Mid Summer CX AND a Double header at Western Speedway with 2 Days of Thunder. had us covered for the title sponsorship and Muc Off cleaned up our bikes and had them ready for the next event! HUGE turn outs with 2 events setting highest ever records. Pro City GP that year had 430 racers and is still #3 on the all time list. The Kona Kup still ranks #6. 3 of the biggest single categories of all time were recorded that year. 348 average racers per event (think of where we came from here). 794 people raced that season. It still holds the #2 spot for races raced at 3142! Naked Bikes won the team title on what became a long string of second and third places for Rock City Cycles/Frontrunners/Kiyo Salon/Swet Haus. A young Chad Grice won the series overall for Launch!! Brynn Johnston and Sarah Roberts battled it out for the overall in Launch women. Nik Kay won intermediate! In Masters men it was Sean Lunny that dominated the season. Mical Dyck added 7 wins to her all time total! Most importantly Ritchie Hughes won his dream Naked Bike which it later used to ride across Canada.

2016 - Season 11 was HUGE. First of all......electronic timing!! We had been 100% manual timing with amazing success but had dialed in chip timing so we went with it. We still have a manual back up....just in case but this was a big jump! We introduced the TEAM Standings. won the first year! had talked to us for a couple of seasons and we were finally ready to add in more youth categories for the series. Keeping the youth in the regular categories has proven important for development but splitting them out for the overall series has been great for giving them their own recognition. 9 Races alone on Vancouver Island!! We started the year with the first Mid Summer race returning to our old venue at Diver Lake in Nanaimo. We raced at for the Top of the World Cross. Headed over the hump to Farmer Bills. An all Nanaimo TRIPLE header (with the Saturday social) and we finished the year with our only trip to the Saanich Fairgrounds for DeGrote Prijs van Fairgrounds. Punctuated by a trophy race for the Zoom Zoom Half Trackers. kept us from getting hangry. supported us with prizing. was there. !! We introduced the "cross sitters" program matching older racers to take care of little racers while the parents were on course. This was key to being able to host the races at that time with the young Tycho and Tessa. The year ended in one of the most memorable Provincial Championships held at the Logger Sports fairground in Squamish.....if you were there....you will never forget it!! The Kup at Bowen was the tamest race up to that point at 1.3% DNF which was held until 2022. It is still #3. 710 Racers! BUT the average actually went down to 287 skewed by the limited field (100) at the Mid Summer race. Sarah Roberts and Kimberly Chen starting to make their mark. and racing EXPERT women for the season and putting in strong performances for the year.

The Crit Edit has been found! Pelle Gustavs contacted us and sent us the OG 2015 Waverly CX Crit Edit. Enjoy!! Also keep an eye out for those thrown apples!! Naked Bicycles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe88WisIe5g

A break in our 20 years retrospective to wish Carter Woods, Emilly, Ella and Marin great races at the World Championships. We have always been your #1 fan community!!

2015 - Season #10. Cross on the Rock enters its halcyon era. We hosted 7 races but 9 happened on Vancouver Island. Our series was book ended by two very unique events. HLC Bike in partnership with WD-40 became the title sponsor for the year. Before we "Took it to the trees" at Comox Lake Campground racers raced through the Waveryly Pub and returned to the #6 Mine Park on Saturday night. For race #1 we had our most unique ever commute to a COTR race when a Harbour Air flight packed with cx racers landed in comox lake and unloaded for the race. Mazda got on board and we started the Zoom Zoom Half Lap races for kids that were too big for the Nutcase mini races. We had a Nanaimo-Nanaimo double header. Some of the series winners included Emilly Johnston, Graham Cocksedge, Bill McMillan, Carey Mark and Raphael Lalumier. A 15 year old Carter Woods did his first cross race. Numbers boomed with racers up from 547 to 660. Average jumped from 306 to 325. The season finished with one of the best events of all time.....the SSCXWC put on by some of the OG VI cx crew in Victoria. It was pure mayhem the way we love it! (Somewhere there is a video of the race through the Waverly....if anyone can find it I will post it in the comments).

What was it about Season #9 in 2014? All of a sudden racers were able to brake as discs became more main stream. Did that encourage the incredible line up of all levels of people to come to Cross on the Rock that year? Or was it one of the most loved logos? We hosted 7 races including Provincial Championships at Bowen Park again. That race was one of the hardest of ALL TIME at 14.5% DNFs to that point and still holds the #1 spot. No race since has even cracked the top 10. Provincials were won for the Experts by Craig Ritchey and Mical Dyck. 3X Ironman World Champion Peter Reid won the masters. ALSO racing were many future stars of cyclocross, road, track, Olympics and mountainbike. Catharine Pendrel, Riley Pickrell, 15 year old Maggie Coles-Lister, Erin Atwell, Sarah Van Dam, Emilly Johnston and even a VERY young . We raced at Bear Mountain for the first time. Average racers jumped from 205 to 235 and individual racers jumps from 495 to 547.