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McLane Pacific Cycling Classic cancelled for 2007
Fri, 10/20/2006 - 3:39pm
(What are the new requirements for NRC Races? Sounds like USCF is upping the cost quite a bit...)
The McLane Pacific Cycling Classic will not be held in 2007, ending a 14-year spring tradition for the community of Merced, California. For the past several years, the race has been the opening weekend for the American National Racing Calendar (NRC) calendar. The race will cease because it cannot increase its operating budget to meet the recently revised NRC guidelines from USA Cycling.
The event started 14 years ago as a fundraiser for the United Way and over the years has donated well over $100,000 to the charity. With that goal in mind, the event committee scurried to fill the gap between what McLane Pacific had offered each year and what was needed.
After the last option had closed on the morning of Friday, October 20th, the result was clear. "Over the history of the race, we have never ended an edition with a financial deficit. Not knowing without a doubt that we would be able to operate the race at the level we want to, without a financial burden, it is not possible to continue," said co-race director and race founder Doug Fluetsch.
"McLane Pacific has been a wonderful sponsor to work with. A handshake was all we ever had and all we ever needed during the 14 years. They always honored their word, and we always honored ours with the community of Merced. It is sad to see it come to an end, but if we cannot continue at a high level with the NRC, it is time to stop." McLane Pacific did offer to continue to sponsor the event at the level of the previous years, but that level was not enough to meet the requirements currently set by USA Cycling.
Was holding the event without the NRC designation an option? Everyone from NorCal and many from SoCal would have shown up anyway. The NRC designation is meaningless to almost all of us. And without the hefty prize requirement for the Pro races, might it have been better financially? Just seems a shame to lose a great event.
For a race to be on the NRC schedule next year the race has to be a Minimum of a Cat A event. This means a Min of $10,000 for the Top men's or women's racing category for a single day event or $20,000 for a stage race. There are other requirements for a race to be a Cat A event.
USAC did raise the bar for an event to make it onto the NRC schedule for next year. There were more races trying to get onto the NRC schedule than there were available weekends. Stepping up the requirements to be an NRC event was one way to thin out the number of events that qualified to be on the NRC calendar.