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Possible new crit in Redding next May?
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 5:22pm
Redding Velo is considering hosting a new criterium ( the “Sundial Criteriumâ€) on Saturday, May 1, 2010. It would be at the Redding Convention Center, in the shadow of the Sundial Bridge and adjacent to the Sacramento River. Some of you may have raced some crits at the convention center back in the mid-90’s. The course is fast and has one technical section with a hairpin turn and up and down a ramp. We would use the same route, circumnavigating the convention center, grass pavilion, and parking lot as before, except go the opposite direction to address some access/traffic issues for the Sundial Bridge. One of the unique features of this course is that spectators can stand at certain points in the grass pavilion and watch every second of the race unfold. This also means breakaways are never out of sight of the pack!
A few questions:
Would enough NCNCA racers be interested in traveling as far north as Redding? We are assuming our market would be the same racers that attend the Chico Downtown Crit in September. It attracted 275 racers last year.
It would be on same day as the Sugar/CRM Cat’s Hill Classic in Los Gatos. How much would this hurt attendance? (A little 2008 results analysis showed that less than 10% of racers who went to Cat’s Hill also went to the Chico DT Crit last year.)
In addition to the popular 1-2-3 and elite 4 and 5 categories, would targeting the more popular Masters’ type categories (like M35+ cat 1-2-3, M35+ and 45+ 4/5, and the growing M45+/55+ 1-2-3-4) be a good marketing strategy?
What about Junior and Women’s categories? It appears very few Juniors attend the more far-flung races. It appears the Chico Downtown Criterium has merged all Women’s categories into a single “open†race for this year - maybe due to a low turnout of women racers last year?
We have selected this date because the local cycling communty wants to turn the first weekend of May into a larger cycling celebration, set around the Sundial Bridge. The Shasta Wheelmen recently moved their popular Jamboree Century ride to start at the Sundial Bridge. Next year, it will be held Sunday, May 2, 2010 – the day after our proposed “Sundial Criteriumâ€. Also, May usually gives us our best local cycling weather. We usually start getting kind of warm in June, and downright sizzling in July and August.
Because Redding is a relatively long trip for a lot of racers and some may elect to stay overnight and do some tourist-type things the next day, we are considering certain “perks†for registered racers when they sign in, such as discount tickets to Turtle Bay Museum and special deals at local hotels, RV parks, and restaurants. Maybe some houseboat deals. If there was enough interest, maybe a two-day package deal with the Shasta Wheelmen for those who might want to hang around and do the Jamboree century ride or the 15-mile family fun ride along the Sacamento River Trail the next day.
Thanks for our constructive comments,
Keith Ritter
President, Redding Velo
Casey hit it on the nose.
Find a second race in the area and link it together.
Even better if you can make it an omnium or stage race.
How about linking it up with the Mt. Shasta Hill climb?
Get a good cash sponsor and/or get good prize list donations. You will need the extra attraction to entice riders to travel the distance.
I would not recommend May. There are a lot of races that are central to the Bay Area which will not help motivate riders to make the trip.
(Yes yes, I know you all say you don't race for prizes. Save the band width, we have heard it before.)
Keep us posted, it sounds interesting
Ron
On the other hand, the turnout for 123 W at Cat's Hill has been in teens/twenties for years (as opposed to something like the Giro that has twice as big a W123 field). Is that because the date conflicts with so many other events for 123 W around the country or because not that many people are going to be in the finale or some other reason? The math works where if just half the number of women that went to the Giro went to Redding and half the number of women went to Cat's Hill it would be OK, but of course that's not the way it works in real life. :)
Also, is the Sonora Road Race going to be the day after Cat's Hill again or not?
Could we get a map of the proposed Redding race?
A race in Redding? That is one I could probably make next year :)
Since Cat's Hill has been a long time Lance Armstrong Junior Development race I think it would be a bad idea to also have junior categories at a Redding race. To few juniors race as most events as it is and having two events on the same day with junior races would kill the attendance at both events.
You are more likely to get people to travel to Redding if you could put two races together in the area. I know Chico would love to move to an earlier time in the year. Maybe Redding on one day and Chico the next day???
I would try and choose categories that don't directly conflict with a well established race like Cat's hill. Maybe you would have to coordinate schedules with Cat's Hill and Chico. Cat 5s have plenty of riders to go around. Same with Cat 5 25+ or 45+. Maybe a 45+ 4/5 and or 55+ 4/5. A 35+ 4 race and or a 45+ 4 race probably would also work due to the large number of riders in those age groups and categories.
The situation for women is a lot like with juniors. When two races offer the same categories for women the usual out come is both races see small numbers of women. A logical split might be Cat's Hill takes the 1/2/3 women and Redding takes the Cat 4 women but there was so many complaints the last time Cat's Hill didn't offer a race for Cat 4 women They probably don't want to not have a race for Cat 4 women again.