Cyclocross in Manitoba

“About 15 years ago, a couple of other people and I thought it would be fun to put on a cyclocross event. Based on what? I have no idea. We didn’t have a precedent. This was before live streaming. So, it must have been that we had seen a few photos of old-timey ’cross races in bike magazines. We picked up this idea that it was a good, fun thing to do in the fall to preserve a little bit of fitness through the long winters that we have,” says Ian Hall when asked about how cyclocross started in Winnipeg. The co-chair of the national cyclocross championships and member of the Olympia Cycling Club remembers that the first ‘cross season may have been short, about two races, but it was the result of the local cycling community working together, not just one club.

From that initial season, which featured fields of about 20 to 30 riders, the scene has grown, even reaching as many as 10 events in a season (“which says a lot because our season is pretty short here,” adds Hall) with 250 riders at one race.

One well-attended race on the calendar is MennoCross, which is held on the campus of the Canadian Mennonite University during the school’s fall homecoming. The races feature professors in khakis and kids on push bikes, as well as elite racers. “The university has grounds that are so perfect for cyclocross,” says Hall. “They just built a new building and had to excavate for its foundation. They found it would be cheaper to hire a landscaping company to shape the fill that was produced into a park for bike racing than it would be to remove the dirt from the site. So they hired a company that makes jumps and berms for monster truck shows to shape it. And they specifically built it for cyclocross.”

Another feature of Manitoba’s CX scene that Hall highlights is its willingness to experiment. For example, Hall’s club put on End of the World Cross on Dec. 22, 2012, the day after the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. That, however, is not an experiment that will be repeated. “It was an interesting lark, but I don’t think we’ll be holding more races at the end of December,” Hall says. “It was really, really cold. The sections that weren’t fully shovelled were brutal – knee-deep snow, up a frozen hill. It was at least -20 C. It might have been close to -30 C. That’s pretty hard to deal with in cycling shoes.”

A more successful experiment is the system of more experienced race organizers mentoring new race organizers. Hall says that process has not only brought new venues to the circuit, but new energy, too. His Olympia Cycling Club worked with the Altona Bicycle Enthusiasts Society to create Southern Cross. The race, held about one hour’s drive south of Winnipeg, has become one of the biggest cycling events in Manitoba. The whole town comes out to watch; the mayor cooks burgers. One year, the race announcer had a Skyjack work platform from which he could see and call the race.

From there, it seems ‘cross in Manitoba will continue to reach new heights.