Highlights from Batty Cross 2018

Emily Batty’s family farm in Brooklin, Ont. played host to Batty Cross over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. The bronze medalist at the mountain bike world championships launched the new event with a spooky theme and a course that utilized the features of the farm.

“Cyclocross is a unique discipline that has a spectator friendly race format and challenges riders in different ways than road and mountain bike racing. With Batty Cross, we wanted to create a cyclocross race that was also an experiential event, where a Halloween theme echoed throughout and had no limit in participation for spectators or riders,” explained Batty.

The event was in it’s first edition but as Batty’s husban Adam Morka explained, they see Batty Cross taking an important place on the Canadian ‘cross calendar. “We are certainly in this for the long haul and there is a great sense of accomplishment in supporting the cycling community and providing an event that has something for everyone, including non-racers, Morka said.

“We always wanted to produce an event in proximity to the GTA and after Emily’s family gave us the go-ahead to utilize the family farm as a venue, we went full steam, and it worked out perfect with the featured corn maze, spooky spectator path, trick or treat tech zone, and the haunted forest,” he explained. “We are going to continue building out this event for the next three to four years and once established, look at producing a mountain bike event with a similar framework to Batty Cross.”

Read more about the inaugural edition of the event here.