Providence ‘Cross Fest Charts New Course for 2014 

With Global Aspirations, Organizers Depart Shimano NEPCX  

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Dec. 11, 2013) - Launching a campaign to host the first ever American stop on the UCI World Cup cyclo-cross in 2015, the organizers of the Providence Cyclo-cross Festival have opted to withdraw from the Shimano New England Professional Cyclo-cross Series Presented by Verge in 2014. 

"The Shimano NEPCX has raised the bar of just what a regional cyclo-cross series can be," said Richard Fries, event director of Providence. "We realized that our aspirations of hosting a World Cup would conflict with the race scheduling of the Shimano and Verge series. We felt it appropriate to allow another great New England race to benefit by membership in the pro series. But the process starts now." 

The organizers have requested and received the World Cup bid application from the UCI. "We are assembling an advisory panel and developing our proposal for presentation in December of 2014," said Fries. "We plan to work closely with the City of Providence, the UCI, and especially USA Cycling to make this happen. It's a really high mountain for us to climb and we'll need a lot of help." 

The Providence Cyclo-cross Festival has again inscribed as a UCI Category 1 event with a junior international event for 2014. Providence has partnered with Race CF, one of the leading junior programs in America, to help support research and awareness of cystic fibrosis. Both days will feature a UCI junior 17-18 event. 

"Due to the overwhelming popularity of our event, we want to review our race schedule to provide the highest quality racing experience possible. Hosting the world's best juniors is one of our goals. Having the Race CF team fully involved offers even more support to grow our junior programs and improve the experience of cyclo-cross for all young riders," said Patrick Goguen, competition director. "With the available daylight in early October, we can do certain things that are impossible in December. And we want to keep having some fun things at Providence, like our single speed event and our madison." 

The organizers will also expand the Friday night New England Builders' Ball, its Divine Youth programs, the consumer exposition, and the Sunday Gran Fondo New England.  

ABOUT THE PROVIDENCE CYCLO-CROSS FESTIVAL:  Considered America's most prestigious cyclo-cross event, the 2014 Providence Cyclo-cross Festival will be held Oct. 3-5 at historic Roger Williams Park. Sanctioned by USA Cycling, the races include one of just seven UCI Category 1 events in North America and one of just four UCI junior events. The weekend also includes a massive consumer exposition, the MetLife Kidzone, a food truck festival, the Harpoon Beer Garden, Friday's New England Builders' Ball and Sunday's Gran Fondo New England. Admission is free.

For more information visit 

Clark Smeltzer

media@providencecrossfest.com

www.providencecrossfest.com