I'm sorry to hear. Rest up and get well soon!Thierry Bonnaire said:No racing for me today since that I caught a nasty cold that turned into bronchitis. :'(
Thank you!!!I AndrewJohnson said:I'm sorry to hear. Rest up and get well soon!Thierry Bonnaire said:No racing for me today since that I caught a nasty cold that turned into bronchitis. :'(
Awesome pictures. Thanks a lot.Kevin Man said:Good job out there guys!!!
Photos by Amy Gibbs.
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the cancellation of Rainey Park Cyclocross 2022.
I know that this will be disappointing news to many of you that have been looking forward to this event all season, but I hope you can trust that it is not a decision I’ve made lightly.
Since the race’s first iteration in 2016, this race has been an inspirational example of how special the NYC cycling community is. For those of you that don’t know - we received the first permit less than two weeks out from our from our planned date after already having written off the possibility of it happening. We announced the New Year’s Eve race with the intention of doing something extremely low-budget and grass roots, just to make sure the permit didn’t go to waste. An incredible amount of people stepped up and turned that first year into something really special and laid the groundwork for an amazing run of successful events. Small increases in production value and tweaks to the course have, in my opinion, made the event better and better every year.
However, since that first year - among all of the glee and excitement of the race - this dreadful feeling that one day the event would outgrow itself has always been there. This idea that we’ve been kind of flying under the radar, and one day the true costs of shutting down an increasingly rare oasis of greenspace in this city would rear its ugly head. Well, it seems to have finally arrived. I can’t make heads or tails of whether it’s just a changing of personnel, or the fact that the event has breached a certain size, but this year NYC Parks is imposing untenable costs for permitting, security bonds and insurance requirements. On its own, I don’t think the money issue is insurmountable; but they are also insisting on the enforcement of an NYC Parks Department rule which states that nothing can be staked into the ground – which makes setting up a cyclocross course pretty challenging. I was working with Tom Mains on a plan to try to utilize a mix of standard race barricade fencing and cones with wooden stakes in them, but that only adds additional costs as well as an excessive amount of volunteer labor needed to set up, not to mention overnight security to make sure scrap metal haulers don’t steal it, etc., etc. It would also compromise the safety of riders and change the whole dynamic of the event.
The whole mission behind organizing Rainey Park Cyclocross has been to make a sport with a huge barrier to entry a bit more accessible to people living in NYC as well as creating an opportunity to showcase how great the cyclocross scene in NYC really is. I’ve always done what I can to keep the race affordable and pour what little money the event does generate back into the itself. These new hurdles being added into the small window of time leading up to the event will make this year too expensive and logistically complicated to pull off. I’m not ready to give up on future events, and will instead use this as an opportunity to explore ways of making the race even more sustainable as a long term event. Organizing this race has been one of the most rewarding things in my life and I’m so grateful for all of the help and support you’ve all provided over the years.
#raineyparkcross forever 🖤
Keith Garrison
Event Director
Rainey Park Cyclocross
https://youtu.be/ufOL8GCUMXU