Preview: New Year’s Eve ‘cross @ Betley Court Farm by Element CT and friends
Welcome!
Welcome to Round 8 of the NWCCA League hosted by Element CT and friends with a return to the welcoming venue of Betley Court Farm, just South of Crewe for our last race of 2022 on Saturday 31st December. Thanks to Steve Sherwin and our North Cheshire Clarion friends, we are able to use the venue again. It’s a lovely venue with loads of parking and an on-site cafe. Mick Style is your Race Organiser for this NYE event.
Race Venue
The race venue is Betley Court Farm, CW3 9BH – it’s about 10 minutes off Junction 16 of the M6. There is an on-site cafe – marked on the map – which will be open.
Directions
From Junction 16 of the M6, take the A500 west towards Nantwich. At the second roundabout turn left, sign-posted ‘Balterley & Betley’. After about 2 miles, entering the village of Betley, continue on this road and Betley Court Farm is on the right. There will be a yellow sign indicating your turn so look out!
Parking
There is ample parking for everyone and the ground is well drained so hopefully there will not be a problem getting away. Please follow the parking marshall’s instructions.
As the venue charges us for the use of the land, we are asking for a £2 parking fee per car. Please try and have the correct change.
Race Entries & Times
All entries are online via BC’s website and the closing date is Wednesday 28th December at 23:55 with all the standard NWCCA Race Times applicable.
Please be prompt in getting to the Start Line for gridding – listen out for the whistle and don’t forget your ankle tag.
Sign-On & Courses
Sign-On will be in the same sheltered spot in the barn on the left as you enter the site.
The courses will be different to the Round 6 event and we’ll contain the course within a tight area so it should be all visible for crews and supporters for the entire lap. We’re going to use a mixture of the field grassland and some of the hard pack tracks which will give some respite if the course has had a lot of rain. There will be a number of features like switch-back climbs, switch-back descents, fast S bend descents, off camber descent into a climb, loops in and out of trees, a couple of trickier turns where there’ll be run/ride options for you to decide! The course is c.3km long with shorter cuts for the Youth Race and the U12/10/8 Races.
We’ll make the Under 8/10/12 course less technical of course but include enough to test budding CX skills proportionately!
As ever, please don’t practice on the course when there is a race on that part of the track. If in doubt, ask a Marshall.
Pits
The Pits are within easy reach of the Car Park – see course map. There is an outside tap available on site – marked on the map, but I recommend bringing your own water due to risk of freezing pipes etc.
Last race of the day
Special request…..Please could ALL racers in the 14.45 (Senior/Junior and V40 Men) Race, grab a handful of stakes and roll tape up – once the final rider has completed the course – and bring them back to my hire van which will be by the Finish/ Timing Point? Thank you all – the light will already be fading fast at 15.45 so we need to be super quick in taking the course down and packing it away. And it’s NYE and lots of us have family or socials to return to! Many crossers make light work…Pack c.40 stakes per bag with the pointy end sticking out, different bags for white and blue stakes please. Thanks to Craig & the HMCC squad and Mike & the Liverpool Century for loan of the stakes.
Prizes
We’ll award the children’s prizes on the day, as soon as possible after the race. A huge thanks to Cookson Cycles, Whitefield, Manchester for their generosity in supplying the children and Youth prizes.
All other monetary prizes will be awarded via Paypal in the days after the event.
Smiles & grins
Think that’s it for now – any last minute changes will be communicated via the BC email facility. Look forward to seeing you all on the 31st and have a very Happy Christmas in the meantime!
Bring your biggest smiles and grins and let’s have a fabulous Cross end to 2022!