Pre-reg to open Friday 18th October! PRE-REG IS OPEN (Though space isn't as limited... and the events allow for more participation.)
Registration for remaining spots will start at THREE PM.
Adults - $5 with costume, $10 without or if you dress as a 'sexy something' Kids - gold coin with costume, $5 without... but seriously, kids like costumes like blakey likes pizza racks
There will be a variety of races including, but not limited to...
Short track cx
Relay cx racing
The Main Event, the BCCDDCXSSCXWC
Expect fun and frivolity. Leave your race face at home (unless its a humorous one).
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Spookycross is rapidly approaching. One month to build your BCCDDCXSSCXWC bike & design your costume and execute it to a tee.
Speaking of tees, get your order in here, we're closing pre-orders in a week so we can get them all printed and ready for SpookyCX, so if you haven't put your money down then you'll probably miss out on getting a shirt.
We will post domestically or worldwide, currently the store only has options for AU/NZ/UK/US/Can, contact us if you are elsewhere. If you want to collect at SpookyCX, select Afghanistan as your destination.
Click on each shirt below to go to their purchase page.
A final reminder that if you didn't manage to get hay in your drivetrain or mud on your skinsuit yesterday for the final round of WCCX, you have a chance to win eternal glory** in the 2nd Annual Victorian Cyclocross Championships this weekend.
Don't think you could win a medal but like making the RAD, then sign up anyway. The course includes a good chunk of a BMX track and should allow for the embracing of your inner kid, while riding your big kid bike.
Also I hear that the races may start earlier (if that's bothering you).
**eternal glory is code for a smile that'll take at least a few hours to disappear from your face, while you cough up your lungs from exertion. It also includes delighting in how amazingly colour-matched Spiro is when he races at the moment.
SpookyCX is coming (November 2nd!), what better reason to celebrate than with a limited edition Cross Wizard t-shirt, or a simple DDCX logo shirt? Equally at home in the mud or under your pinstripe suit in the boardroom.
Purchase your goods here! Payment via PayPal only, sorry, it sucks for us too.
We don't want to hold stock at DDCXHQ, so this is a pre-order, shirts will be printed and available to pickup at SpookyCX, or posted to you all around the globe.
There will be a limited number of shirts available for purchase on the night and after the event, but we can't guarantee we'll have your size or design. Best to preorder and save missing out.
Big ups to Nick Saint Cloud for facilitating the printing, if you need small run screen printing, hit him up!
The BIGGEST of thanks to Sime, aka Count Rackula, for producing another rad piece of art for us, see him at SpookyCX and give him the highest of fives.
Think Cx season is done after the the action packed Natz/NCXS weekend?
Think again!
Don't forget the Victorian CX State Champs on October 5th. The listed race times are tentative as the organisers are in discussion with the site about running it as a dusk/night race. The course features some innovative use of the BMX track as well as the surrounds. The BMX Club is really excited about helping make this a great event.
It also appears we need to announce the date for SPOOKYCX!
November 2nd - Save the Date
Afternoon/Early Evening racing with costumes, shenanigans and the Brunswick Cycling Club CX Championship to be awarded on the night.
Those people who attended last year will attest to the good times that were had in closing out the Victorian CX season.
More info to follow on this as the DDCX Wizards and Witches conjure their spells on the event.
PS: This announcement should make any keen CX fan pretty happy! "Who's #1" features the best handwaving and CX commentary around. As J-Pow would say "Get Familiar!"
They came to finish the party in style. After the explosive events of the national champs on Saturday, how was DDCX gonna top the spectacle of Lisa Jacobs masterful display and Alan Iacuone’s surpise attack to win national jerseys two decades apart?
I’d like to say it was Blakey’s Erection (the steel tubed folly in the middle of the course that was one man’s dream where others scoffed) or was it the sheer awesomeness of the Darebin Parklands course and the even bigger awesomeness of the Parklands people in letting us use the land. Or was it the promise of free, guaranteed entry into CROSS VEGAS and accommodation in Las Vegas for the elite winners that lent a certain sepia stained air of epic to the day?
Of course it was all those things but, shucks, it’s YOU GUYS who make Dirty Deeds. Without over three hundred of you pinning numbers on, plus who knows how many hundred more screaming on the sidelines, the event would be nothing more than a solo tractor pull in a muddy field.
Before we get too emotional here at DDCX HQ, due to lack of sleep and race organizing freak outs, let us cast out any more comparisons to the effing Catalina Wine Mixer. This was bigger…far bigger.
A day from the monsters of cross greeted us on Sunday after the bitter chill and rain of previous days. It may have looked sunny and clear, but as soon as you stepped on the course you knew it was going to be a mudder's dream.
Pre reg had worked a treat, too well in fact, most races were full and there were some unsmiley faces for those who got there too late to actually hand over your license before the cut off time. A Maserati and a crabon cx bike served up with a topping of attitude ain’t gonna cut it in the inner north pal.
The kids race was a ding dong battle of the balance bikes. The young man in the spider man outfit used all the super hero powers at his disposal to win hearts and minds and therefore cast aside any competitors for Cute rider of the Day.
Tate Heiskanen was forced into a quick costume change as he and the little dude obviously failed to consult. A stuff up with our system meant girls and boys results were skewed prompting tears and complaints about kids not getting a prize. Deal with it. It’s character building. The real prize is getting rad and not having to do your own laundry
Open caught a lot of the spill over from the CX grades that were chockers so some thought cross racers might dominate the 2.5 k course so deviously dished up by Nik C. not so Jack Lamshed occupies number one spot followed by Duncan Murray and Alexander Carisotis in third.
In B grade, Liam Jeffries, who we’ve seen go from being a fresh faced kid ripping apart the junior races in years gone by, to being a fresh faced kid ripping apart senior races, put on a display that without doubt heralds him as someone destined for great things on a bike if he so chooses. Dan Moore from sponsors Jet Black/BH put in a huge effort to come in second, but it was at the tail end of the field that the spirit of CX shone (aside from the beer hand ups at the bottom of the course- more about them later). Alex Ivanof broke a seat post and rather than DNF, ran most of the end of the race, a good two laps we hear. In a display of cool sportsmanship he was ushered through by Shaun Urie- a Dirty Deeds stalwart, allowing Alex to finish the place before DFL. To me, this is what CX racing is all about. That, and getting filthy and having a good time. At 100 riders this is probably the largest grade we’ve run.
By the time the women’s elite race was one the crowd was hungry for fast and furious cross. The stairs, ramp, flyover combination dreamt up and executed by Andrew Blake and enabled by our main sponsors SRAM was where races could be won and lost.
Photo: Cam Wells
Tasmania’s Rowena Fry has been leading the national series and her loss to Lisa Jacobs for the national title was the big story of Saturday. While Lisa had the jersey with the stripes Rowena could salvage a series win if she hung on in the top ten.
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In the race for the title though Rowena was struggling with mechanical issues and an unrelenting pace from South Australia’s Sarah Holmes, April McDonough, the ever smiling Mel Ansett and the freshly crowned national women’s masters champ Jenny 'honey badger' Macca (one of the main folk behind the DDCX women’s development squad- check it out on Face thingo if you happen to be a CX-curious female). In seven laps and 48 minutes on the course it was Sarah in first and off to Cross Vegas if she wants.. April, then Rowena in fourth, hanging on despite a strong challenge from Jen to take hold of the national series title.
It was gonna be hard to top that one but there was one big guy who knew just how.
Men’s elite came with an air of expectation. The racing had been quality and fought all day so naturally folks wanted more. It was a genuine national field with competitors from all over the place keen on planting a foot or two on the podium.
In one of the fastest starts around led by the crowd favourite Leigh de Luca, who was gunning for the Impact Massage KOM, an elite group of riders formed from… the elite group of riders. A pack of about 6 riders emerged to take control of the race. Former Olympian Sid Taberlay (NSW), Gary Milburn (NSW), Andy Blair (Vic), newly crowned national champ Alan Iacoune (Vic), Paul van der Ploeg (Vic) and Cameron Ivory (NSW) traded places and half way through the 50 minute circuit anyone of them looked like they could take the race. That is, until IT happened….
If you’ve never seen Paul van der Ploeg ride a bike you should. It’s a sight. When he and Cam Ivory got a lead on the other riders they rounded the corner and shouldered their bikes to jump the barrier placed before the stairs on Blakey’s Erection, all 6 foot 4 of Vandy (that’s 193cm) took off. Taking two stairs at a time he seemed to vault the flyover and sped off down the ramp leaving Cam and the rest of us to wonder what we had just witnessed. In case anyone missed it Paul repeated the sprint up the stairs on the next lap to win it from Cam and Andrew Blair.
Paul’s been selected to represent Australia in mountain biking and after seeing him ride on Sunday you’ve gotta feel for his forthcoming opponents. You also have to feel for that poor skinsuit, being torn off his enormous frame in the final lap so that he could cross the line like so:
All results from the day can be found here (If your name is Cam Woolcock, just replace Malachi Moxon in Elite with your name and all is well! Sorry Cam):
Whilst Nik's homage to Pavlis' Hill was a spectator favourite, the choice spot was at the u-turn after a sizeable mud pit. First the kids asked the riders nicely to ride through the puddle and make a splash, then the adults, then everyone screamed at the riders as they barrelled down the hill "GO RIGHT, IN THE WATER, DO IT!", this resulted in some marvellous mud porn, some loose as all get out two wheel drifts, and quite a few crashes. Oh, and a hell of a lot of cheering that carried all the way up to the very top of the course, drowning out the amplified voices of Brendan & Hamish.
One of our only racers with a BMXA licence, Bryan Bull, shot some excellent footage of the mudpit, watch through to the end for an amazing passing move, and imagine Yakety Sax is playing.
Photo: Cam Wells. (For a great crash sequence, start here)
So that is about it.
Thank you to all who came. Special thanks to everyone who helped set up, those who marshalled, ran the rego desk. Nath who burst back onto the CX stage with his sweet timing system spitting live results onto the internet for those by the tape and those stuck far from Darebin. To the golden tonsils of Brendan and the officials from Cycling Australia and MTBA, we thank you.
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To our sponsors:
Western Scaffold - Not a sponsor per se, but they were willing to entertain one man's crazy idea and worked to come up with a solution that levelled up Australian Cyclocross. Thanks Brendan & all the crew.
SRAM & CycleOps at Monza- couldn’t have done it without ya.
JetBlack/ BH Cycles you rule.
Tim from MY MOUNTAIN gave away a whole godamn cross bike to a deserving Amy Philips- a whole bike!!
Van from Creux- we love you, your shirts, your patches, especially your mannequin.
Fitz Rev, for their continued support, I bet DC is glad he wasn't offering free bike washes this time around though!
Impact Massage, not only the DDCX official vehicle sponsor, but always willing to sponsor a holeshot or a QOM/KOM prize.
Coffee Supreme, we love your Fresh Pots, especially at 7 in the morning when we're setting up a course.
Benedict & the Massage Oil Shop for continuing to support the women's podiums.
Commuter Cycles, always sponsoring the supercommuterest racers who actually pin a number on instead of Cat Six-ing it along Canning St every morning.
Larrys Custom Cycles - These guys give us frames to give away to deserving race non-winners EVERY ROUND. How sick is that?
4Shaw / Dion - Podium shoes are nothing without some matching podium socks.
Adidas Eyewear - Win a DDCX race and you can get your hands on some blazing yellow halfrims.
Schwalbe / Bike box
Rapha- For the women's prize pack and a sweet umbrella
Treadlie - The photobooth of muddy pain will be up soon, check them out and vote for your faves, and the best will win prize packs.
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Some spectacles
Adidas cycling sunnies
Sugoi arm warmers (send us an email with some identifying details and we will get them back to you)
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For more words about the weekend's racing, plus audio interviews, check out our friends over at BrewCX
There has to be a million photos and videos out there, and we want to see them all. Send us your links, via email, twitter, FB, commenting below, carrier pigeon...
We did- and we always do. So that's why we want you to show your support for Dirty Deeds and the good folks at Darebin Parklands Management especially Ranger Pete and Adrian who allow us to use the park one day a year.
We'd like you to send an email by clicking HERE, or posting on their wall HERE just to say thanks and how much you enjoyed the day.
The Friends of Darebin Parklands are friends of Dirty Deeds so email/post away folks.
Plus, if you can take 2 minutes to fill out a feedback form here with some good vibes, then maybe Melbourne councils will realise that there is support for CX racing in the inner city and that it's a good use for green space.
Full race report up later today.
As a thanks for the good PR you just generated, here's some photos with #DDCX tags on instagram:
This is important, so it gets its own post in case you missed it when you read the technical guide. You read the guide right? The race is to be held at Darebin Parklands, cnr of Yarana Rd and Smith St, Alphington. This is a residential area, the park is used by other people, and we are expecting a large number of racers and spectators, so if you drive to the venue, you will almost certainly have to park a ways away and walk in. However, Alphington train station (Hurstbridge line) can be found at the beginning (south end) of Yarana St and the 508 bus stops right at the parklands, for those looking for nearby public transit options, and as always, we highly recommend riding to the race. Parking can be found on either side of Separation St, Abbott St, Parklands Ave and Yarana Rd south of Parklands.
It should be noted that Yarana Road south of Separation St is actually a bike path and not a road.
Parking on Yarana Rd north of Separation will be for event staff and sponsors only.
Do not park near the corners of Separation St / Bennett St, Bennett St / Parklands Ave, Parklands Ave / Yarana Rd, Yarana Rd / Wingrove St as this is the 508 bus route
and blocking a bus will get you a parking ticket/towed very quickly!
Most of the side streets nearby are residential and
we expect them to get parked out quickly. We recommend parking at the
Alphington train station car park or the nearby Pitcher Park if you are
arriving later.
In summary: You are not a special snowflake, you do
not deserve front row parking. If you try to sneak into staff parking,
park illegally, or block a bus, don't be surprised if your vehicle is
towed, ticketed or you are made fun of mercilessly over the P.A.
