Pro Cup cycling returns to Fayetteville
FAYETTEVILLE — Feet will be pumping and pedals will be churning beginning today when the U.S. Pro Cup cycling event returns to Fayetteville for the fourth consecutive year.
Mountain bike racing for professionals and amateurs begins today and concludes Sunday at Centennial Park at Millsap Mountain in Fayetteville.
Racing will begin at 8:30 a.m. today. Thursday is a training day before the festival style racing picks up again beginning at 8:45 a.m. Friday. Start times are 8:30 a.m. for Saturday and Sunday.
Centennial Park is a cycling center with state-of-the-art facilities in the growing sport of mountain bike racing. The course at Centennial Park includes rock gardens, double jumps, berm corners and drops.
The U.S. Pro Cup race in Fayetteville is part of the season-long U.S. XC Open Series in bicycling. The series began at the first U.S. Pro Cup race from March 22-24 in Temecula, Calif. The third race will be the Englewood Open in Fall River, Wis., and the finale will be the Missoula XC in Missoula, Mont.
“We have 138 junior men on Saturday and over 80 elite men as well,” Race Director Ty Kady of the Ozark Foundation said. “Our series has established itself as the place where Olympians and amateurs come to race at the highest level in the U.S., and that is something we and our partners are proud of.”
Amateur racers will be able to test themselves against the challenging course at Centennial Park. For the pros, the U.S. Pro Cup provides an opportunity to add qualifying points in various categories for the Paris Olympics this year.
Former short track world champion and United States Olympian Christopher Blevins is among the riders from more than 40 states and countries as far away as New Zealand and Switzerland expected to compete in Fayetteville this week.
Admission is free to the public. Centennial Park offers a bike valet for spectators to move in and secure a position close to the start/finish line.