Monthly Archive for Februar, 2011

Short Track Cross Country (STXC) is a unique style of competition racing on a <1 km track with bank turns, jumps and other obstacles. It’s a cross between a criterium, BMX, cyclo-cross and single-track, super fast and spectator friendly. Racers will compete in heats, with the top finishers advancing to the next round and eventually the finals.

This short format of racing makes for close, spectator-friendly competition. Most racer’s go with a traditional hardtail mountain bike for this style of racing, but some have chosen full-suspension mountainbikes or cyclocross bikes as their choice of weaponry. For riders STXC provides an easy format of racing to prepare for as it is too long for a sprint, and too short to be considered an endurance event. But if a rider wants to come out on top, it will take a combination of conditioning as well as skills to do the job.

Short track roots lie deep in BMX & cyclocross and was first officially organized as part of the NORBA National Series in the US. Due to its ease of both organization and participation, this format has quickly grown in popularity spreading across the US in informal weekday evening and weekend gatherings. Much like its sibling cyclocross, STXC has enjoyed swelling number of participants in grassroots events in Portland, Boulder as well as in other cities in the US.