Foxburg Grand National Cross Country Event Expected to Attract 7,000

| April 29, 2013

FOXBURG, Pa. – The hills of Foxburg and Riverstone Estate are going to be alive with the sounds of racing engines on September 21 and 22 when the premier Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series comes to town.

“I would suspect we’re going to have 1,200 to 1,500 unique athletes come to this event, and I would suspect in our first year, we will have 5,000 to 6,000 spectators come through the gate,” said Tim Cotter, GNCC Director of Events, to economic development officials, county commissioners, and others at an information meeting held at Lincoln Hall.

The GNCC Series, America’s largest off-road motorcycle and ATV racing series, has scheduled the Richland Township, Clarion County site as Round 11 of the 13-race series.  In addition to bringing top competitors and exciting competition to the region, Cotter said the two-day event should also bring a significant local economic impact.

“One of the benefits to the community is tourism dollars from restaurants to lodging and more,” said Cotter.  “According to an economic development study for Morgantown, W.Va., a typical GNCC event leaves $2.4 million in the community.”

Cotter, who is on the lookout for possible race locations for the race series, once relied on Google Earth to search for locations, but now contacts local economic development agencies for help. Cotter says it’s a challenge to find the right location.

“It’s challenging for us to find a venue that can handle us,” said Cotter.  “We need a minimum of 600 acres to race on and 100 acres for parking, and that’s hard to find, believe it or not.  There are lots of farms out there, but they have a little narrow road going in, and we have semis and trucks that look like a NASCAR team.  I called the Oil Region Alliance and initiated the conversation.”

About a week later, Cotter and others from GNCC drove up to Riverstone from West Virginia to look at the site and meet with John Phillips, President of Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry, and Tourism, and his team.

As a nod to the history of oil in the region, the race is being named “The Gusher.”

Four-wheeled ATV’s will compete throughout the day on Saturday, September 21, and dirt bikes will race on Sunday, September 22. Local riders are invited to race the event, as well. GNCC racing offers classes for riders of all skill and experience levels.

The amateur racer entry fee is $40.00, and riders can sign up at the track. Spectator passes run $15.00 for the full weekend, with pro pit access and pro autographs at no additional charge.

On both Saturday and Sunday, youth riders race at 8:00 a.m., beginner riders race at 10:00 a.m., and the top amateurs and pros race at 1:00 p.m.

Awards ceremonies are held at the close of each of the three classes.

GNCC Racing is televised and airs every week on NBC Sports Network and www.RacerTV.com. For more information, please visit the official series website at www.GNCC Racing.com or call 304-284-0084.

Cross-country racing is one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. The grueling, three-hour GNCC races lead as many as 1,500 riders through tracks ranging in length from ten to 12 miles. With varied terrain, including hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC events are tests of both survival and speed and draws talent from all over the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Technology Also Delivers Racing Viewers

“For the first time in the history of amateur racing, we will be live on NBC for two hours in early August from Loretta Lynn’s ranch, and that is really exciting for us,” said Cotter.

“The newest member to our family is Racer TV. We’re about seven years into Racer TV.  We produce our own television for all of these events.  This Foxburg event will have two half-hour shows produced in addition to six hours of live Internet television.  The live Internet feed is the first time it’s been done in off road racing. This year we’ve invested in quite a bit of infrastructure to make this happen because we’re going to be in a rural area where there’s not a lot of infrastructure, and it’s certainly challenging.”

“GCCC invested in some equipment purchased from Great Britain and was part of what the BBC uses.  Because of this high tech equipment, we’re able to take a ten mile course, go three miles either way out into the woods and transmit live television back to a truck and out to a satellite.  We’ve purchased our own satellite; it’s dedicated.  It’s much like the television stations would have in Pittsburgh.”

“And, it then goes out on the Internet.  We have done four races so far, and I got the analytics back last night.  We have 56,000 unique viewers watching our live television, and they’re from all around the world.  Hopefully, what we will be able to do is introduce our customers…to your area, and (they) will be telling the story (of their trip to the area) to literally millions of people around the world throughout the year.”

Setting Up for the Races

An advance team will visit the area sometime this summer, and trails will be identified.  Cotter says that nothing is constructed on the trails, but the advance people look at the sections of the woods and see what should be fun for the riders.  GNCC’s goal is to offer a fun, safe, and challenging event.

“We’ll come in here a week out and actually set it up,” said Cotter.  “We’ll come in Monday, the week of the race, and we’ll set it up and put arrows on the trees, so you’ll find a 10 mile loop through the woods.”

“We will literally build a city in the middle of Dr. Steffee’s field.  It’ll be made of semi trucks and sponsor rigs and PA systems and flags and fencing and it’s all temporary.  You’ll walk up there and wonder how did they do this.  We do it every week.  It’s second nature to us.  It’ll be like your State Fair.  It will be lined with vendors.  Some of them travel the race series; some of them will be your neighbors.”

“We’ll have a starting line, a race course, a finish line, once the race course is developed, we’ll have an area that we think is good for spectators.”

Keeping track of the racers is also interesting and relies on technology.  Once a minute 40 to 50 racers are started and will have transponders on their bikes so GNCC knows when they start.  There are beacons throughout the course, similar to those employed on toll roads, that record when the transponder pass and transmits that information to computers.

“That way we can score them and tell the winner,” said Conner.  “The rider that starts 15 minutes later is reflected, and the time is corrected when the computer prints out the results at the end of the race.  It all sorts itself out.”

Clean Up and We’ll Be Back

Cotter says the routine is also set for after the race and final awards ceremony.

“After the final awards ceremony, our people start tearing down,” said Cotter.  “We pick up all the trash, we clean out all of the porta johns and have them pulled out, and we go through the woods and reclaim the woods.  We have these two or three small bulldozers that as soon as the last checkered flag is thrown, they come out and work on the course, pushing the dirt back in, and leveling the course to get positive drainage.  When we encounter areas that are sensitive, we do our best to go around sensitive areas.”

“It’s our goal that when we pull out of here in three or four months, you’ll never know we were here other than your back accounts should be a little better off. That’s how we come back next year.  Our racing communities really appreciate us and fight for us to stay there.”

“For most of our venues, we’re probably 10 or 15 years in.  It’s not something where it’s one and done.  I don’t want to come here and put a race on and not come back.  I want to come back and invest in this event and get some reputation and get you folks acclimated to what we do and get our customers acclimated and say, ‘hey, this is a great place.’  I believe the farm that we are racing on here could very well be the best facility we go to.”

One can’t help but think he hopes the old song “Welcome Back Kotter” will be playing in Foxburg next year.


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