This guide will walk you through how to organize a crit for the WCA series. It is a living document, so if you have feedback, please email eric.k.staats@gmail.com!
I have a sample crit race planning workbook that you can find here.
Step 1: Find a venue
Crits are held on closed roads with a lap length of between between 800 m and 5 km. The minimum width throughout the course should be 7m.
The easiest venues to host at are ones with only one stakeholder for the roads, such as schools and parks or other entities with private roads. This makes it easy to get permission to close the roads and you only have one point of contact.
Industrial parks are another good choice, because usually they are low traffic on weekends and there is a management company you can work with. With industrial parks, you will need to talk to all the tenants and get permission to use specific lots for parking, porta pottie setup, etc.
Neighborhood and town streets are harder to get permission for, since there are many people who all have to agree to have their roads closed for a day, and there are lots of driveways you need to block off. However, if you are able to get a permit to do a race on neighborhood streets, those are often the most fun types of courses!
Other things to consider with course selection are:
- Elevation gain: hills can be interesting features on a course that allow for fun race dynamics
- Corners: interesting courses often have multiple corners that allow for the more technically skilled riders to gain an advantage. However, you don’t want to make it so twisty that it’s dangerous.
- Pavement quality: race speeds can exceed 30mph, and so you don’t want there to be big potholes or other pavement issues.
If you’re just getting started hosting a race, I recommend pulling up Strava heatmaps or something similar, and looking around your area for loops that have some bicycle traffic, starting with schools and parks.
Step 2: Pick a date
Once you’ve found a good venue, the next step is to find a date for your race. The WCA season typically goes from late April to mid-July. Reach out to the WCA road committee to see what races are already on the calendar, and when a good date might be. If your venue has restrictions (e.g. a school that will still be in session until June), mention those as well so we can find a date that works for everyone.
Once you have a date, reach out to the venue to confirm that the date will work for them.
Step 3: Plan the logistics
With a crit being on closed roads, you need to have a plan for these items:
- Schedule
- Use the WCA Schedule and category breakdown. This makes it possible to score a consistent series across multiple races.
- Road closures
- How will you stop traffic from entering the course? You can usually either do a barricade with a volunteer, or busy intersections may require a police officer. Print out a map, and come up with a plan for each intersection. Different municipalities have different rules for when police officers are required.
- Parking and bathrooms
- Most people are going to be driving to your race. Do you have adequate parking for ~150 cars?
- Do you have access to an indoor bathroom? Will you need to rent porta potties?
- Traffic on course
- Most local crits will allow traffic to enter the course as long as it proceeds in the same direction as the race and waits to enter until the current peloton goes by. This is important, as many courses will have parking and registration somewhere along the loop, and people need to get there somehow.
- If you can completely close the roads, all the better, but that’s fairly difficult to do logistically.
- Registration/finish line
- Registration: you’ll want a space where you can set up a few tables and manage registration and number pickup. Ideally, you want a space that’s inside, has wifi, has electricity, and has bathrooms (another reason schools are so convenient).
- Finish line: you want to pick a finish line that makes for a good race. You need at least 100m of straight road before the line, and having it come after a course feature like a hill or technical corner is a good way to make the race exciting. You’ll also need space for the officials’ trailer to park and set up the finish line camera.
- Emergency services
- Race incidents can result in riders that need prompt medical attention. Either have a plan to have EMS on site, or if your venue is close to a fire department/hospital, you can phone them ahead of time and let them know the race is happening so that they can be prepared to respond if needed.
Step 4: Plan your budget
Crit races are rarely major money makers for the hosting club, and usually your target should be to break even or make a few hundred dollars.
Your major expenses are going to be:
- USAC Permit and insurance fees
- Venue fees
- WCA Officials wages
- Police wages
- Podium prizes and primes
Your major revenue source will be racer registration fees. Try to keep the reg fee in the $35-$40 range. Cycling is already an expensive enough hobby, and the goal of the WCA series is to provide somewhat affordable crit racing for the local population. If you can get any local sponsors to chip in to put on the race, that’s even better!
Podium prizes and primes are bit of a controversial point. Many people don’t care about cash payouts at all, but those at the top of their field generally do. As a rule of thumb, you should usually try to make third place on the podium get their reg fee back. As for primes, they can be fun ways to animate the race and incentivize the field, but they cost money, so it’s up to you how many you plan to do. If you need to cut budget to make the event work, the prize money is usually the first thing to go.
See the budget page of the sample workbook linked above to see this planning in action.
Step 5a: Complete the USAC permit process
The Race Director will a Race Director License from USAC. Every USAC club gets one free race director license they can allocate as they see fit. Email USAC Support to get that license.
Use the USAC website to complete and submit your permit request: https://usacycling.org/host-an-event
Step 5b: Complete the local municipality permit process
Most towns and cities will have some kind of permitting processing for shutting down roads for an event. Find the appropriate forms, and submit them to the relevant municipal body.
This step usually involves going to a city/town council meeting and presenting your event. You should be prepared to answer questions about safety, traffic impact, participation numbers, police officer presence, etc.
Step 6: Setup BikeReg and promote your event
Once your race permits are approved by the venue and USAC, it’s time to promote your event! Set up a Race Director account on BikeReg and fill out your event there.
Crit racers tend to wait until the last minute to register for races. We recommend adding a $0 “I intend to register day-of” category so you can a good sense of your attendance numbers well before your event.
Make a flyer for your event, post it on Facebook/Instagram/other social media, send it to the WCA, and reach out to bike shops to let them know about the race!