Ed Sander memorial cyclo-cross

In 2001, National Capitol Velo Club (NCVC) member Ed Sander perished after falling from his bike during training. In the wake of the tragedy, the NCVC and Sander's employer, Lilypons Water Gardens joined together to honor his memory, his passions and his profession with a cyclo-cross race around the Lilypons property he had managed. Since then the race has grown into a celebration of Sander’s cycling passion that benefits the college scholarship fund set up for his son, Chris.

On Sunday, September 30, a record numbers of racers are expected to renew the memory and compete on the Ed Sander Memorial’s unique cyclo-cross course around the Lily Ponds at the Lilypons Water Garden Center in Buckeystown Maryland. As part of the BikeReg.com MABRAcross series, the Ed Sander Memorial has benefited from the tremendous growth of that series has seen over the past five years. But the race has also contributed to the success of the overall series. "We want this race to be the best cyclo-cross race around," say co-promoters Rob Campbell and Erik Leaver in explaining why they keep increasing their workload to improve the event each year.

This year, the duo and the rest of their NCVC club are reaching out to the non-cycling community like never before. "We're known for having one of the best kid’s races on the circuit," said Leaver recently. "So we are really pushing that as a way of bringing newcomers to watch the races. We have posters all over town and we've sent press releases to all the local papers. We want to see over a hundred children in this year's kid's race."