MAC and MABRA 'cross this weekend

MAC and MABRA will host a joint weekend of racing in Maryland to start proceedings in November. The MAC Powered by SRAM kicks it off this Saturday, November 1 with the Wayne Scott Xross in Fair Hill. On Sunday, the BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series continues with the Kelly Benefit Strategies Cyclo-cross at Rockburn, held at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge Maryland.

Saturday's event at Fair Hill features the 'heckle hut', an indoor portion of the track with barriers, a live DJ, southern-style barbecue and beverages where those not racing may comfortably heckle those who are. Sunday's race is co-promoted by the Howard County Parks and Recreation Department, the first governmental agency in the US to be actively involved in the production of a cyclo-cross race.

Wes Schempf sits atop the leaderboards of both the MAC Powered by SRAM and BikeReg.com MABRAcross season point standings. Schempf's C3-Sollay.com teammate Laura Van Gilder leads the MAC standings after winning 3 of the first four races.

The MAC Powered by SRAM continues to be a leading proponent of gender equality in cyclo-cross. Saturday's Wayne Scott Xross will pay the men's and women's winners equally. Meanwhile, the Whitmore's Landscaping Super Cross Cup scheduled for November 22 and 23 has become the latest UCI event to announce that it is paying women according to the 'Gould Formula' proposed last year by Georgia Gould.

The two-day event in The Hamptons of Long Island New York will pay the top five women each day according to the UCI minimum men's prize list. As both races have a UCI C1 category, the increase in the purse is substantial and makes Whitmore's one of the richest women's cyclo-cross weekends in the world.