New Zealand National CX Championships/Aotearoa Crossfest 2023: Course Preview
This weekend Kart Sport Canterbury will host the year’s biggest weekend of racing in the Land of the Long White Cloud - Aotearoa Crossfest and New Zealand National Cyclocross Championships. The organising team from local club SouthernCross CX are pumped to welcome racers from all over the country to the suburbs of Christchurch, with some locals even offering to billet out of town racers to help them cut down on costs.
This weekend will mark the fourth running of the Aotearoa Crossfest (ACXF), and the first time it’s been held in the same location two years in a row.
Although the UCI-sanctioned National Cyclocross Championships on Saturday will be the main draw of the weekend, there’s a reason for referring to the whole weekend as Aotearoa Crossfest, as Hüttcross president Kim Hurst explained to us in an interview in 2021.
“[ACXF was] a little thing that I dreamt up in 2017 while I was racing in the [United] States. To call it just CX Nationals was probably going to be a mistake...having a festival weekend of cyclocross including some full-noise Elite racing was a way better way to go. That way the racing snakes can race fast, and everyone else can race hard - just at different paces.”
Riders tackle the barriers at KartSport Canterbury during the South Island CX Schools Championships in July.
Photo: Southern Cross CX
The Weather
The current forecast is for cool and sunny conditions on the ACXF weekend in Christchurch, with temperatures reaching a top of around 10ºC.
The track was quite dry and dusty for the big race last year, and early indications are that conditions are likely to be similar in 2023 - mud tyres are probably best left at home!
Although the course is mostly flat, you can still get some air at KartSport Canterbury!
Photo: Blissfield Photography
The Course
To get the inside line on what the course for this weekend will look like, we turned to SouthernCross CX race director (and CXDU Between The Tape star) Rob Moore for his local knowledge.
‘In my opinion the Kartsport facility allows us to provide a course with the best mix of terrain - asphalt, gravel and grass. The course is approximately 1200m grass, 700m asphalt and 600m gravel. It is flat by most metrics, but I assure you it’s not flat when you ride it! The grass is consistently bumpy and undulating, with false flats and pinch climbs constantly testing your legs and arms as you try to maintain a steady tempo.'
‘The grass is in much better condition than last year due to having two events already run here this year - a regular SouthernCross CX club round as well as the NZ South Island Schools CX Champs. A hard and fast line has developed, as well as a few ruts, which should improve the overall speed of the course.’
‘We have a few man made obstacles to keep riders on their toes - literally! A set of hurdles and a 5 stair set will challenge all but the bravest riders - the majority of participants will dismount and run over or up with a few bunnyhopping the hurdles. We’ve also had a couple of brave riders testing their rims and tyres by riding up the stairs…’
There is also a couple of new features which we will keep secret until each weekend…so keep you eyes peeled for what they turn out to be!
Check out our Between The Tape episodes from last year for a better look at the course - as well as showing the stairs and barriers, it gives you an idea of just how treacherous some of those gravel corners are!
The Racing Schedule
A quick look at the schedule for the ACXF weekend shows no shortage of racing options on offer. Saturday will be for National Championships, meaning medals for age group riders in the morning and - for the Junior, U23 and Elite Men and Women - national championship jerseys in the afternoon. We’ll cover the Silver Fern jersey contenders in a separate article later this week - with over 120 riders signed up to race for jerseys on Saturday (and even more on Sunday!) there’s sure to be plenty of competition!
Photo: Cycling New Zealand
Photo: Cycling New Zealand