2024 Race Series Schedule & Information
League Refund and Weather Policy Guidelines
Races #1 & 2 | August 31st & September 1st | Crosscut Classic and Crosscut Short Course Double Header
Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, Bozeman (2 scoring races in one weekend!)
Flyer | Call-Ups | Results
Race #3 | September 14th | Herron Hustle
Herron Park, Kalispell
Flyer | Call-Ups | Results
Race #4 | September 28th | Copper Kings Clash
Big Butte Open Space, Butte
Flyer | Call-Ups | Results
Race #5 | October 5th & 6th | Lolo Final Landing
Rossignol Ranch, Lolo (with makeup race scheduled for Sunday in case a race is cancelled)
Flyer | Call-Ups | Results
About Our Races
One of the great things about a NICA League, which separates us from other youth cycling development programs, is we produce our own youth-specific events. This means we pick out race venues and work directly with landowners and managers to produce the highest quality youth development race courses and events. Our student-athletes get a stage of their own, away from adult competitions, and we strive for safety and fun above all other factors.
We have already begun the process of reviewing prospective Fall 2019 venues around our state to insure that our events will meet NICA standards, for the sake of our participants’ experiences as well as our own risk management. If you have a suggestion for a venue we would love to hear it, please send your ideas to us.
A great event venue is nothing without a great team putting the event on, and we are a 100% volunteer run organization. We are actively seeking volunteers for all aspects of event production, from helping us form great partnerships with land managers, set our courses, lay out pit zone, mark the routes, and assist in various other “day of” roles such as registration, course marshals, parking, and more. Whether you’re interested in a 2-hour shift so you can see your child race, or a spot on an event committee, Montana Interscholastic Cycling League would be delighted to have your involvement! Please send an email to sam@montanamtb.org to inquire about volunteer opportunities.
A Note About Our Fall Race Season
We’ve had some questions about why we’ve chosen to do a fall race season, so here’s a little bit on our logic:
- The Montana League facilitate youth development through the sport of mountain biking, with about 90% of our student-athletes being new to racing and 75% of them riding trails for the first time upon joining our program. We really do want to get more kids on bikes – not create a development program for high-end athletes (although we do see a lot of talent throughout NICA participation). There are juniors already racing in other programs during the fall, and that’s great! They’re already in the cycling community, and chances are really dang good that their family is, too! And while we invite them to join us, we know there are thousands of others who don’t know what this is about. We’re ready to share what we’re doing with both new and experienced riders.
- The weather we get from September through early November is best for our racers. If we were a spring league, we’d be up against the chances of our venues being under snow, boggy from rain, and cold. These are not the conditions we want to expose our new riders and their families to.
- A fall race season means student-athletes can start training in July. A spring race season means riders start practicing in December. In order to create a positive experience into the sport, getting new riders out on trails with warm days, some wildflowers, and birds chirping makes way more sense than getting them out in the dead of winter with the cold, rain, ice, and snow. We’re not saying that all that doesn’t create character, but we have other ideas of how to do that that include way less groveling.