(Photos) Mud Aside, Iowa City Jingle Cross a Big Success

Hundreds of bicyclists of all ages participated in this year's 2011 UCI Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock, for the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic's Children's Hospital.

It was held the weekend of Nov. 25, at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

Did you attend? Did you get covered in mud? Tell us in comments.

Here is an excerpt of a letter sent to members of Bicyclists of Iowa City thanking them for volunteering to help put on the event:

Since we started this event as a small grass roots local race with 40-50 participants in 2004, it has grown to an unprecedented size with nearly 1600 registrants in this year, the 8th year of the Jingle Cross. We have risen from a single day amateur race to a 3 day UCI epic show of international talent. Riders from all over the world competed in this year's event giving it a true international presence. A world class press conference was held at the completion of the event with dozens of photographers and video broadcast. We were also broadcast on the internet. These elite athletes have stated in their blogs and in live interviews that the 2011 Jingle Cross was the best event they have ever been to and all are excited to return in 2012. But that's only the half of it.

It is my great pleasure to announce that The UCI President of the Commisaire's classified the 2011 UCI Jingle Cross Rock venue, course design, atmosphere, registration, professionalism, and organization as the "best I have ever seen in North America". More over, our C2 events were classified as appropriate for C1 status and our C1 was classified as worthy of a World Cup.

This is the highest praise we could have ever dreamed of and is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and ingenuity that all of you have for our event. From Dan's Whoville Whirl, to the perfectly sized start grid made by Bruce, to Todd's challenging descents off Mt. Krumpit, to the Grinch's Lair, The kid's race, and the Speedo Spectacular, and the introduction of Yule Logs, our unique Holiday design has distinguished us from every other cross race in the world. This is exactly what the UCI is looking for and we did it to perfection.