AusCycling Cyclocross National Series 2025 Preview: Rounds 3 & 4
This weekend the nation’s best CX racers will head to the Sydney suburb of Maroubra for the third and fourth rounds of the AusCycling Cyclo-cross National Series (CXNS).
The beachside suburb, made famous by the 2007 documentary film Bra Boys: Blood Is Thicker Than Water, is also home to Heffron Park, which will play host to the weekend’s racing on its grass and sands.
The course
The course is laid out across Heffron Park, and will be fast, grassy and relatively flat. Unsurprisingly for a course so close to Sydney’s famous beaches, sand sections will feature heavily, with multiple sections on course likely to test riders’ ability to pick their lines and negotiate sandy ruts.
The course has hosted rounds of the New South Wales & ACT State CX series in 2022 and 2023, as well as two rounds of the CXNS in 2024.
It uses a mix of grassy corners, sandy sections through the brush and flat sections of the Heffron park criterium circuit, which hosts road racing throughout the year.
To get an idea of what the course has in store once the race tape is in place, check out our race cam footage from last year’s rounds of the CXNS. Although there are a few places where the 2025 course will differ from the 2024 version, overall the two courses are far more alike than they are different.
The race organisers have promised a course which will feel quite different between Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday’s ‘Fast n Flowy’ course promising to be fast and flowy with cambered turns and high speeds that should suit those with a road cycling background. By contrast, Sunday’s ‘Tuff n Techy’ course introduces a few more awkward corners and steep pinches that will play more to the advantage of mountain bikers.
The Weather
New South Wales has had a wetter winter so far than some of the states further to the south, with heavy rains even forcing the postponement of the opening round of the NSW & ACT State CX Series.
The good news is that there will be no such concerns this weekend, with conditions set to be mild and sunny. Given the usual dry conditions that are found at Heffron Park, a tyre with a file tread or a low-intermediate profile will likely be the best choice.
