The Donderdag! Youth Cyclo-Cross Clinics were founded in 2010. While helping out with his son’s local junior team, D. Jonas Jr (known as “Jonas”) began building a course in his suburban yard to help Jandle Johnson coach the kids in Cyclocross skills. Here’s a quick history and status of the program for 2022 from the director:
“From the very beginning the Donderdag! Clinics were inclusive. Thursday evenings (Donderdag means Thursday in Dutch), the kids began showing up on every kind of bike, including strider bikes, and with every kind of skill level.
Everyone was invited to sign in, put on a helmet, and get out in the grass to play. Kids were encouraged that no matter how much time was committed to Cyclo-Cross as a discipline, bicycling is a lifetime sport.
During the first six years of clinics at the Jonas house, several key factors were put in place. The clinics have always been free of charge, with no experience necessary. Clinics are conducted every Thursday night from late August to December, and participants ride in every type of weather, except lightning. A curriculum was written, “The Donderdag! Skill Sets”, and printed in a handbook given to each rider who signs up. CX skills from beginner running and carrying the bike, maintenance, race day preparation, and bunny hopping barriers are included. The Donderdag! Mission Statement is in the Skill Set book, affirming the program’s commitment to personal growth and enrichment. Local CX racers, cycling clubs , bike shop owners, and USAC officials volunteer to teach the Skill Sets. Kids look up to these volunteers, and if the truth be known, a lot of the volunteers look up to the effort and courage the kids demonstrate. The clinic evenings always finish with fresh popcorn, and on occasion, potluck meals. Kids are easier to get into the car and taken home when they are fed.
At the beginning of the 7th season of the clinics, the Donderdag! Program teamed up with The City of Shawnee, Kansas Parks and Recreation department. The director, Neil Holman, an avid supporter of all things bicycling, offered a plot of land on the Kansas River for the program to operate. It was covered in rough brush, flat as a pancake and infested by the worst swarm of river mosquitoes ever seen. Every Thursday night upon arrival at the property, we would have to stand the porta-pot back up, and clean up after the vandalism that took place during the week. But the clinics went on, and families continued to show up. The sheer misery and frustration of the location was apparent, and the next season The City of Shawnee offered a new location for the program to operate.
Just off Woodland Drive (and with access to the Streamways trails) The City of Shawnee began improvements on a 17 acre plot of floodplain that has become the current home to the program. I have always been a fan of the rich history of CX, and admire riders who take on sand landscapes without complaint. So the first feature improvement to the park was a 10m x 80m x 1m deep sand pit. This sand pit has proven to test the vigor of local junior riders as well as advanced racers. The surplus soil removed to create the pit was used to build a berm, and a volunteer group installed a “boulder run up”
Since the move to the property (known as Donderdag! Park), more berms have been built and a volunteer mowing crew, lead by local racer Patrick Orrick, have been working hard to create courses, improve the berm shapes, and add more challenging features. The program has been working for 3 years to have a tunnel/flyover landscaped into the park. It’s a tall order, and isn’t done yet, but dreams come true and this one will be amazing when finished.
In 2021 the Donderdag! Program teamed up with The Steve Tilford Foundation. Youth racers who have advanced beyond basic skills are now coached by Eric Struckhoff and other volunteers from the foundation. These volunteers coach the older, more advanced junior racers, separately from the beginners. Most evenings are concluded with a “roundtable” of the advanced racers in conversation with the volunteers. Decades of experience are passed on, quietly and with heart. And if that’s not enough, the beginner riders watching this, finding themselves inspired to move up, go faster and become better racers.
The effect of the Donderdag! Program on local CX racing is undeniable. The youth starting lines are deeper than ever, and spectators loves the junior races. Full of excitement, drama and accomplishment, everyone loves seeing the kids succeed.
Annually, about 100 different kids sign up for the program. Around 15-17 clinics are conducted, with an average attendance of 35 kids per night. Donderdag! racing kits are available for purchase, and Donderdag! T-shirts are free to every kid who signs in for 3 or more clinics.
As vigorous as the sport is, the primary energy at the Donderdag! Clinics is joy. Coaches and volunteers are expected to lift kids up, encourage them. and lead by positive example. Kids are accepted for who they are. Parents find themselves surrounded by a community of other parents who have grown to understand the value of letting kids get dirty, bruised and worn. At the Donderdag! Program love is the primary force. Kids are coached with caring hearts and the awesome sport of Cyclo-Cross delivers courage and strength; lifetime skills indeed!
As of the writing of this article, the Donderdag! 501C3 board members are in negotiations with The City of Shawnee to cement into place a long range agreement to continue the program at the park.” -Jonas
You can learn more and follow the Donderdag! Youth Cyclocross Clinics at donderdag.bike, or on facebook at Donderdag! Youth Cyclocross Clinics.