Staff

Executive Director

As Executive Director, Paul is responsible for the overall direction of the Gran Prix of Gloucester and is the point of contact between the host cycling club Essex County Velo and USA Cycling, the UCI, the North American Cyclocross Trophy series and the Verge New England Cyclocross Championship Series.

Personal: Paul has been racing cyclocross since 1994 (where his favorite race back then was the Plymouth Cyclocross Stage Race), runs the ECV cyclocross practice, is the President of Essex County Velo (ECV) and has been the race director for Gloucester since its inception in 1999. Paul, when not racing cross or getting fat on Belgian beers, is a User Experience Engineer for a large network server company and lives in Salem, MA with his wife Karin and their son Noah.

VP of Operations

Chris McKernan- chris@gpgloucester.com

As Operations Director, Chris' duties are varied. He is a strategic planner working with Paul on the overall production of the event. Chris can best be described as the fire fighter - working on last minute issues before they become problems. Chris will also use his connections to secure sweet prizes for our non-cash categories as well as for our volunteer raffle.

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VP Operations

Michele Harrison- michele@gpgloucester.com

Michele's main duty is to ensure the Gran Prix of Gloucester doesn't put us all into debt. While financial tracking is her main duty she also takes an active role by making sure the Race Director isn't slacking or letting anything fall through the cracks. Her A-type personality is a huge asset.

Personal: Oft a late bloomer, Michele is a newbie who got hooked on cross after watching the 2005 Grand Prix of Gloucester and started cross racing in 2006 and road racing in 2007. When not trying to get her training time in on the bike, Michele is VP of Corporate Development at a large Mass-based company. Michele lives in Beverly, MA with her husband Dick, daughter Maggie and garbage hound Tucker.

Volunteer Coordinator

Ronnie Smithers- ronnie@gpgloucester.com

For some, tracking volunteers can be a little like herding cats. Ron tackles volunteer coordination with gusto!

Personal: Ron is a relative newcomer to bicycle racing, he is a Cat 4 on the road and cylocross. He made the decision to start racing after watching the 2008 Gran Prix of Gloucester. When he's not training and racing, Ron is the Fitness Director at a Boston college and a personal trainer. He resides in Marblehead with his fiancee Ryan Catherine and dog Smokey.

Production Director

Zach Johnson - zach@gpgloucester.com

As Production Director, Zach's duties focus on making sure that the show aspect of the Gran Prix of Gloucester goes off without a hitch. Vendor coordination, assisting the announcers, prize sorting and running the award ceremonies are among the items in Zach's court.

Personal: Zach is a career Cat. IV road racer and B cyclocrosser. His career highlights include, well, actually nothing. Zach leads ECV's Thursday night SPANK'oM ride out of Bay Road Bikes. When he's not getting lapped in races Zach teaches high school in Lynn, MA and is a Boatswain's Mate third class in the Coast Guard Reserve. He lives in Beverly with his dog Lex.

Registration Director

Ben Johnson - ben@gpgloucester.com

As Registration Director, Ben's laser-like focus ensures that the registration process runs smooth like butter for the riders as well as providing race officials and the results personnel with accurate rider start lists.

Results Coordinator

Jason Knauff- jason@gpgloucester.com

The Results Coordinator is the rock star of the Gloucester staff. No one else gets flown in across the country on our dime for their services. I'm not kidding. Moving to Chicago doesn't get in the way of Jason manning the computers and working his spreadsheet magic. Jason massages our registration data to produce accurate start lists for the race officials and works with Alan Atwood, the head of the Verge NECCS, and John Frey our scorer to provide accurate results.

Personal: Born and raised in Baltimore, MD (another hotbed of 'cross racing), Jason began racing mountain bikes towards the end of high school and soon found his way onto a road bike. After moving to Boston, MA at the end of 2001 Jason switched wholly to racing on the road with ECV while maintaining his "dirty" roots. It was while in Boston Jason witnessed his first true CycloCross event at the 2004 GP of Gloucester and has been helping out with the race ever since. While he has never raced a 'cross race on an actual cross bike, Jason loves this niche of cycling, and did finish 6th in the Illinois State Cross Championships on his mountain bike in snow and 15 degree temperatures. He also plans to try and introduce some New England style cross elements to the MidWest this fall by helping out with www.ChiCrossCup.com. Jason is a 7th degree Excel Ninja, man-baker, admitted sweet tooth, and lives in Chicago with his wife Mrinal and soon to be adopted retired greyhound.

City Liaison

Sherri Curcuru- sherri@gpgloucester.com

Sherri is the City Liaison spreading the word of Gloucester far & wide.

Personal: Sherri is passionate participant dabbling in running, cross and road racing, and lifting. All which give her license to employ her expert cooking skills to get to her real passion….EATING. When not burning calories, Sherri is active volunteer in the Gloucester School system where she lives with her husband Steve, daughter Carly and two loony dogs Shelby and Lucy.

Host Housing Coordinator

Bruce Kapsten- bruce@gpgloucester.com

Riders come from all over the US, Canada and sometimes Europe & Haiti to race at the Gran Prix of Gloucester. Bruce makes sure riders get a goo dplace to call home for a few days!

Personal: After 28 years in the construction industry Bruce began working on a career as an educator, having recently obtained his MA Teaching License. Bruce is an avid rider, participating in charity events such as The Sunflower Revolution, Pedal for Parkinson's, and The Copper Triangle Alpine Classic, all for the benefit of The Davis Phinney Foundation, and The Pan-Mass Challenge. He also races the ECV Time Trial Series and Masters 55+ cyclocross events around New England. Bruce is married for over 20 years to his wife, Nancy, and his son Jesse currently attends Daniel Webster College in their Aviation Flight Operations program and is a licensed private pilot.

Kids Race Director

Joe Anthony - joe@ecvcycling.org