Think tens of thousands of spectators. What facilities would you need? Well, first you need five locations where they can get beer inside out of the cold in heated areas where the race can also be viewed. You also will have: fifteen spectator course crossings that are manned with at least two crossing guards; a number of porta-potties in several locations along with toilets open in the buildings near the course (these of course you need to pay the attendant fifty cents (that’s Euro cents); a very extensive first aid team with heated offices in a building with windows overlooking the course; and several frites and hamburger/hotdog stands. What put this over the edge wasn’t the five beer places, but the Haribo candy trucks and the Belgian waffle truck!

I was told the official estimate was fifteen thousand spectators. I could believe there were more than twenty five thousand from my walk around during the Elite mens race. The organization had printed twelve thousand five hundred tickets. The kiosks were sold out of tickets by 12:45pm. The Elite race started at 3pm.

The crowds during the Juniors event were already in the few thousands, looking like the size of crowds that the US top events would host during their Elite races. By the time the Elite Mens race arrived, the beach boardwalk area looked and sounded like the starting area for a Tour de France stage. I can only imagine the emotional uplift this roar gives to the competitors.

Remember the beer tent description at Diegem? Hofstade had two such tents and they made Diegem look pale. Each could house two hundred some odd people. Inside were two kiosks to buy tickets for beer. Techno music would be blaring out of speakers on one end and there were three stations with pairs of televisions where you could watch the race. One of these tents had many opening from which you could watch the race in the comfort and heat of the tent.

What seemed missing was cycling specific merchandising. Only the Bio-Racer/Fidea Cycling Team mobile home was selling cycling related souvenirs. No event merchandise stand could be found. I suppose the Belgian fans are fans of the individual riders and not so much of the events themselves.

Crowd control in this environment is particularly important. The fifteen course crossings were staffed with two to three off-white jacketed course marshals using red rope to hold back the crowds. At the crossings going to the pit from the long walkway through the food vendors, it was as crowded and congested as the sidewalks around Rockerfeller Center and Fifth Avenue during Christmas. It took three openings and closing of the course crossing gate for me to get through each gate. Needless to say, at a race this size it is not possible for a commissaire to see multiple parts of the race course during the Elite events.

At US cross races, the spectators routinely jump the tape and cross the course. Of the tens of thousands of spectators at this race, I never saw this happen once. And the access to the start finish area is strictly controlled as well.

The sound system was also the quality and quantity I have seen at European pro road races, especially in those races circuits. All the way around the course were loud speakers so that spectators everywhere would know what is going on. Inside the Praxis truck, an announcing team sat in front of a television to give the blow by blow action of the lead riders.

Miroslav Janout had told me that a TV motor would be following parallel to the riders on the beach in a separate lane. I didn’t see this motor at this race, however I did see the same concept on a televised race later in the week.

Toilets --- think toilets for tens of thousands of people and not just for the riders at the line. At multiple locations through out the course there were the ubiquitous teal colored portable toilets. In addition, there were toilets in the beach boardwalk buildings. And then there were the "male" outdoorsy type toilets that I saw in the back lots of the Tour de France, where basically it’s like a plastic tree that has slight modesty shields.