Thats' the nub. Chicago doesn't have much cyclocross continuity or tradition. Takes racing for a few years and travelling to a few different states to see how they do it. I've seen some bizarre and unsafe features in Chicross courses that I find hard to believe could be put there by someone experienced.

How to design a good course? Talk to people with experience. Talk to Cat 1 riders who have travelled a lot. Take advice.

For larger fields, how about a separate starting chute? Riders can line up there and get ready while other racers are finishing the previous race. Should save a lot of time. Make the chute as long as possible in order to string things out a bit, and don't send folks into hairpins straight away. There's also no reason that the start should be at the finish line. I've been in many races where they started us on the other side of the course because it was deemed the safest and fairest place to start. Maybe choose the longest straight and use that?