Kootenay
Rockies Gran Fondo registration deadline coming up soon
Submitted by the Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary
Club
If you want to
ride in the second annual Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo you’d better get your act
together quickly because the registration deadline Aug. 31 is coming up faster
than a downhill spin on the Tour de France.
Registration in the popular event has
already matched last year’s total of 271 and organizers are hoping for at least
350 entrants in this year’s ride, says head Fondo organizer and Cranbrook
Sunrise Rotary Club member Glenn Dobie.
“Last year we had a late registration
rush and we got more than 60 in the final week. Hopefully, it will be the same
this year and we’ll have more than 350 registered in the end.”
Registrations are pouring in from all
over the Kootenays as well as other parts of BC, Alberta, the U.S. and one from
as far away as Oxford, England.
Registration can be completed in less
than five minutes on-line at www.KRGF.ca . Any other
information registrants need can be found at the Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo
site on Facebook.
This year’s major sponsor is Taylor Adams
Chartered Accountants. The money raised will go to the Cranbrook-Kimberley
Rails to Trails Society and Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary Club’s “Paint the Train”
project now nearing completion at the Railway Museum site in Cranbrook. Other
funds will go to Rotary charitable programs in the community and abroad as well
as other local service group projects.
“This shows what a broad-based community
endeavor the Fondo really is,” says Dobie. Last year’s Gran Fondo raised $
21,000 with $4,000 going for maintenance and upgrading of the Rails2Trails
project which has become one of the most popular attractions in the region for
tourists and locals alike.
Interest is surging in this year’s Gran
Fondo with national nutritional brand Clif Bar coming aboard last week as a
nutritional sponsor and supplying all riders with nutrition bars and gels
during the event. Every rider in the event will get a swag bag with a T-shirt,
water bottle, and mini-flashlight. pen and a course map to help them through
the route.
In a major route change this year, all
cyclists will pass through the Kimberley Platzl giving an opportunity for
friends and supporters to take pictures and shout encouragement from the
sidelines while relaxing over a beverage or a meal in one of Kimberley’s coffee
shops or restaurants.
Like last year, the ride will start and
end at the St. Eugene Mission Golf Resort and Casino with a post ride buffet
dinner provided by the resort’s catering staff and live entertainment by, “The
Testers,” a popular local Rock & Roll band.
There will also be prizes awarded for the
Best Team Spirit sponsored by The Heid Out Restaurant and Brew House and a King
and Queen of the Mountain Award (Open & Masters Age Groups) for the fastest
time up the grueling, eight per cent, Fort Steele Hill sponsored by the Pedal
and Tap Restaurant in Kimberley.
Once again there will be three distances
in the event. The Piccolo covers 57 km’s, the Medio 102 km’s and the Gran Fondo
152 km’s. Hill. Cyclists will be fully supported along the
way with water, Gatorade, Clif nutritional products, fresh fruit and first
aid stations as well as mechanical support, ride marshals and signs marking the
way.
Some riders treat the Gran Fondo as a
race, but the majority ride for fun and some exercise.
“You really can’t beat the beauty of our
ride. You cross three rivers and ride through a variety of the terrain that is
just jaw dropping beautiful,” commented Dobie. That’s why you need to register
online by 11:59 p.m. Aug. 31 or you will miss out on one of the region’s
premier recreational events.
No comments:
Post a Comment