Canada's largest-ever endurance road cycling race is taking over British Columbia next summer and Squamish is one of the tour's biggest stops.
The first Tour of B.C., kicking off next August, will see riders travel more than 5,100 kilometres and climb more than 64,000 feet. The event stretches to Alberta and the Yukon Territory and the vision of the race was created by long-time cycling enthusiast Perry Stone.
He told The Chief he once held the world record for non-stop cycling around Australia and fell in love with the sport. After parting ways with the Race Across America bike race, he decided to start a race to challenge riders in B.C.
"Ultra-endurance cycling changed my life," he said. "It's something that anyone with a little determination can do to some degree. It's like a journey of self-discovery when you do one of these races."
The event offers three different races for participants. The Tour of B.C. sees riders travel the full 5,145 km and spend short stints in Alberta and the Yukon. The B.C Explorer is a 2,800 km challenge with a shorter loop than the Tour of B.C. Lastly is the B.C. Contender, which clocks in at 1,617 km. The trio of races all start in White Rock.
Stone said beginning solo riders are best suited for the Contender, but as a team, anyone could take on any of the three.
"They're all extremely demanding," he said. "We didn't set out to make the longest endurance race around but there is just so much to see in this province that we just kept adding more and more. The reason we have three races is not everyone has the ability or time to race 5,100 kms. I developed the Contender and the Explorer to open up the event to more people because once you get involved in it, it can become addictive."
All three races will go through Squamish via Highway 99 and Stone said he would like to use the Squamish Adventure Centre as some sort of rest stop for riders before they reach the finish line in White Rock.
"It would be great for us as a sort of last station before the finish line as you're about 100 km or so from White Rock," he said.
Stone said he had interest in bringing the start-finish line to Squamish but additional costs saw him forced to move it to White Rock. He said if plans change Squamish might be the start and finish line for the event one year.
"One reason to move it to Squamish is that White Rock doesn't have the infrastructure in place," he said, noting the high number of hotels in the Sea to Sky Corridor. "One racer will sometimes have seven or more people on their support team."
He said it should be a unique event and hopes to see it grow.
"There's nothing similar to this in Canada," he said. "I'm hoping for a total of 300 riders in all three races and by the next year I could see that tripling or doubling just from riders talking."
Stone also decided to partner with the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) after his father, mother and brother all recently died from cancer. Throughout the Tour of B.C., fundraising events will occur in communities the race passes through. The CCS will receive a donation through all money collected when the event is finished.
The event is open to registrations and organizers are also looking for volunteers. For more information on the race, visit www.tourdebc.com.
