The 2011 EBTC Tour de l’Alberta on Sunday, July 24 was a huge success due to the great welcome from our host community, the Town of Morinville, all our sponsors and volunteers, and of course, the 1057 participants who all came out for a wonderful recreational ride. The theme of this year’s Tour was the Centennial Celebrations of the Town of Morinville. Mayor Bertschi of Morinville represented the Town by starting off our 100 km riders.
The weather was quite favorable considering our late spring and wet summer. Everybody was just happy to be out cycling together!
The Tour owes much of its success to our 26 sponsors. A special shout-out to our major sponsors (Yellow Jersey level): The Town of Morinville, Revolution Cycle, Mountain Equipment Coop, Travel Alberta, and our newest sponsor, Subaru City. Of our eight Green Jersey sponsors, special mention goes to SoLo GI Nutrition Smart Energy Bar for making the trip from Kelowna. New Polka-dot Jersey sponsors this year included Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm and the City of St. Albert.
Our sponsors contributed over 100 great prizes to our participants and volunteers. The Grand Prize bicycle was donated by Revolution Cycle.
The event itself ran smoothly with the help of 200 volunteers. We introduced a Volunteer Orientation evening this year, and we set up a dedicated Volunteer Lounge at the venue site. Our two major partners this year were the North Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club (NCAARC) and l’Association Canadienne-Française de l’Alberta – Régionale de Centralta (l’ACFA).
The 185 km route was completely redesigned this year necessitated by highway construction. We were able to direct our 290 long-distance riders through St. Albert, exposing the participants to the entire French Corridor, the closest we could come to riding in the Tour de France itself! The French connection was completed with Tourtière and Sucre à la crème. Our 570 riders who rode 100 km were given a nice break at a new rest stop this year hosted by the Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm.
Our Kids Mini Tour was 5 km in length, and we had 47 kids sign up this year. It was great to see participants of all ages enjoying the day together!
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