Mud and fun, but not for some
Seven entrants violated pre-race rules, prompting course change
SUE PALMER-KOMAR
has cycled onto the Commonwealth Games podium and into the top 10 at the Olympics, but however she places in Sunday’s Paris to Ancaster Bicycle Race, she just wants “to get covered in mud and cross that finish line with a smile. It’s so much fun.”
Paris to Ancaster (P2A) is the undisputed premier cycling event on the local calendar and an eclectic gathering acclaimed throughout the North American two-wheel community.
Sunday marks the 25th P2A, which will attract a total of 3,000 cyclists riding in three different divisions, all with separate lengths and starting spots, but all ending at the same celebrated finish line in the field behind Ancaster’s Morgan Firestone Arena.
It’s a feel-good event, but recent incidents of riders allegedly trespassing to practise for the race have cast a small shadow over the usually sunny anticipation of P2A weekend.
A notification on the race website (www.parisancaster.com) said that at least seven registrants for Sunday’s race have been disqualified for already having ridden on some of the course’s private land. All had been registered in the elite, or P2A70 Wave
I, division of the race.
As a result, landowners have withdrawn permission to use a 1.2-kilometre stretch of farmland for the race and that portion of the route will now be replaced by a length of paved road.
Organizers will not release the names of the disqualified riders nor the affected landowners.
“From Day 1 of the race, the agreement we’ve had with private landowners has been that we’ll use the land only on race day,” said Paris to Ancaster codirector John Thorpe.
“We’ve been telling everyone for 25 years that the land is only for the day of the race.”
A major drawing card to the country’s premier “gravel grinder” is the fluctuation of its surfaces: the race course runs across rugged farm lanes, dirt trails of former train track beds, gravel roads and pavement — and through mud, most notoriously the chaotic slides at Power Line Road and Mineral Springs Road.
“The beauty of this race is being able to change course surfaces so often,” Thorpe says. “And the more landowners we lose, the more pavement riders will have to ride on.”
Withdrawal of private land use approval has happened before, but organizers always work to repair the relationship with the affected landowner in order to regain access in ensuing years.
P2A officials had been tipped off this year by direct complaints and Facebook posts. The disqualified riders were apparently identified through trainingmapping website posts.
“I’m a bit shocked and sad that somebody would think they’d be entitled to do that,” Palmer-Komar said of the riders. “John and Tim (Farrar, a co-director) have always made it clear when you register that you don’t ride on the private property beforehand.”
The premier 70-kilometre event begins in Paris, originally chosen to echo the legendary Paris-Roubaix race (at one time the Canadian and French races were held on the very same day); the 40-km race begins in St. George and the 20-km race starts at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School.
All previous champions have been invited back and PalmerKomar, a multiple winner, is among several who’ve taken up the gauntlet. She last competed in the P2A two years ago, and has just purchased a new cyclocross bike for Sunday’s race.
Other well-known returnees include two-time defending champion Gunnar Holmgren of Orillia, defending women’s champ Rebecca Fahringer, 2014 winner Anthony Clark and fourtime U.S. cyclocross champion Jeremy Powers. The elite field, as well as many of the recreational riders, have cyclocross bikes, Thorpe said, but there are still a large number of mountain bikes, and an increasing number of “fat bikes,” with their strikingly chubby tires.
Entries for the two longer races closed Monday, with 1,750 registered for the 70-km course and 750 signing up for the 40-km race. About 250 riders have entered the 20-km event, which will be open to registrations again Saturday at Morgan Firestone Arena and Sunday at Bishop Tonnos.
Since 2015, P2A has been in a fundraising partnership with St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, and this year’s goal is to raise $25,000 during the 25th race.
Palmer-Komar says the iconic status of Paris to Ancaster derives from “the fact that there is really no other race like it and it’s got a little bit of everything. It appeals to so many different people the types of bikes that can be used, and for the different types of athletes they are.
“I think most people race it because it’s epic … and it’s so much fun.”