Gentlemen, and ladies, start your bikes
Paris to Ancaster race kicks off cycling season
It’s called the Paris to Ancaster bicycle race, but it could easily be the Route of the Muddy Mixed-bag.
The 60-kilometre race, which takes place Sunday, covers just about every surface you can think of — and that’s the point, according to last year’s winner.
“This race is a pretty gritty, grimy race. It’s got road, it’s got gravel road, it’s got muddy parts,” said Mike Garrigan, 30, of Toronto, an Ontario Cycling coach who also won in 2010.
“It’s really fun because it’s all different types of terrain.”
Different types of people, too: some 2,000 racers are expected to compete in a variety of categories and age groups, from Garrigan and former Olympians Sue Palmer-komar and Leigh Hobson, to 8-yearold Ked ryk Hickman of Erin, Ont., who is riding with his 10-year-old brother Zaden and the rest of his family.
The race, being contested for the 19th time, was modelled after the Paris to Roubaix classic — after the Tour de France, probably the most famous ride in the world that “a lot of people have never heard of,” said co-chair Tim Farrar.
(It should come as no surprise that a competitor in this year’s race is Roger Hammond, a 38-year-old Englishman who finished third in the 260-km Paris-roubaix in 2004.) The French version is known for ventures down typically narrow European cobblestone paths; in Paris, Ont., it’s the conservation trails and private lands. The winner doesn’t get much — $500 — with the rest of the money raised going to local charities. But he or she does get the glory of claiming “a very hard race to win.” “Ours is a little bit different in that there are sections where you literally have to get off your bike,” said Farrar, who has lived in Atlanta for the past decade, and coordinates the race from there. “It’s neither a full-on road race nor a real full-on mountain race, but it’s got elements of both.” Farrar, a road racing cyclist in his youth, started the race in 1994 with friend John Thorpe of Burlington, Ont., as an early-season ride to appease the appetites of racers who couldn’t wait to get on their bikes. Now it’s a season opener of sorts, although depending on the year, it’s not always clear what season it is. There’s been pre-race snow, thunderstorms and blizzards — “We’ve never actually started in the rain, that’s about the one thing we haven’t had,” said Farrar. As for Garrigan, he’s feeling “pretty confident” this year, but of course “everyone feels like they have a chance,” he said.