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400 riders Complete Inaugural Gran Fondo Canmore

Brilliant skies and beautiful mountain views outshined a few first time for 450 riders, mostly from Calgary and beyond, who took part in the inaugural Canmore GranFondo on Saturday (July 5).

Riders chose from three distances – 60, 88 and 136 kilometres – with the race beginning in Canmore and travelling down Highway 1A through Exshaw before joining Highway 40 into Kananaskis Country.

Riders paid between $132 and $162 per person for the privilege of riding the course, and were greeted with perfect cycling weather for the event, which was cancelled last year because of the June flood.

The GranFondo is modelled after Italian bike rides in which hundreds of cyclists come together for a celebration on the streets and roads of Europe. The events have no winners and are designed for recreational riders instead of racers.

Another Highwood Pass GranFondo is scheduled for this Saturday (July 12), while the Banff GranFondo is scheduled for Aug. 23. The Canmore ride was the brainchild of Peter and Sasha Hockenhull of Banff, who thought Canmore was the perfect location for such a ride.

The ride did have its share of first time flaws. Poor signage meant many who signed up for the 60-km ride missed a turnaround and ended up on the 88-km course. The second turnaround checkpoint in turn ran out of water for 20 minutes, as the glut of riders flooded the site.

“That was probably the hardest day of work I’ve done in my life,” said co-organizer Sasha Hockenhull. “The finish line was a great place to be. We had calls of issues on course and we know we can do a better job on signing. A lot of riders missed the rest stops and we were scrambling to catch up for a few mistakes.”

Much of the feedback he received was positive, Hockenhull said, as the event ended with a concert at Creekside Hall. He’d like to see it take place again, but doesn’t believe it will be larger than 500 participants, which is Alberta Parks’ cap on the event.

“There were tons of people who were really stoked. It made me excited to do it again.”

The Gran Fondo Canmore was cancelled last year after extensive floods damaged the roads. Everyone has spent a lot of time rebuilding their communities this past year, so it was a extra consolation for those riding and visiting the area - to complete the ride.

400 riders Complete Inaugural Gran Fondo Canmore