Nearly 200 cyclists are expected to descend on Jasper for the town’s second annual Gran Fondo, June 11.
Race organizers are upping the ante this year with a 190 km route that will take riders up Edith Cavell Road and Marmot Road.
“There will be two big climbs relatively early in the race,” explained Trevor Soll, the race organizer for Multisports Canada.
Appropriately called the ForteFondo, this route should not be taken lightly.
According to the website, riders must meet certain qualifications to participate and must make it to the base of the second climb at Edith Cavell Road within 90 minutes. If riders don’t make it within the allotted time they will not be allowed to do the second climb.
To qualify riders must have either completed last year’s 165 km Gran Fondo in under six hours or have completed a different Gran Fondo (130 km or more) and prove they completed that race with an average speed of 27 km/h.
For those that qualify for the race, riders will head out of town down the Icefields Parkway and turn onto Highway 93A before turning right for their first assent up Marmot Road.
From there cyclists will turnaround and return to Highway 93A and continue heading south before turning right onto Edith Cavell Road.
Riders will then turn around at the Mount Edith Cavell Wilderness Hostel before making their way back down the winding road. Once they are at the bottom cyclists will continue south on Highway 93A to the Icefields Parkway. From there cyclists will go south and continue along the parkway to the staff complex at Poboktan Creek where they will turn around before heading home back up the parkway to Jasper and the finish area.
Parks Canada will close Edith Cavell Road for the majority of the day, reopening the road to the public at 4 p.m.
According to Soll, 175 people have signed up for all four races, which includes the 165 km Gran Fondo, the 100 km Medio Fondo, and the 60 km Piccolo Fondo. “Last year we had 136 people that crossed the line, so we’re almost 20 per cent up this year,” said Soll, adding that defending champion and local rider Matt Decore will be back to defend his title–albeit in the 190 km category.
Last year, Decore narrowly beat the runner up by 12 milliseconds with a time of 5:04:44 in the 165 km race.
For more information about the race or to sign up visit www.granfondo-jasper.ca. The three longest races cost $260, while the 65 km race costs $220.
Paul Clarke [email protected]
