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Tour de White Rock cancelled for third straight summer

BC Superweek organizers announce intentions for series to return in 2023
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For a third straight year, the Tour de White Rock – and BC Superweek cycling series in its entirety – has been cancelled. (Scott Robarts/BC Superweek photo)

The Tour de White Rock has been cancelled again for 2022, and all of BC Superweek – of which the seaside cycling series is a part – has been put on hiatus, organizers announced this week.

“BC Superweek members have made the difficult decision to put the professional cycling series on hiatus until 2023,” a news release issued Tuesday morning states.

The Superweek series includes the two-day Tour de White Rock – typically held each July, with both a criterium race in uptown White Rock and a longer road race that begins and ends along Marine Drive – as well as the Tour de Delta, New West Grand Prix, Gastown Grand Prix, Giro di Burnaby and the Poco Grand Prix.

The Delta event had already been cancelled earlier this month and according to Superweek organizers, this year’s Giro di Burnaby will still be held, but as an independent event hosted by the City of Burnaby, without Superweek involvement.

The Tour de White Rock – and all Superweek events – have been cancelled over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic; the last White Rock event was held in 2019.

And though there are currently fewer pandemic-related restrictions – both travel and otherwise – than there were during the run-up to the event in both 2020 and ‘21, organizers said the logistics of putting together such a large-scale event were still too challenging this year, given the circumstances.

“The events that make up BC Superweek require significant planning and resources, and as communities continue to navigate the impacts of the pandemic, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in regards to event sponsorship and international travel for race participants,” the release reads.

Organizers of the local races, along with BC Superweek officials, will reconvene over the next 10 months “with an eye on bringing world-class professional cycling back to the Lower Mainland in 2023.”

Until COVID hit, the Tour de White Rock – which until 2014 used to include a third event, the gruelling hill climb – had been on the Semiahmoo Peninsula’s sports calendar annually, since the very first event was held on Labour Day weekend in 1980.



sports@peacearchnews.com

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