2014 is the seventh year for the Giro di Burnaby. The 1.3Km race course in the heart of North Burnaby (better known as ‘The Heights’) covers three blocks of Hastings Street and one block of Gilmore, Albert, and MacDonald with a hairpin turn on Hastings at Madison. The race is well sponsored with a number of high-profile local and provincial sponsors, and the community openly supports the race.
This race is included in the BC Superweek race series that occurs all over the Lower Mainland, and includes a prize purse of over $15,000. This is a big draw for the racers entering the Giro di Burnaby.
At the Giro di Burnaby finish, Luke Keogh finishes ahead of teammate Ken Hanson. On the Podium, they’re joined by Hilton Clarke (L). Photo by Chris Relke courtesy of BC Superweek.
2013 has been a year of expansion for Pucked in the Head, with multiple correspondents and guest bloggers posting here for the first time and coverage moving past our hockey-only beginnings to include soccer, football, baseball, and tennis. Well make room on the bench, folks, because we’ve got one more writer — Ross Arbo — bringing us one more athletic endeavour just perfect for the awesome summer weather that has finally deigned to visit Vancouver: competitive cycling.
A Crash Course on Local Cycling by Ross Arbo
July should really be renamed ‘Bike-tober’ because around the world, it really is the best month for cycling. That goes double for competitive cycling. The month named for Julius Caesar sees France host ‘le Grand Tour’ (#TdF), of course, which is a premier event even after Lance Armstrong’s travails. Locally, July brings BC Superweek to the Lower Mainland. You may not have heard the name BC Superweek, but I’m willing to bet most locals have heard of the Gastown Grand Prix, the Giro di Burnaby or the Tour de Whiterock. If you live in the Vancouver area, you or someone you know grew up near one of these events. And there’s no shortage of history — the Gastown event alone has been running since 1975.
The peloton banks 180° from Water Street onto West Cordova during the 2012 Gastown Grand Prix, won by Ken Hansen. Photo courtesy of Greg Descantes, BC Superweek.
The latest incarnation of BC Superweek began in 2002 when the Gastown Grand Prix returned to Vancouver and scheduled itself on the Wednesday between the two weekends occupied by the Tour de Delta and Tour de White Rock. The oldest events are the Gastown Grand Prix (started in 1973) and the Tour de White Rock (1979). The other three races that make up BC Superweek are the Giro di Burnaby, Tour de Delta and the UBC Grand Prix.
Most of the races in BC Superweek are Criteriums (or Crits) where racers complete multiple laps around short courses (less than 2km). What does that mean for spectators? Crits are frantic, fast, and finished in less than an hour.
