Innisfailians have enthusiastically answered the call for more volunteers to help stage the biggest event in the town's history -- a globally watched festival around Canada's largest professional cycling race that will be watched by tens of millions of people around the world.
With just two days before the Sept. 4 Stage 2 part of the tour, local organizers are increasingly confident their public appeal last week for more volunteers will be realized. Last week, Tammy Oliver-McCurdie, operations coordinator for the local organizing committee, said only 31 volunteers had signed up and that at least 75 were needed to ensure the event's success.
On Aug. 28, dozens of citizens showed up at a Public Information and Volunteer Night in the Community Room at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre to hear the finer details of the event, and to offer help.
“It looked like something really exciting to do, meeting all those fantastic riders and watching them go zipping by,” said 71-year-old Marian Moritz, who signed on as a volunteer with 83-year-old friend Donna Edgar. “The town needs help, and I don't mind helping.”
The second annual five-stage tour, which will be broadcast in more than 160 countries across the world, begins with Stage 1 in Lethbridge today (Sept. 2) and ends in Edmonton on Sept. 7.
Innisfail's opening ceremonies for Stage 2 will start at 11:10 a.m. on Main Street between 49th Avenue and 50 Avenue.
George Berry, chairperson of Stage 2 of the tour, made an hour-long presentation at the Aug. 28 library gathering and told his audience that Innisfail has become the “poster child' for the event.
“I was looking for a community that I felt would really embrace the race from an overall community point of view – a community that would grab it and run with it, and Innisfail has,” said Berry, who personally chose Innisfail earlier his year to be a host community. For the past several months his Red Deer office of tour officials and volunteers has been working closely with Innisfail organizers.
Berry, who offered the audience a thorough breakdown of the professional cycling world, said Innisfail is “completely ready” to host the world-class event, noting it has created a full-fledged festival atmosphere that will include pancake breakfasts and barbecues that will go on well after the cyclists have left town.
“That exhibits a community that really likes this,” said Berry, adding he's impressed with the way local businesses, service groups and schools have jumped on board to support the event. “I have always been saying that the Tour of Alberta is a festival that a bike race happens to show up to, and the fact that Innisfail is proving that is truly beyond belief.”
Mayor Brian Spiller said after Berry's presentation he was pleased with the way locals responded to the call for volunteer help, adding the event can only do “good” for the town.
“It is a party, a celebration,” said Spiller. “Not many towns get to host a world-class event in their own municipality and we are going to try to put on a very good show.”
The race for the estimated 120 riders will begin with a shotgun start at 12:10 p.m. next to ATB Financial on 50 Street. Cyclists will complete the downtown neutral zone twice, which is expected to take participants about six minutes, before heading out of town to Highway 54, north to Sylvan Lake, and ultimately finishing in Red Deer. The total distance for Stage 2 is 145 kilometres.
“It is a brand new sport to most Central Albertans. Last year in Red Deer people had no idea what to expect,” said Berry. “When riders came into Ross Street doing 70, 80 kilometres per hour, and finishing up over 90 kilometres per hour coming down that hill, and having 120 riders riding elbow to elbow, it's just an experience they have never seen – the movement and the festival that goes with it.
“Cycling is all about festivals,” he added. “So it's a party and it's starting out in Innisfail as breakfast, and just continuing on.”
