Flood damage has cost the Bow Valley another sporting event, as the Tour of Alberta has decided to cut Canmore out of the biggest road cycling race in Canada.
Highway 40 is the major issue, as race organizers could not guarantee the route to Black Diamond would be open by the Sept. 4 race day. Several bridges were wiped out in the flood and currently the Highwood Pass section of road is still closed.
“Obviously, Highway 40 has a big issue from the flooding. It’s likely the road will be open, but the main issue is the descent from Highwood Pass. The riders will be going between 90 and 100 kilometres an hour. If it’s not perfect pavement, it puts the riders at risk,” said Shane Munro, technical director for Stage 4 of the race. “We couldn’t guarentee a safe and clean course by race day.”
Alberta Transportation has worked hard to open up large sections of Highway 40 from the Highway 1 turnoff to the winter closure gate, but at this time, still couldn’t predict if the road surface would be consistent.
“The road work is being done, bridges are being built. The guys from Alberta Transportation do a great job. Our concern was we didn’t know what the surface would be like. When you have a monster of a race, you have to eliminate the variables,” Munro said.
The course has been rerouted around Black Diamond, but without the Highway 40 section, the Tour now has no truly mountainous sections.
Alternate routes were proposed, but not accepted.
“With this specific race, there needs to be certain hill or mountain sections. None of the alternate routes in the area fit. We looked if we could go into the Parks, we looked at Cochrane, but in essence, there was no route that could replace it,” Munro said.
The Tour of Alberta is expected to have millions of television viewers from around the globe and has attracted many of the top teams in the world, including top Canadian racer Ryder Hesjedal.
The Calgary and Okotoks stages were also affected by floodwaters, but will still go ahead as planned.
Race officials said they’re likely to come to Canmore next year. Munro and local race organizer James Kendal have been asked to join the provincial organizing committee.
“They are keen to have (The Tour of Alberta) come to Canmore next year. We had to pull out as an organizing committee, but they reached out to see if we wanted to be involved in the whole race,” Munro said.
He insists the hours of work were not in vain, as they provided valuable experience for next year.
“They will give us a stage next year. All of our work not lost. They are keen to have it come to Canmore next year,” Munro said.
Banff, Canmore and Kananaskis have lost several events to the flood. On top of Tour of Alberta, the Kananaskis 100, Rundle’s Revenge, Banff Marathon and Canmore GranFondo have all been cancelled, while the Kananaskiker, Highwood Pass GranFondo have been moved.
