TOUR DE DELTA AWARDED $50,000

The Corporation of Delta hosted the media event at Delta’s City Hall one month (July 12th) prior to the Tour de Delta kicking off the last day of it’s three day event in Tsawwassen.

Attending the event was Delta TV, Delta’s Mayor Lois Jackson, Federal Member of Parliament Kerry-Lynne Findlay, White Spot President Warren Erhart her Worship, Tour de Delta Chair Cal Traversy and George Harvey.

It should be known that the Tour de Delta takes place in all three areas of Delta and are as follows so mark the dates on your calendar and plan on attending.

North Delta is set to get under way July 10th with the main stage set up on 84th in front of the Public Safety Building.

Ladner will see it take to the street in the centre of town on July 12th and Sunday will see the three day event finish on a new course which will feature a figure-eight winding through the neighbourhood.

Tour de Delta Chair Cal Traversy told those attending “We are very grateful for the endorsement that we have received from Cycling BC and Cycling Canada which has played a significant factor in being awarded the Sport Canada Hosting Grant.”

“This grant gives us the opportunity to not only enhance our race with live streaming TV, but also with education courses that will enhance our local and national coaching certification processes.”

The event was to officially announce the awarding of a $50,000 Hosting Grant from Sport Canada to the Tour de Delta, which includes the UCI 1.2 White Spot | Delta Road Race.

The announcement was made by the Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, PC, QC, MP for Delta-Richmond East and Minister of National Revenue, on behalf of the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport).

The grant is an exceptional contribution to the overall growth of the UCI 1.2 White Spot | Delta Road Race, which was won in 2014 by Beverly, Massachusetts product Jesse Anthony (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies).

Winnipeg’s Leah Kirchmann (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) won the White Spot | Delta Road Race on the women’s side for the second straight year.

Cycling Canada President John Tolkamp was not in attendance, but it was explained the impact that funding like this has in inspiring young athletes to get involved in the sport and quite possibly be our next cycling champion.

“We continue to be impressed with the passion the community of Delta shows for developing cycling. We are also pleased that the Government of Canada recognizes this passion and is again providing significant financial support to the Tour de Delta and the sport of cycling,”

This event gets all three areas of Delta involved, but we should mention that they are looking for hosting Families for some of the riders to offset the cost to the individuals taking part.

This is the start for BC Superweek in the Lower Mainland and my only thought would be if we could have an event that takes the riders through the Province of BC, such as the Tour de France, but only on a smaller scale.

Oh yea – the idea of the Tour de Delta was the initial idea of former Provincial MLA, Guy Gentner of North Delta.