2013 Senior Games
June 2 - 8, 2013
Thanks to all who participated in the 2013 Games. We are looking forward to seeing you next year. The results of 2013 will be posted as soon as possible.
Cycling Cancelation
Dear fellow bicycle racer,
I'm sorry to announce at such short notice, the cancellation of this coming Saturday's ESSG cycling events. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to arrange courses for the events that would minimize risk of injury to competitors.
The detailed explanation
On Tuesday, June 5th, I learned that Greek Peak Ski Area will be hosting a Motocross event at Greek Peak this coming Saturday. The new manager of the facility had arranged for us to use the new Adventure Center facility to stage our event. However, some 300 motor cycling competitors and several hundred spectators are anticipated at the motocross event. This meant that the road between Virgil and Greek Peak (Rt 392), which we use for the time trials and part of the road race, would have a heavy traffic load of vehicles coming and leaving the motocross event, making it unsafe for us to use this road for any of the events.
So, that night, I examined alternative course routes for both the Time Trial events and the Road Race. We also examined the possibility of staging the events from either Hollenbeck's Cider Mill or the Virgil Volunteer Fire Brigade building. I identified potentially suitable routes for all the events.
On Wednesday, June 6th, I drove to Virgil to examine the new potential routes and confirm their suitability. Unfortunately, the local Highway Department was applying oil and stone along Curtis Rd (part of the triangle that makes up the Road Race course) as I drove along it. I then examined the potential Time-Trial courses. While the potential 5K TT course was perfect, the 10K TT course also had a substantial portion that had been oil-and-stoned in the last week, making it unsafe for racing.
Thus, 2 of the 3 courses that we had identified as potential substitutes were rendered unusable. With insufficient time to relocate the event to a completely new location, Glenn Swan, Machell Phelps and I made the difficult decision to cancel the cycling events this year. I apologize for this, and realize that many of you had trained and hoped to compete at these Games. However, we felt that the safety of competitors was paramount, and we could not compromise this.
We are looking at remedying the situation for next year. We will be in discussions with Greek Peak management to ensure that no other events are booked on the same weekend. We cannot guarantee that the Highway Department will refrain from resurfacing roads, but the probability is relatively low. If we are unable to ensure a safe event at the current location, we will work to identify a new site for the race that satisfies our needs and challenges our competitors. We hope to see you all next year!
Sincerely,
Mark Rishniw
Cycling Event Coordinator.
