More than 600 mountain bikers from around the world will descend on Crofton on July 2-4 as the BC Bike Race returns to the community.
The BC Bike Race is regarded as the ‘Ultimate Singletrack Experience’ and continues to draw both recreational and world-class athletes from all corners of the globe to experience the thrill of competition set up on some amazing courses on Vancouver Island.
This year, the race will begin in Victoria on July 1 and the riders are expected to arrive in Crofton on July 2, and then leave at about 10 a.m. on July 4 for the next destinations on the race's itinerary, which include Nanaimo, Campbell River and Cumberland.
Like last year, organizers intend to set up facilities on the Crofton Sportsfield Park and Community Centre grounds.
North Cowichan council voted to allow the BC Bike Race to use the municipal properties while they are in Crofton at the council meeting on June 19, but not before staff gave assurances that some issues that residents complained about last year were dealt with, including some noise issues.
Neil Pukesh, North Cowichan’s director of parks and recreation, said the main complaints during the first night that the racers were in Crofton last year were due to noise from generators that went on well into the evening.
“We turned [the generators] back to 10 p.m. after that first night last year, and we’ve reduced that to 9 p.m. this year so that the noise doesn’t infiltrate into the local neighbourhood,” Pukesh said.
Pukesh said water service was also raised as an issue last year, so North Cowichan is improving the water-service delivery through its pump-service station above the area for this year’s event.
“That’s going to help out the bike race officials as well,” he said. “We feel we’ve addressed the concerns that were raised. We feel it’s going to be a very smooth operation this year and we think the BC Bike Race has taken our recommendations into effect quite well.”
Coun. Bruce Findlay, who lives in Crofton, said residents had talked to him about their concerns around the event, particularly the noise from the generators on the first night last year.
“I think cutting [the use of generators] back to 9 p.m. is fantastic,” he said.Coun.
Coun. Chris Istace said Sports Tourism Canada did a full economic analysis of the BC Bike Race last year, and found that approximately $3.4 million was added to the economies of Crofton and Cumberland as a result of the event.
“So it’s definitely a good thing, but aside from that, is what it does for the community,” he said.