Press Release
Road course to glory
Anniston Star - by Joe Medley
April 13, 2010
The week of the Anniston area's annual cycling bonanza has arrived, and the race schedule has grown from a bicycle to a tricycle.
Along with Saturday's Sunny King Criterium in downtown Anniston and Sunday's Cheaha Challenge in Piedmont, organizers have added a road race.
Sunday's Foot Hills Classic will start at the Piedmont Civic Center, same as the 102-mile Cheaha Challenge, and the two will run concurrently on separate courses.
The Foothills Classic pro course will cover 65.45 miles, and the amateur course is a 50-mile loop.
The pro course will run east from Piedmont, turn south at Borden Springs, run west from Oak Level through Rabbittown to White Plains, take a loop back and rejoin the same course back to Piedmont.
The amateur course turns north at White Plains and follows Highway 9 back to Piedmont.
Foothills Classic racers won't return to the Piedmont Civic Center, which is the start/finish line for the more leisurely Cheaha Challenge.
To avoid congestion, they will finish on Nances Creek Industrial Boulevard, near the industrial park off of Vigo Road.
Organizers said they expect a lower turnout for the Cheaha Challenge, which will likely lose riders to the Foothills Classic, but a larger number of riders to stick around for both days of racing.
The idea behind adding the road race was to make the full weekend attractive to pro riders and competitive amateurs who might otherwise move on to more competitive events elsewhere on Sunday.
"To have two days of racing helps to keep them around," said Mike Poe, principal organizer for the annual cycling events. "They really like road races. Criteriums are pretty common, but road races are not as common.
"Also, it really helps the teams who prefer to get two days of racing in, as opposed to just coming and leaving."
The new road race will add intrigue to the usual attractions for what has become one of Alabama's top 10 tourism events.
The Sunny King Criterium will once again anchor the Noble Street Festival. The men's and women's pro crits once again made USA Cycling's National Racing Calendar, making them points races and attractions for top teams and riders.
Past champions expected to race in Anniston on Saturday include Frank Travieso, Hilton Clarke and Karl Menzies.
Rahsaan Bahati, the 2008 national criterium champion, will lead the Bahati Foundation team, which includes Clarke. Bahati and Clarke will speak to a group of Anniston Middle School kids on Friday.
Bahati's foundation gears its outreach mission toward youths in inner city and underserved areas. It's based on Bahati's turn to cycling as a way out of the gang-infested Compton area of South Central Los Angeles.
Also expected back for the Sunny King Criterium is 2009 women's pro winner Brooke Miller. She wobbled and nearly crashed before edging two-time winner Tina Pic in a photo finish.
Pic retired after the 2009 season, but will return to Anniston on Saturday as manager for the Colavita team.
Perennial contender Laura Van Gilder, who won here in 2007, will once again ride in local Mellow Mushroom colors.
The criterium races and Noble Street Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday in downtown Anniston. The women's pro race goes off at 6:20 p.m., and the men's pro race will follow at about 7:30 p.m.
The Cheaha Challenge will start at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at the Piedmont Civic Center, followed by the Foothills Classic start at 8 a.m.