Rochester Omnium
Cycling in Rochester just got better.
This morning at Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport, owner Scott Page held a press conference with Mayor Robert Duffy to announce major changes to the Rochester Twilight Criterium.
New format
In its fifth year, the crit becomes part of a three-day cycling event, called an omnium. On the Friday is the Rochester Time Trial. Saturday is the Rochester Twilight Criterium, and on Sunday, the Rochester Road Race. Each day of racing is scored separately, as if they were completely different events.
In a time trial cyclists race against the clock on a fixed course. The criterium is a multi-lap race on a fairly short closed course (one-mile on our course). A road race is like the races you see in the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. Ours will be one day instead of several. At least for this year. Rumor has it the road race will be over 100 miles.
New date
The date has been changed as well. The former weekend in June competes with the Rochester Jazz Festival and the Rochester International LPGA Tournament. That effects only spectators.
Worse, the old date competed with the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania and the Desafio Internacional de Ciclismo in Brazil. That could make competitors have to choose which event to attend.
The Rochester Omnium now owns the weekend of Friday August 8 through Sunday August 10 on the UCI America Tour calendar. The UCI, by the way, is the Union Cycliste Internationale. Founded in 1900, the UCI is the worldwide bicycle racing sanctioning agency.
By having the only UCI event in the entire Western Hemisphere for those dates, we can be assured of the best competitors dropping by for a ride.
And don’t pooh-pooh the importance of that either. For the last four years, South Americans have had a strong showing at the crit, so you don’t want them riding in Brazil instead. Worldwide, there is a conflict with an event in China on that weekend. I’m hoping the Aussies will still come here rather than ride a date in their neighborhood.
New major sponsor
Finally, major sponsorship has changed. I’m a city employee. The budget grapevine has been all abuzz lately over the things that are being dropped in favor of the Mayor’s Zero-Tolerance Policing Initiative. That’s costing the city $50K a week in overtime alone. Because of it, not only is there a hiring freeze, but every city department has been asked to give back part of its budget to support the Zero Tolerance Initiative.
One of the things I’d heard got cut was the crit. I was hoping it was just an ugly rumor, but it’s true. In the 2008 budget, here’s not a penny for the crit.
Happily, the new date is in the 2009 budget, and for calendar/racing year 2008 and city budget year 2009, the City of Rochester is the major sponsor of all three days of racing in the Rochester Omnium. (Saturn remains a supporter.)
That’s why the Mayor was at the press conference this morning.
Mark your calendars and get ready for a great weekend of cycling, Friday August 8 through Sunday August 10, 2008, right here in sleepy old Rochesterville.
