April 8, 2008 – Peter Morse of the Jet Fuel Racing Team will be back to defend his 2007 win in Canada’s biggest bike race. The ’08 Paris to Ancaster , being held on Sunday April 20, is on track to have one of the largest fields in its 15 year history with 1,800 riders expected in spite of a particularly tough winter in southern Ontario. This years edition of the classic route consisting of rail trails, farm lanes, single track and pavement will also feature a new section of off road riding in both the 60 and 35 km routes.

Morse, 32 from Toronto, will be tough to beat with fitness sharpened by the additional winter racing he endured at the Tour of Taiwan in March. Four top twenty finishes in the week long stage race are indicators of his race level fitness in spite of the harsh local winter. His main challengers so far come in the form of perennial top ten finisher Josh Hall (KHS bicycles) of Waterloo, On. and Nathan Chown (Handlebars CC) of St. Catharines.

Hall, 31 finished 3rd in 2007, and has finished in the top ten 6 times, while the 35 year old Chown comes to the race fresh off an early season victory at last weekends Tour of Pelham. He will be looking for revenge from 2007, when he had a flat tire while riding strongly with eventual winner Peter Morse and to improve on his strong forth place in 2006.

The defending women’s champion, Lyne Bessette, will not be returning, having accepted a new job in the tourism industry. This will leave the 2008 race wide open for a new champion to emerge.

The 2008 race features many new attractions for the whole family. Post race activities have been moved indoors at the Ancaster arena and include the Metabike Trials Demo, blues band, children’s play area and an expanded cycling expo. Additional events on Saturday April 19 include a guided pre-ride of the last 15km of the race route and a Womens MTB skills clinic hosted by WOWmtb ltd.

Complete race details are available at www.parisancaster.com . Regular entry is open until Saturday April 19.* Early bird pricing ends at 6pm April 13.