July 21, 2005- The hills are alive with the sound of agony this weekend in the 26th annual Tour de White Rock. The infamously steep climbs and terrifying descents that make White Rock the toughest cycling course in Canada will create even more pain, sorrow, and thrills than ever this year thanks to a new format for the Hill Climb, July 22, the opening event for the three-day Tour. The hill climb begins at 7p.m. Friday followed by the Criterium on Saturday at 3p.m. on Johnston Road and finishes with the classic road race Sunday morning at 8a.m. on Marine Drive.

“The crit and road race are always entertaining and exciting events but we wanted to add a little more excitement to the hill climb this year for the racers and the fans,” explained Race Director, Rita Clarkson. “It’s always been a timed event with the racers going up Buena Vista one at a time. Lots of people would turn out to watch the racers and try to cheer them on but they never really knew how they were doing until they heard the finished times. We wanted to put more than one racer on the course at each time and turn the evening into a series of mini races. We thought about sending them three or four or even five at a time but in the end we decided the best and safest idea was to have two riders start side by side. They’ll be racing against each other and also against the clock. The winners won’t necessarily have the fastest times for the night. At the end we’ll take the five best times in the men’s and women’s events. Then they’ll start five aside and race up the hill. The first one to the finish line is the winner. That should make for a fabulous finish and make it really exciting at the top where the course flattens out for the final 100 meters to the finish line. We should get great crowds at the top of the course, something we’ve never had before. They’ll love it and the racers always love head-to-head competition more than just racing against a stop watch.”


One racer looking forward to it is the defending hill climb champion, Tyler Farrar. The Bellingham native is one of the rising young stars of North