April 2, 2005 – Due to the current weather conditions and the forecast for Sunday, we have no choice but to change the format for the Tour de Hollander for this year. Instead of canceling the event outright we have decided to try to provide an opportunity to race while minimizing the risk of losing money.

The event has been changed to a Citizen’s Event sanction. This decision was based on the fact that the 9:00 am races would have to be cancelled due the possibility of ice on the course. This would have excluded certain categories from the opportunity to race. The Citizen’s sanction allows all categories the opportunity to race and at their own ability level. This level of sanction also allows us to cancel certain arrangements that will reduce our costs as the weather will reduce the number of riders that will attend. It also reduces our loss if the weather necessitates canceling the race altogether.

The course has been changed to a 7.1 km circuit. The section along the south canal had to be removed based the extremely high water level of the canal.

Registration will open at 11:00 am and close at 12:30 am. There will be three races as follows:

1:00 pm – Open Category
13 laps / 92.3 km
$30

1:02 pm – Sport Category
9 laps / 63.9 km
$20

1:03 pm – Beginners Category
6 laps / 42.6 km
$20

Please follow this link for a detailed Citizen’s permit description:
http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_doc/org_forms/difference_in_road_event_permits.pdf

Prizes will be based on turn out.

Please visit www.bikeraces.info for all the details and for further updates.

We know that some will be disappointed about the changes but we feel that we are doing everything possible to give the riders of Ontario the opportunity to race before next weeks first Ontario Cup event.