The Hyack Grand Prix has hit too many bumps in the road to make it work for this year, but the New West Grand Prix is still on track.
The Hyack Festival Association had planned to hold the event on Saturday, May 20 as a kick-off to Hyack Week but announced May 17 that the event had to be cancelled. The race was to take place in an area around Queens Avenue, Manitoba Street, Peele Street, Third Street, Liverpool Street and Fourth Street.
“In a nutshell, we ran out of time,” said Hyack president David Brett. “We didn’t receive final approval from the city until May 2, and there was a lot of things we had to commit to prior to that, so it just got pushed to a point where we weren’t able to make the commitments for spotters, officials and fencing.”
Because concerns about liability are so high with municipalities, Brett said every little detail about a high-speed bike race is subject to risk management analysis.
“Those risk-management factors became a real factor for us,” he said. “One of the things that came up from the city that caused a real delay was they asked for a four-foot high metal fence for the entire race route. This is kind of unheard of unless it is a major international event like they are having with the New West Grand Prix. When you are having international riders, they may require this full fencing, but for an amateur-style event that we were proposing, it was not normal to have that. That was going to cost us an additional $16,000.”
While the city worked very hard with Hyack to overcome obstacles related to the race, Brett said it was too late in the game for Hyack to mount the event in a way that would do it justice.
“We are by no means giving up. It’s a great sport. I think people will really enjoy it,” he said. “Once the city gets some experience with it, some of the fear around what could happen might subside.”
The Hyack Grand Prix is not to be confused with the 2017 New West Grand Prix, which is taking place on July 11 in downtown New Westminster. Part of B.C. Superweek, a road cycling series, the New West Grand Prix will feature riders from across North America racing on a route that includes Sixth, Eighth, Carnarvon and Columbia streets.
Representatives from the city, B.C. Superweek and Canada’s professional cycling community held a press conference in March to announce the city had signed a four-year agreement to be a host city for B.C. Superweek. The event, held in the second week of July each year, includes professional men’s and women’s events, as well as kids’ races open to kids 12 and under who will compete in three age categories.
The New West Grand Prix will begin with a youth race at 5:30 p.m. on July 11, followed by the women’s race at 6:15 p.m., the men’s race at 7:30 p.m., and the awards ceremony at about 9 p.m.
