by Brian Lemke, White Mountain Road Club
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone from the town of Buckeye who was involved in helping promote the bike race. The race was a huge success with over 930 racers (that’s 100 more then 2005 and 150 more then 2004) and more spectators and media coverage then ever before. The Valley of the Sun race has now become the highest attended bike race in the nation.
I especially want to thank Keith Watkins of JF Companies, Trillium Community, for having the vision to not only sponsor the race, but to also include the Town of Buckeye. From the Tartesso Development canvas bags containing visors and additional Buckeye promotional materials, to Bob Bushner’s help with the press and school visit, to having the support of the Buckeye Fire and Police, to the western-themed gift baskets that were provided by the Town of Buckeye Economic Development Department, every aspect of the Buckeye involvement elevated the race to another level.
The Buckeye flair showed on the Pro-1 Men’s podium as these top professional bike racers donned the decorative cowboy hats while accepting their awards. I feel this year is just the beginning of a long-term relationship with the Town of Buckeye and the White Mountain Road Club bike racing team.
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