Gran Fondo cycle festival town’s showpiece sporting event
Cycling
Labelled as having the potential to becoming the town’s showpiece sporting event, the inaugural Port Douglas Gran Fondo cycling festival was launched yesterday and promised to inject $20 million into the local economy within the first three years.
The event will be held from September 9-11, 2022.
The realisation of this event follows Cairns-based event company Connect Sport Australia who announced plans earlier this year for an annual major cycling festival.
A Gran Fondo is a type of long-distance road cycling ride originating in Italy in 1970, and roughly translates into English as “Big Ride”.
Italian Gran Fondos are officially defined and certified by the Italian Cycling Federation as a bicycle event at least 120 kilometres (75mi) long, and are individually chip-timed (start to finish) races with prizes for the fastest riders in each category.
Gran Fondo events are held in many countries including Italy, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France and Germany.
Initially Douglas Shire Council was sceptical of the event, but a never-give-up attitude by Connect Sport Australia's Managing Director Bade Stapleton won the day and the event is now being hailed as a win-win for the community, tourism and for local business. Council has approved funding of $50,000.
And Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said at the launch that the Gran Fondo Festival had the potential to become the town’s annual showpiece sports event.
Addressing the gathering at the Marina, the Assistant Minister for Tourism and State Member for Cairns, Michael Healey, said this event will benefit greatly from the announcement yesterday by the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that international borders will be open to Queensland from Saturday, 22 January.
“Gran Fondo is a true community event with massive local support from not only the Douglas Shire Council, but a large number of local operators who will benefit from the spending of participants, locals and visitors,” said Healy.
TTNQ's Mark Olsen said this is a chance for everyone to get involved, not only professional riders but everyone who likes getting on a bike.
“Each year our region misses out on more than a 100 million dollars of cycle tourism expenditure and that needs to be addressed,” he said.
Annette Edmondson, better known as “Netty”, said she is coming out of retirement to compete in the event.
The 30-year-old Adelaidean has won Olympic and Commonwealth medals and is considered one of the sport's true legends.
“Like so many in our sport I haven't fully explored Port Douglas and want to visit some of the iconic spots for which the area is famous for. That's of course after I have won the event,” she quipped.
The most popular distance will be the 100km ride from Port Douglas to Palm Cove and back; while the 46km one-way ride from Palm Cove to Port Douglas will be open to anyone who has ever wanted to safely ride the iconic Great Barrier Reef Drive.
The weekend will kick off with a sponsors’ expo at the Port Douglas Sports Complex followed by an official launch on the Saturday at Hemingway’s Brewery.
2022 Cycling Calendar Events
April
30 - 1 May Yungaburra Triathlon – Junior, enticer, sprint and standard races are part of this annual event on the foreshore of Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tablelands.
yungaburratriathlon.org
June
12 IRONMAN Cairns Asia-Pacific Championship – Cairns earned the title of the World’s Best Ironman for its spectacular course between two World Heritage areas.
www.ironman.com/im-cairns
25 - 1 July Cairns to Karumba Bike Ride – Road and mountain bikes join in the longest event ride in Australia taking you from the rainforest of Cairns to Karumba, the outback town by the sea.
c2kbikeride.com.au
July
8-10 Tour of the Tropics – Part of the National Road Series, the course takes riders south of Cairns through lush canefields for a scratch race followed by a criterium along the Cairns Esplanade.
www.tourofthetropics.com.au
August
18-21 Reef to Reef – This four-day mountain biking stage race takes riders from Port Douglas to the hinterland riding through the world’s oldest rainforest and tackling iconic mountain biking parks.
reeftoreefmtb.com
26-28 Red Bull Defiance – This multi-sport event at Mission Beach includes a mountain biking leg through the world’s oldest rainforest on the Cassowary Coast, south of Cairns.
defiance.events
September
9-11 Port Douglas Gran Fondo – The iconic Great Barrier Reef Drive between two World Heritage areas will open exclusively to cyclists in the 136km and 100km Gran Fondo rides and the 48km Medio Fondo ride.
portdouglasgranfondo.com.au
17-19 QSuper Cardiac Challenge – Ride from Cairns through the world’s oldest rainforest and outback savannah landscapes to historic Cooktown on Cape York Peninsula.
cardiacchallenge.com.au
18 Ona Mission Multisport Adventure – Short and long course options take in Mission Beach and Dunk Island with mountain biking part of the challenge.
adventurerace.com.au/Events/9018/Ona-Mission-Multisport-Adventure
23-25 AusCycling BMX State Championships Queensland – Cairns BMX will host the Queensland titles with Elite, Masters and Juniors categories.
www.auscycling.org.au/qld/events/2022-auscycling-bmx-state-championships-queensland
November
4-12 Croc Trophy – The longest running mountain biking event in Australia is a stage race through the world’s oldest rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands and Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas.
croctrophy.com
For more information: https://www.tropicalnorthqueensland.org.au/whats-on/sports/