WOONSOCKET – The USA Cycling-sanctioned Woonie Crit rolled into downtown Woonsocket on Sunday, July 12, and with a few exceptions, said officials, the bicycle road races largely went off without a hitch.
Organizers Sean Clark thanked everyone for their part in the race during Monday’s City Council meeting, saying it was “all hands on deck” to pull it off. The public came out in droves, he said, and there were 176 total riders.
“We put Woonsocket on the map for a single afternoon, it seemed,” said Clark.
With the exception of a “wicked sunburn” he received while volunteering, said Clark, smiling, it was a great day. He thanked Mayor Chris Beauchamp for his help pulling it off.
Beauchamp said public safety officials modified a number of detours to maximize safety for the event. He apologized to one local pastor whose church wasn’t notified about Sunday street closures, and who was both respectful and frank, saying they’ll do a better job next year, when the event is bigger and better, of making sure everyone is properly notified.
Everyone, from public safety to public works, did a fantastic job, said the mayor. He mentioned three young people who rode their bicycles all the way from MIT to Woonsocket and then to Providence and back to Boston. They heard about the event in Woonsocket, a city they hadn’t been to, he said, and decided to come. That’s how Woonsocket will continue to improve, he said, not through name-calling and divisiveness.
Beauchamp thanked Clark for his great work. He acknowledged that he and others haven’t always appreciated Clark’s extensive commentary on filling Woonsocket with bicycles and eliminating cars, but “that event yesterday really turned my head about what we can do in Woonsocket with events like that.”
He said this is a perfect example of the fact that people’s ideas don’t fall on deaf ears, and while nothing is ever perfect, this was a great event for the city.
Council President Dan Gendron said Clark deserves a lot of credit for bringing a good event to the city, saying it was well received.
Councilor Valerie Gonzalez said she learned a lot as a non-cyclist about cycling. She said there’s a big need for race destinations such as this, as some have disappeared, and she would love to see Woonsocket be a regular staple for them. Events such as this can be a driver for economic growth, she added, and they only happen if people stand up and don’t just ask for something, but become part of the solution.
Earlier story:
WOONSOCKET – The Woonsocket Lions Club Bike Race of Aug. 11, 1985, took place on a one-mile loop of Clinton and Social Streets. That was the last crit race in the city, until now.
The USA Cycling-sanctioned Woonie Crit, short for Woonsocket Criterium, rolled into downtown Woonsocket on Sunday, July 12.
A crit is a series of bike races over one day on a circular/oval connected road course. Woonsocket’s race, held in concert with the city, starts and ends in front of City Hall.
Sean Clark, one of the ambassadors of the Tri-State Cycling Club (TSCC) and a Woonsocket resident and a cyclist who’s heavily involved with the Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative, said the goal with the Woonie Crit was to bring something new and use the downtown area as a big backdrop.
“Criterium Racing, or a ‘crit,’ is perfect for the scale of Woonsocket’s urban landscape,” he said.
Clark, who used to live across town on South Main Street, is active in the TSCC, and commutes to work by bicycle to his job over the border in Cumberland. He said members of the TSCC have long wanted to do their own bike race, and he’s pretty active with the city, so they decided to try to get something going in Woonsocket.
Coordinating police and EMS services and road closures proved a challenge, he said, but the most difficult aspect of organizing such an event is the fundraising.
“We want to host races like this again, multiple times per year,” he said. We like being able to showcase the city to visitors from all over, but the resources to do so can be awfully expensive.”
He said they are always looking for sponsors. Everyone’s efforts and donations go toward supporting new riders and events such as this.
Clark said this race day goes along nicely with the Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative’s desire to show off the downtown and to romanticize it a bit. These types of races are taking off in popularity all over the world, including in New England, he told The Local Insider. Hartford, Conn., recently held a very popular event.
After Sunday’s race, said Clark, they’re hoping to hold more similar events in the future. He said he had great conversations with members of the public about the event during Friday’s Levitt AMP Music Series concert in the city.
City officials have been fully on board with this idea, he said, knowing that it will bring people in from other cities. He said they’re expecting 1,000 or more people for Sunday event.
The first race started at 8 a.m., and the last one a little before 4 p.m., and there were 133 registered racers. Clark is in a Cat 5 race, but there were races for professionals as well, he said. Clark typically prefers group or adventure rides rather than racing, including shorter destination trips such as ice cream visits or far-out adventure rides.
TSCC has more than 600 active members, according to Strava, said Clark.
“We have group rides all over, every weekend and some mid-week. We try to incorporate stops at local businesses that sponsor us, like the ,” he said. “We’re always open to more sponsorships. There are never enough rides to go around.”
Visit here for more on Sunday’s event and on the Tri-State Cycling Club.
