Tour of Missouri competition already heating up

Although the event is still 10 months away, competition is already heating up for the 2009 Tour of Missouri. Groups in cities around the state, including Hannibal, are preparing their applications to be a host city during next September’s point-to-point cycling stage race.
After being a part of the inaugural event in 2007, Columbia did not participate last year. It wasn’t because it didn’t want to be a part of it, according to Jody Russell, services manager for the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Because of the way the route went for 2008 in our bid we specified we could not be a host city on Friday or Saturday because of a home MU football game,” she said. “We wouldn’t have had the hotel rooms necessary to host the event. Our public service - police, fire - would have been stretched way beyond what they could accommodate for a home football game.”
The fourth stage of the 2008 race concluded in Rolla. Scott Caron, the local organizing committee chairperson for the 2008 Tour, has no reservations about trying to bring the race back in 2009.
“We plan on submitting a proposal to be a host city once again,” he said. “We’d encourage just about any community in the state to try to be a part of it because it’s a great event for the state. We’re excited to be a possibility for next year as well.”
Rolla’s first experience as a Tour city was very positive.
“We felt the experience was tremendous,” said Caron. “It brought a lot of people into town that wouldn’t have been otherwise. Even beyond the actual tourism dollars it brought into the city, the biggest thing is probably name recognition. One of the things that it does is provide essentially free advertising for your community and puts you on the map. The other thing it does from an economic development standpoint is it demonstrates to businesses and entities looking at your community that you have the infrastructure capable of putting on an event that attracts this number of people.”
Columbia also cherished the recognition the race brought, according to Russell.
“The extra added value of the tour we can’t put a dollar figure on is the worldwide recognition. Travel writers that wrote about it and the cyclists magazines that wrote about Columbia as a stage in the Tour,” she said. “There is general good feel about having such a prestigious cycling event in our city.”
According to local organizers, participating cities have to raise a considerable amount of money. That, however, was not a roadblock in Rolla.
“That wasn’t a huge challenge. We have a great community here in Rolla and a lot of the businesses we went to really understood the impact an event like this can have on our community,” said Caron. “Obviously it took a lot of work and planning but it really wasn’t a hard sell in a lot of different ways.”
In Hannibal, it is projected that almost $8,000 in overtime charges could be amassed by city employees during the Tour. Caron says those additional expenses were not a big issue in Rolla.
“There was no direct charge for those services. The city recognized that that was its part in being a host city for this event,” he said.
Russell said facing the “unknown” was the biggest challenge for Columbia in year one of the Tour.
“We couldn’t go for local sponsorships until the state had acquired their statewide sponsorships so that there wouldn’t be a conflict,” she said. “It all worked out fine. I believe in 2008 those were easier to come by. The first year was hard for everybody on every level.”
Russell was in Hannibal earlier this week to meet with a local organizing committee about the Tour. Would the Tour be a good fit for Hannibal?
“I think there are certain stages of the race that would be a good fit for Hannibal,” she said. “I think you’ve got a great core (of interested people) in Hannibal. I could see them being a host city if they can make it work logistically.”