Tuesday, October 04, 2005
First Annual Clinton River Trail Fall Classic Ride a Success!
On Saturday, September 24th, the Friends of the Clinton River Trail hosted the 1st Annual Clinton River Trail Fall Classic and here’s a short rundown of how it went. There were 2 registration locations: onein Pontiac’s Beaudette Park and the other at the Onyx Ice Arena in Rochester. This was done to allow people to start close to their homes. The route was just over 28 miles round trip and included a lunch stop at Beaudette Park. With perfect weather for late September, we had a fabulous turnout of 114 riders participating in the event. About 20 riders started in Pontiac and the remainder registered in Rochester. The oldest rider was 81 (and made it an international event coming from Brights Grove in Ontario) and the youngest participant was just 5 and let his dad do the work by riding in a trailer (the youngest rider was 9).
Sixteen volunteers were involved in organizing the ride, doing the registration, manning the rest stop and serving lunch and it wouldn’t have been a success without their dedication and help. With a week before the ride we had just 30 participants signed up, but as stated above we ended up with well over 100 including more than 40 people registering the day of the event. The friends group was thrilled by the response and interest to this event. We also learned a lot about hosting the Fall Classic and how to improve things for next year. So we look forward to seeing you again next September as a participant or, if you’d like to help us, as a volunteer. For those of you that were not able to join us this year, come out and enjoy a fun day on the Clinton River Trail next September.
We would also like to thank our sponsors of the event: Rochester Bike Shop for donating the T-Shirts, American Cycle & Fitness for donating lunch, and the Onyx Ice Arena. In addition we’d like to thank the City of Pontiac, the Paint Creek Trailways Commission and the City of Rochester Hills for their assistance.
The event gave the participants the opportunity to ride the trail and see the progress that has been made over the last number of years. There is still work to be done and we appreciate your continuing support.
Best regards,
Mark Pompetzki
Friends of the Clinton River Trail
Sixteen volunteers were involved in organizing the ride, doing the registration, manning the rest stop and serving lunch and it wouldn’t have been a success without their dedication and help. With a week before the ride we had just 30 participants signed up, but as stated above we ended up with well over 100 including more than 40 people registering the day of the event. The friends group was thrilled by the response and interest to this event. We also learned a lot about hosting the Fall Classic and how to improve things for next year. So we look forward to seeing you again next September as a participant or, if you’d like to help us, as a volunteer. For those of you that were not able to join us this year, come out and enjoy a fun day on the Clinton River Trail next September.
We would also like to thank our sponsors of the event: Rochester Bike Shop for donating the T-Shirts, American Cycle & Fitness for donating lunch, and the Onyx Ice Arena. In addition we’d like to thank the City of Pontiac, the Paint Creek Trailways Commission and the City of Rochester Hills for their assistance.
The event gave the participants the opportunity to ride the trail and see the progress that has been made over the last number of years. There is still work to be done and we appreciate your continuing support.
Best regards,
Mark Pompetzki
Friends of the Clinton River Trail
