Tour de l’Alberta profitable for Morinville

by Lucie Roy

The Edmonton Bicycle & Touring Club (EBTC) and the Town of Morinville hosted the 20th Annual Tour de l’Alberta event on July 27. A month-and-a-half later Schaun Goodeve, Economic Development Coordinator for the Town of Morinville, made a presentation to Council and said the net profit for 2014 was $54,660, an amount that will put $27,330 into the bike club’s hands and an equal amount into Town coffers.

The one-day event drew a total of 1,389 riders to Morinville, 469 new and 720 returning cyclists. The youngest rider was five, and the oldest was 85. There were 153 riders in the 185-kilometre ride, 120 riders in the 150-km run,701 in the popular 100-km and 215 in the 50-km leg.

Goodeve said the Tour de l’Alberta was created in 1994 by the EBTC and the Town of Morinville has been involved in some capacity with the Tour de l’Alberta for more than a decade. In the last three years the town hosted the event start and finish and the Tour has become a prominent event in Morinville, attracting more than 1,500 riders and volunteers, as well as hundreds of spectators and a large media reach through radio, TV, print, social media and other online sources.

For several years the EBTC had contracted an event organizer, but due to increasing costs in contract fees they considered not holding the event in 2014 at all. It was at this time Town staff met with the EBTC Board of Directors to discuss a new management structure where they would be equal partners in the event in 2014, sharing any profits the event generated. Goodeve said a memorandum of understanding was signed between the EBTC and the Town in March affirming the new partnership.

After a first successful partnership year, Goodeve said the next step is to conduct post-event debriefing with the organizing committee, reconcile any outstanding receivables, thank the sponsors and establish targets and develop a project plan for the 2015 event.