After 19 years the City of Delta may have seen its last competitive cycling event.
Citing financial issues and many logistical challenges, Delta council voted unanimously at its meeting in North Delta Monday to cancel the 2022 Tour de Delta.
In early December, council directed staff to review options for the 2022 event and report back to council.
As the Tour de Delta is part of a regional series of cycling events known as BC Superweek, staff indicated in a previous council report, that they planned to continue discussions with organizers regarding plans and the potential viability of the 2022 event.
In her report to council, parks director Carmen Gonzalez said the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of BC Superweek and the Tour de Delta in 2020 and 2021 due to local limitations prohibiting large gatherings and the restrictions around travel that impacted athletes in the cycling community.
“While public health restrictions for events and gatherings were lifted on Feb. 17, 2022, a variety of logistical challenges and risks still exist regarding reinstating a typical Tour,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said in 2019, the net actual cost for the Tour de Delta was $300,000, with approximately $450,000 of expenses and $150,000 of revenue, which included a grant from the Federal Government to support the UCI sanctioned event.
“While prestigious, the Tour's road race requires significant additional costs for the event to meet international standards, such as uniformed police on motorcycles forming part of the mobile support for competitors,” she said. “There is also a significant amount of staff time that goes into the planning, coordination and delivery of the annual event.
“While the City of Delta is optimistically looking forward to resuming community-wide special events, the variables associated with international travel, athlete participation, cycling sponsorship, service providers and volunteers, combined with the required planning timeline and the required financial commitment, provides a level of risk too high for staff to be able to recommend that the 2022 Tour de Delta move forward.”
Coun. Dylan Kruger said he would be reluctantly supporting the recommendations.
“We all have enjoyed the event for the many years that the Tour de Delta has taken place, but there are just too many uncertainties,” he said. “From a financial stand-point, I think it is important for the community to know that this is the most expensive event that the city puts on every year, but for the cost that this event could be on our taxpayers, as disappointing as it is, the recommendation from staff are prudent.”
Coun. Jeannie Kanakos said it is a hard day for Delta to see the event cancelled.
She said she supports reviewing the event for next year and what could work for Delta moving forward.
She also wants to see Delta continue supporting cycling and biking for all ages in our communities and working with groups such as HUB Cycling to increase educational opportunities and awareness of cycling throughout Delta.