North Star Bicycle Festival

Last updated April 28, 2019

The North Star Bicycle Festival, is a ten-day series of cycling events that take place at sites around central Minnesota. The festival has gone by multiple names since its creation in 1999 as Tour de Wings.^[1] It was known as the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival for 2000–2008, the Minnesota Bicycle Festival in 2009, and the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival for 2010–2013.^{[ citation needed ]}. It is currently known as the North Star Bicycle Festival.

Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.

The National Sports Center (NSC) is a 600-acre multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota. It includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a velodrome, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink, which is the largest ice arena in the world. The National Sports Center has hosted numerous National and World Championship events in soccer, hockey, figure skating, short track speedskating, broomball, rugby, ultimate and lacrosse. The National Sports Center opened in 1990 after 1987 legislature created the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC) and appropriated $14.7 million for the construction of the NSC. The facility welcomes over 3.8 million visitors annually, making it the most-visited sports facility in the state of Minnesota.

Blaine is a city in Anoka and Ramsey counties in the State of Minnesota. The population was 57,186 at the 2010 census. The city is located mainly in Anoka County, and is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

The marquee event of the Festival is the North Star Grand Prix, a professional bicycle stage race. In 2016, races took place in the downtowns of Saint Paul, Cannon Falls, Minneapolis, North Mankato and Stillwater.

The North Star Grand Prix is a men's and women's road bicycle racing stage race held each June in Minnesota, United States, as part of the North Star Bicycle Festival. An event was added in North Mankato in 2016. The North Star Grand Prix is one of only four races on the USA Cycling Pro Road Tour. The 2010 Grand Prix had six stages: three criteriums, two road races and a time trial.

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2017, the city's estimated population was 309,180. Saint Paul is the county seat of Ramsey County, the smallest and most densely populated county in Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city. Known as the "Twin Cities", the two form the core of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.6 million residents.

Cannon Falls, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Cannon Falls is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,083 at the 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 52 to the southeast of the Twin Cities, Cannon Falls may be best known as the home of Pachyderm Studio, where many famous musicians have recorded their music. Nirvana is probably the best known band to use the site. The group recorded In Utero at the studio.

The North Star Grand Prix is one of only four stage races on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar

The USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC) is an annual competition of road bicycle racing events held in the United States and sponsored by USA Cycling. The NRC includes a men's and women's individual and team rankings based on points awarded at the events. The competition is open to amateur and professional riders regardless of national origin.

The presenting sponsor is North Memorial Health Care

North Memorial Medical Center, sometimes referred to as North Memorial, is a 353-bed community hospital located in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. It is one of four Level I trauma centers in Minnesota.

The North Star Bicycle Festival was cancelled in 2018, which would have been its 20th year.

Charitable mission

The North Star Bicycle Festival is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) charity whose missions are bicycle education and to support Special Olympics Minnesota. All proceeds from the Festival are donated to Special Olympics Minnesota.

Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to 5 million athletes and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year or in conjunction with the Olympic Games.

History

The North Star Bicycle Festival got its start in 1998, when the Lance Armstrong Foundation approached David LaPorte and asked for help to create a Twin Cities replica of the popular Austin, Texas-based Ride for the Roses. LaPorte launched the Tour de Wings in 1999. The two-day event featured a criterium in Saint Paul, around the grounds of the state Capitol, and a track race at the National Sports Center Velodrome.

In 2000, Great River Energy became a major sponsor and the event was named the Touchstone Energy Bicycle Festival. Track racing at the NSC Velodrome featured a four-day EDS Cup and the criterium moved from the state Capitol to downtown Saint Paul.

Nature Valley Granola Bars joined as a sponsor in 2001 and a new road race stage was added. Great River Energy sponsored the U.S. Track National Championships during the festival at the NSC Velodrome and the festival made its first charitable donation to Camp Heartland.

From 2002 to 2006, the festival grew into a major annual Minnesota sporting event. Renamed The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival and Nature Valley Grand Prix, new venues and communities got involved, ultimately making the festival a six-stage race over a five-day period. Stillwater, Minn., became the marquis criterium of the event featuring an 18% climb up Chilkoot Hill. In 2003, a stage was added in Minneapolis, which made the Friday Night Minneapolis Downtown Classic the most widely attended stage of the five-day North Star Grand Prix. This stage moved to Uptown, Minneapolis in 2009

The North Star Grand Prix attempts to be as equal as possible between men’s and women’s racing and has become an important women’s stage race in North America. The festival also named Special Olympics Minnesota its sole charitable beneficiary of the proceeds created by the event.

In 2007, the North Star Grand Prix became the top level stage race on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar. Organizers also launched a Women’s Collegiate All-Stars team, the first of its kind in the nation. Most recently, both the men’s and women’s races became invitation only events, topping out at 140 female and 140 male riders.

Event organizers attempted to extend the sponsorship contract for the event in the first half of 2013, but were unable to come to an agreement before the contract expired in June that year. The organization held an unsponsored event in 2014. For 2015, the primary sponsors were North Memorial Health Care and PreferredOne.^[1] North Memorial Health Care continued its sponsorship in 2016

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References

1 2 Pat Borzi (2015-06-12). "The near death — and second life — of the North Star Bicycle Festival". MinnPost. Retrieved 2015-06-17.

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[minnpost2015-1] 1 2 Pat Borzi (2015-06-12). "The near death — and second life — of the North Star Bicycle Festival". MinnPost. Retrieved 2015-06-17.