The Tour of Norfolk says ‘farewell’

The Tour de Norfolk said a fond farewell to its participants after the 16th — and final — cycling event through Norfolk County ended on Sunday.

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Roughly 600 riders participated in this closing tour, including a “huge” contingent of about three-dozen riders from the local Silver Spokes Cycling Club.

“It’s an adventure,” said Julie Henry of Paris, who took part in the event with her 16-year-old daughter and her mother, Cathy Hoover of Brantford.

Henry said she was looking forward to their 45-kilometer three-generation “farewell tour.”

“I’ve definitely done it before,” said Henry, wearing a Tour de Norfolk cycling jersey. “This is my daughter’s first one.

“It’s just really a fun time, honestly. It’s always been a really great crowd running it, and we have a lot of fun. Love the stops, love the roads. . . so we keep coming back. The heat has been an issue some years, but today, this has been lovely so far.”

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For Laura Bannon of Waterloo and her sister, Lisa Hunziger of Georgetown, the tour offered an opportunity to enjoy the “beautiful” scenery of Norfolk County.

“Even the tobacco leaves look beautiful,” Bannon said. “In Waterloo, they have lots of cycling paths, but you can’t really do a good, long ride there ‘safely,’ so this is the longest ride we’ve done in a while.”

The Norfolk Tour included four routes of different lengths — 40, 75, 100 and 160 km — that provided cyclists of every level with plenty to see and do.

“The 160-km (route) goes through Andy’s Corners, down to Sand Hills to Port Rowan, to the brewery (Charlotteville Brewing Company), out to Windham Centre, then back here, so it’s a healthy little tour,” said Paul Krupicz , a volunteer for 15 of the tour’s 16 years.

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“All the groups end up at the brewery.”

Krupicz attributed Tour de Norfolk’s success over the years to its many volunteers.

“It’s the people who are here supporting this event,” said Krupicz. “It’s a group that has basically been together the whole 16 years.”

Sheila Van Groningen of Vittoria, another longtime volunteer, said she enjoyed meeting and chatting with the cyclists taking part in the tour.

“It’s a lot of fun meeting all the people — where they’re coming from and all the stories they tell. We get a lot of repeats. It’s just a fun event, and they are all sorry to see it end.”

Monica Vandenberghe of Delhi has volunteered since the very first day of the cycling tour.

“My husband (Ron), who does the maps, and John Walker have been friends for many years in the Silver Spokes, and this was how they started. I was a member (of the Silver Spokes) for about four years,” she said.

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Over the years, Vandenberghe said she also enjoyed meeting the people at Le Tour de Norfolk.

“Cyclists are all very nice, very friendly. You get to meet people from all over Ontario, and we used to bring people in from the States. Very friendly people and it was a beautiful social day.

“It is bittersweet because we’re all getting older, but at the same time we’re going to miss that chance of getting together. It’s like a family reunion and a cycling reunion — all from different clubs, different places.”

Yvette Mahieu, the event coordinator, described Sunday as a “bittersweet day” for organizers while noting there were several reasons why the 2024 ride was designated as the “farewell tour.”

“It’s getting so expensive — insurance, facility rental. . . . Normally, we’re at the arena, but they are doing construction, so that’s why we’re here at the German Home == and we’re saving a lot of money here. Sponsorships are down since COVID, which means we have to charge more for the participants. Everything is just way more expensive, and we think it’s going to be too expensive for people.”

Mahieu said Le Tour de Norfolk was created to support both competitive and recreational cyclists, including families.

“Forty-five kilometers is very doable, especially when you know there’s rest stops, for all ages, all abilities, which I think is great. That was one of the things I wanted. . . to get people ‘out on their bikes.’”

In the future, Mahieu said she can’t really imagine bringing back a smaller scale Tour de Norfolk.

“It’s like ‘go big or go home,’” she said with a smile. “Smaller would be really easy to do, but…”

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