Oct 31, 2012

Tour de Paris??

The Paris Landing Tourism League is seeking support from you and our community leaders from Paris, Dover and Land Between the Lakes for a professional, competitive bicycle race called Tour de Paris

Planners are looking at late August, 2013 for the first race. August is when tourism around Paris Landing usually takes a dip, so this should be an ideal time for hotels, motels, restaurants, gift shops and other businesses which cater to tourism. The proposed route will start at Paris Landing State Park go to Dover, through Land Between The Lakes, then to Paris along Highway 79, then back to finish at Paris Landing State Park.

Delvon Campbell and John Ismail
shopping in downtown Paris, Tennessee. 
Sara Johnson, President of PLTL; Jim Napier, local supporter; Delvon Campbell and John Ismail - both are professional bicycle race organizers from Miami - met with community leaders this past Monday to ask for their support. Johnson has also spent several weeks discussing logistics for police, barricades and EMS works with representatives from USA Cycling through which the race will be sanctioned.

“The vision of USA Cycling is to make the United States of America the most successful country in the world of competitive cycling. USA Cycling is comprised of over 2,500 clubs and teams; and 70,800 licensees which include officials, coaches, mechanics, race directors, and competitive cyclists of all ages and abilities across all five disciplines of the sport. “  Quoted from their website.

“I want to create this as a cycling destination,” Napier said. “We need something here other than fishing tournaments.” He forecasted that once cyclists were introduced to the area, they would return to train and vacation. Napier said he plans the race to take place during a weekend with an amateur race Friday and the professional race on Saturday.

If approved, the contract for USA Cycling to sanction the race, would be for five years.

We hope they come to play with us. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

USA Cycling can be found on Facebook or their website at: http://www.usacycling.org/
 

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