Central Saanich says it warned organizers early, club says costs too high to proceed<\/p>\n
The Tripleshot Cycling Club has cancelled its 10th annual CrossFondo, citing traffic safety requirements from the District of Central Saanich that make the event financially unfeasible.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the club said updated rules requiring professional traffic control personnel at every intersection, even where cyclists have the right of way, would “quadruple traffic management costs compared to last year.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are saddened by the cancellation of this popular community event,\u201d said club president Erin Jalilian. \u201cThis event started nine years ago as a fundraiser for the club\u2019s youth program and grew into one of the most popular cycling events in the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
Course director Lister Farrar added that it was too late to reroute the course to avoid public roads.<\/p>\n
“At this point, one month out, changing the course to avoid the roads in question is not an option,\u201d Farrar said. “Course development requires discussions year-round with landowners, all of whom return each year to provide one-day access to their property.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club emphasized that safety has always been its top priority, noting it already employs paid traffic control staff at intersections where traffic needs to be managed and uses trained volunteers where cyclists have the right of way.<\/p>\n
Following the death of longtime participant Lindsay Burgess during last year\u2019s event, the club said it dedicated hundreds of hours to improving safety protocols.<\/p>\n
Central Saanich, however, says its policies have not changed \u2013 only the way they are enforced.<\/p>\n
In a statement to the Peninsula News Review, the district said organizers were told early in the permitting season that more professional traffic control would be required.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policies themselves remain unchanged,\u201d the district said. \u201cWe are being more rigorous in ensuring compliance with existing standards due to repeated issues with inadequate traffic control and last-minute applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials said CrossFondo organizers did not submit their application until August and that it lacked proper certified traffic management plans.<\/p>\n
The district added that Central Saanich Police have previously been called out to provide emergency traffic control during events, stretching resources and impacting safety.<\/p>\n
While the club says it cannot absorb the additional costs, the district maintains the requirements are necessary to keep everyone safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoad races are complex and require careful planning,\u201d the district said. \u201cWe deeply value community events and are committed to working with organizers, but we must prioritize public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 10th annual event was slated to take place on Sunday, Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
Earlier this summer, the Elk Lake Triathlon was cancelled for the same reasons outlined by the district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Saanich says it warned organizers early, club says costs too high to proceed The Tripleshot Cycling Club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,87944,635,82],"class_list":["post-171118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-saanichcycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}