The tragic incident south of Penticton left the cycling community reeling on July 13, 2025<\/p>\n
The\u00a0crash that killed a Vancouver woman\u00a0and left\u00a0two other cyclists seriously injured\u00a0at this year’s Okanagan Granfondo was a factor in cancelling the event for good, its head organizer confirmed.<\/p>\n
Jodi Cross,\u00a0executive director of the race, said in an email to Black Press Media that she “would be lying if this year’s incident didn\u2019t play a role” in ending the iconic event, which brought more than 25,000 cyclists\u00a0to Penticton since its inception in 2011.<\/p>\n
“It put an enormous strain on many of our volunteers and staff, which pales\u00a0in comparison to the impact felt by the family, friends, and fellow cyclists of those directly impacted,” Cross said of the tragedy, which left the\u00a0community reeling on July 13. A\u00a0vehicle hit\u00a0three event participants on White Lake Road south of Penticton that morning.<\/p>\n
The victim who lost their life was later identified as lifelong Lower Mainland volunteer\u00a0Ava Choy. RCMP has not released additional information about the two cyclists who were injured on scene.<\/p>\n
Cross and OG Events, the group that\u00a0organizes the annual race, announced on Oct. 2 that the event would not return in 2026.<\/p>\n
The decision to cancel the event was\u00a016 months in the making, Cross added to\u00a0Black Press.<\/p>\n
“It feels like the right time to pivot and explore new opportunities,” she said. “Any other factors, including increased event operation costs, merely validate my decision to shift directions.”<\/p>\n
In its announcement, OG Events hinted\u00a0it could start a new gravel cycling ride in the region to “align with where the cycling industry itself is applying its focus in recent years.”<\/p>\n
Cross doubled down on those talks, saying her\u00a0goal is to launch a new event in the Okanagan that would welcome participants for\u00a0gravel cycling.<\/p>\n
“We will also continue Athina\u2019s ride that was attached to the Granfondo, as\u00a0we have done incredible work,” Cross added. “Thanks to many of the cyclists of the Granfondo,\u00a0we raised over $400,000 for the Desmoid Foundation of Canada, a\u00a0rare disease that my daughter battles.”<\/p>\n
The discontinuation of the race comes less than two weeks after the\u00a0Tripleshot Cycling Club on Vancouver Island announced it was cancelling the 10th\u00a0annual CrossFondo\u00a0due to safety-related costs.<\/p>\n
One of that\u00a0event’s\u00a0participants,\u00a0Lindsay Burgess,\u00a0also died\u00a0during last year’s race.\u00a0Following the incident, the club said it dedicated hundreds of hours to improving safety protocols.<\/p>\n
It added that updated rules to\u00a0require\u00a0professional 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
Organizers’ announcement on\u00a0Okanagan Granfondo\u00a0prompted public reactions from local travel and tourism organizations as well as elected officials, including Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Bloomfield said\u00a0the race\u00a0“etched its place into Penticton\u2019s sporting event history.”<\/p>\n
“While it\u2019s tough to see this chapter come to an end, it\u2019s a reflection of how the event landscape and community interests continue\u00a0to evolve,” the mayor said.<\/p>\n
“Okanagan Granfondo will be remembered fondly in Penticton. Thousands of you gave your time as volunteers, trained hard to participate, or cheered from the sidelines \u2013 whether it was for friends, family or complete strangers.<\/p>\n
“But times change. Gears shift. And just as events pivot, so must we.”<\/p>\n
The decision to end\u00a0Okanagan Granfondo also comes 15 months after Ironman Canada, another sports endurance event, announced\u00a0it was leaving Penticton in favour of Ottawa, Ont.<\/p>\n
Penticton continues to host\u00a0the\u00a0Peach City Classic Triathlon, which welcomed its largest field of athletes ever this past July, and Penticton Dragon Boat Festival. The city also just wrapped up hosting the\u00a0Adventure Racing World Championships, an annual multi-day race that featured\u00a0teams from more than 25 countries.<\/p>\n
\u2014 with files from\u00a0Tony Trozzo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The tragic incident south of Penticton left the cycling community reeling on July 13, 2025 The\u00a0crash that killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,97226,82],"class_list":["post-195768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-cyclingokanaganpenticton","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195768","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=195768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}