An important piece of White Rock’s sports and social history is safe with the city’s Museum and Archives – following a donation of early memorabilia of the Tour de White Rock.
Alfred Anderson, founder of the celebrated cycle race – first run in 1980, but curtailed in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic – was at the waterfront museum last Thursday (Oct. 26) to donate historic items from the event’s early history.
Receiving the collection of volunteers’ T-shirts and paper records on behalf of the city and the museum were Mayor Megan Knight and archivist Hugh Ellenwood.
Also present were city community recreation manager John Stech and cycling history buff Walter Piovesan, who had urged Anderson to donate the materials to the museum.
“I’m thrilled that Alfred has donated these historic documents of the early years of the event to our archives,” Ellenwood said. “They make a very valuable addition to our collection.”
The donated items include 12 original T shirts from the race from 1988 to 2007 (preserved in pristine condition by long-time race volunteer Flora Young, Anderson said).
Ellenwood noted that the documents, from 1980-82 period, are “a mixture of handbills, budgets, lists of volunteers and competitors, maps of the race, and handwritten lists and notes that give an intimate idea of early planning of the event.”
“To me (donating the materials) it means the completion of an idea, that started over 40 years ago, of White Rock being an idyllic place to have a cycling road race,” said Anderson.
Anderson, who was born in the tiny town of Hilly, Louisiana – now absorbed into other Lincoln County communities – said he first came to White Rock as a visitor in 1969.
“I fell in love with it and came back and settled here – got my citizenship and raised my kids here,” he said.
A long-time cycling enthusiast, it became his dream to establish a road race such as those he’d seen in Europe, borrowing the title format from the world-famous Tour de France.
He achieved that dream in 1980 and saw his idea become a cherished annual event bringing top male and female athletes to his adopted home.
“It brought a lot of notoriety to White Rock – and a lot of cyclists from different parts of the world,” he said, poring over photos from the first couple of events.
“The race ends here,” he said, as Knight signed the document formally accepting the materials.
But does it? Anderson’s donation begs the question of whether the White Rock event can make a comeback.
This year made the fourth straight summer in which the two-day Tour, which included a criterium race in the uptown area and a longer road race beginning and ending on Marine Drive, was cancelled.
Restrictions introduced after the pandemic emergancy was declared effectively stalled any forward momentum for the Tour de White Rock – and other local races inspired by it.
While the BC Superweek pro cycling series, which includes the Tour de Delta, New West Grand Prix, Gastown Grand Prix, Giro di Burnaby and the Poco Grand Prix was put on hiatus until this year, only the Gastown Grand Prix returned, Stech noted.
“The costs of staging such an event, including traffic control and liability, are climbing – they’re becoming prohibitive,” he told Peace Arch News.
“Only Gastown was able to come back, but they have a significant major sponsor who was determined to see it happen,” he said.
“Without that level of sponsorship it would be difficult for the Tour de White Rock to return.”
But Anderson acknowledged he would like to see the Tour de White Rock tradition continue in some way.
“A lot of cyclists are hoping it will happen again,” he said. “I’m hoping it will, too.”