Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

GranFondo bike race draws thousands to Whistler

Bikers harness shoulder power in what otherwise would be shoulder season
68203_l

A tsunami of brightly coloured spandex rolled up the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler last weekend, bringing with it a healthy dollop of economic prosperity. The second annual RBC GranFondo Whistler bike race started in downtown Vancouver on Saturday, September 10, ending later that day some 120-kilometres north of the city in a show of athleticism, community spirits and good, old-fashioned spending.

"The GranFondo weekend now is looking like it's on par with last year so we did see the number of participants grow, the bookings currently look like they were similar to last year, but when you look at the impact of this event compared to the same weekend pre-GranFondo, there's a significant bump in the range of about 35 per cent," said Breton Murphy, senior manager of communications for Tourism Whistler (TW).

This year, 7,000 riders participated in the sold-out event, bringing friends, partners and families along for support. The result was a bustling weekend for the resort community at a time where sales would typically be falling after the busy summer season.

"September we are generally entering into more of a shoulder period. But to see a bump like that on a weekend within our summer period in the range of 35 per cent is a real benefit," said Murphy. "When we asked some of our members what they were seeing over the weekend, anecdotally there is no doubt that for many of the properties they were seeing that their occupancy and room bookings were directly impacted by GranFondo in a very positive way."

Hotels across Whistler, including the Aava, the Listel and the Fairmont Chateau Whistler were at capacity on Friday and Saturday nights, with all noting higher-than-normal bookings on Sunday as well.

"It was an excellent event and a very busy weekend in Whistler as well and we were happy to see the numbers for the weekend," said Jennifer Tice, communications manager for the Chateau. "The numbers were definitely very strong compared to other years. We had about 200 bikes in storage here related to the GranFondo - so we set up one of our ballrooms for special storage this weekend because obviously due to the value of the bikes coming in we wanted to provide a more secure indoor storage for our guests."

Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed participated in the ride for the second time last Saturday. He was complimentary of the race's organization and spoke candidly about the municipality's ability to capitalize on the potential market associated with the burgeoning road biking set.

"To some degree I think it might have taken some of us by surprise to see how fast people are coming into this sport - it's not a new sport, of course, but you could call it newer to us," he said. "There's a tremendous interest in road cycling, we already have a really strong product in mountain biking and recreational cycling, this just adds a new component."

As Whistlerites well know and count on, when people exercise they also eat and drink heartily no matter what the sport. Cyclists flooded local restaurants with guests all weekend.

"It was insane, the phone was ringing off the hook the whole week leading up to it," said Ed Dangerfield, co-owner of Alta Bistro. "The clientele was awesome, that was the key, that was what was noticeable. These are people in their Mercedes and their Audis with their road bikes on their roofs and this is a demographic that loves to dine and spend money on wine - it was really fun."

For a small business like Alta Bistro, the addition of a bumper weekend at the start of a shoulder season makes a big difference to the bottom line. Not only was the restaurant able to take advantage of the extra bodies in town from a business perspective, their staff took home more tips and hourly wages to spend in the community.

"In terms of what it did this weekend - we were expecting it to die. We thought 'here we go, end of summer,' and then we get one more weekend out of it, which for us is huge," said Dangerfield. "It was a really big boost for restaurants at a time of year when we need it."

Not set to fade into the good night, the GranFondo will bring added exposure to the Whistler when it's featured in a half hour special on TSN titled "Inside the Ride." The program will showcase star riders and local participants while highlighting the resort as a summer destination. Set to broadcast nationally and internationally, Tourism Whistler's Murphy estimates the reach could extend up to 50 million viewers.

"The benefit isn't just the immediate in terms of the bookings, but also what it can mean for raising the profile of the resort as a summer destination, for sport tourism and getting us in front of the eyes of our number one market, which is Canada," he said. "When we look at the demographics for the road cycling, they tend to be socio-economically in a place where they're interested in taking a vacation, enjoying a nice meal, but they're also interested in - and this is where it's a great fit for Whistler - in an active lifestyle."

Due to extensive safety improvements on Highway 99, Murphy and Melamed believe the road cycling market is one that can be tapped to the benefit of all communities along the way.

"There's no doubt the improvement to the Sea to Sky highway...because of that widening of the shoulder, that has now boosted the opportunity for us to not only host these events, but just draw people to the resort who are interested in on their own, going for road cycling experience," said Murphy.