Everson-Nooksack News
Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 21, 2014
C1
Changes coming to Riverside Park's Ski to Sea handoff point Road bike-to-canoe handoff being moved down 400 feet for safety reasons By Brent Lindquist reporter@lyndentribune.com
EVERSON — The crucial Ski to Sea Race handoff point at Riverside Park will be quite a bit safer this year. "We moved the start of the canoe leg and the end of the road bike leg about 400 feet," race director Pete Coy said. Previously, road bikers had to make a hard right turn from Main Street to Park Drive, where the handoff to the canoe leg would take place. "They're still going to make the right turn, but they're going to have a 400-foot straight stretch before they do the chip handoff," Coy said. "It's going to make it easier for the canoeist waiting to receive the chip to identify their teammate." The change gives both the road bikers and canoeists extra reaction time to scope out their teammates for the handoff. Another change is coming to the Everson handoff point, this one having nothing to do with the actual running of the race. Last year, a mix of parking cars and constant rain essentially destroyed the grass at Riverside Park, and race organizers don't want to see that happen ever again. "Because of that rain, we kind of destroyed Riverside Park. We didn't feel very good about that," Coy said. "We decided that we would no longer park cars on the grass at Riverside Park, and we helped pay to restore the park after the race." In addition to paying for the restoration, race organizers decided to park cars
Canoeists can now see their road-biker counterparts coming with more reaction time. (File photo/Lynden Tribune)
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