The Subaru Cycling Series will make its first visit to Salt Lake City this Sunday when racers compete in the area surrounding the Salt Palace and Symphony Hall.
The series, billed as a top amateur and professional race, was lured to Salt Lake when a scheduled date in Washington, D.C., fell through. Salt Lake organizers, anxious to stage high-profile sporting events that will help enhance the city's image as a prospective Olympic host, jumped at the chance to bring the race to town.Pro and amateur racers will appear from several top teams, and a number of the racers are making a return visit to Utah. The USCF National Cycling Championships were held in Park City in July, and among the women who attended that, and who are also listed in the Subaru series, are Team Lycra's Geanne Golay, Lowrey's Jane Marshall, and Mazda/Michelin's Marion Clignet.
Also competing will be Park City's Madonna Harris, racing for Subaru. Harris missed the USCF Nationals due to a shoulder injury.
Harris recovered to finish fifth in the world championships (road race) but says she still isn't completely healed.
"It's been little slow. The (shoulder) still moves around a little bit. It's a little disconcerting," said Harris.
Among the men's competitors who were at the USCF races are Frankie Andreau of 7-Eleven, Bob Mionske of Celestial Seasonings, and John Tomac of Celestial Seasonings.
Cyclists will compete for $14,000 in prize money and the chance to win a new Subaru car. The women's 20-mile race begins at noon and the men's 40-mile race at 1:30. The race will be run on West Temple, South Temple, Second West and Second South.
Race stops in the series have already included Dallas, Minneapolis, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Seattle and Atlanta. Leaders going into the Salt Lake race are 7-Eleven's Tom Schuler in the men's competition and Marianne Berglund of Team Lycra in women's.
The championship race will be in Philadelphia Sept. 17.