RESULTS ARE IN: ECHELON NAPA GRAN FONDO NAPA
SETS THE STAGE FOR 2011 SERIES
Next stop – A thrilling course including a 17-mile climb up Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula famous Hurricane Ridge at the July 23rd Echelon Seattle Gran Fondo
(Napa, CA – May 26, 2011) – The clouds parted ways as the helicopter hovered over the starting line of downtown Napa’s Main Street for the 2nd annual Echelon Gran Fondo. Nearly 1000 cyclists lined up to experience the first ever police escorted road-enclosure down ten miles of the famous Napa Valley Silverado Trail. From the fanfare at the start of the festival, the organizers of Echelon focused their efforts on creating an exclusive “Hollywood meets the hills of Napa Valley” cycling experience for individuals, participants and their fundraising teams.
The Napa Valley event, open to all levels and abilities of cyclists, allowed participants the choice to sign up as strictly paying participants or fundraisers in which monies go to the Queen of the Valley Cancer Center in Napa, the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center located on the campus of St. Helena Hospital and the Napa Valley Vine Trail, an important non-profit organization dedicated to implementing a 44 mile multi-use trail from Calistoga to Vallejo, California.
Team Clydesdales, a three-man crew, was recognized as the top fundraising team with Endurance PTC as a close second, which had recruited over 40 people for their Echelon team. Pine Ridge Vineyards was this year’s leading fundraising winery followed by Team Chappellet, and Castello di Amorosa. TRIMORE Fitness and Fusion Sport were also recognized for their efforts that spanned both fundraising and event promotion. Along with the over 45 teams, several cancer-survivor participants were called out during the starting line ceremony.
“Our goal is to give people an out of the box cycling experience, reward those that put in their personal time fundraising before the event, and recognize those that cancer has directly impacted. Combining a traditional Gran Fondo with a Charity ride does offer complexities, but at the end of the day we were very pleased with the outcome given that we wanted to keep this an intimate and exclusive experience,” commented Executive Director, Hunter Ziesing.
As in year one, after the timed 4 mile hill climb on Napa Valley’s Ink Grade, a 20 piece Jazz band from Napa High was stationed to greet the riders and the renowned Culinary Institute of America was set up to provide a healthy dose of carbohydrates. The event’s signature icon, the Angel of Echelon, moved along the entire course inspiring those to keep pedaling and stopping for photos with her fans. The event’s festival featured Napa Valley wineries, Sierra Nevada beer and a smorgasbord of culinary dishes from the Model Bakery, The Napa General Store, Three Twins Ice Cream and others.
The Echelon entourage has now turned its sights north to the Seattle area’s Olympic Peninsula in which they are staging another first-ever cycling experience – up the famed Hurricane Ridge. The event offers spectacular 30, 70, and 100 courses and limited entrants to their Super Gran Fondo course, a one-way ticket to a first time 100 mile ride summiting Hurricane Ridge. For more information about the July 23rd event, visit http://www.echelongranfondo.org/seattle
About PlanetZ/Echelon:
PlanetZ is a non-profit global member organization that promotes human affairs including health, environment, and community, and is greatly committed to the cycling community at large by creating events and fitness challenges that are designed to raise money to local and national cancer focused institutions. For more information, please visit www.echelongranfondo.org
