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Great Victorian Bike Ride wins major tourism awardLast year’s Great Victorian Bike Ride through Gippsland won gold at the 2004 Victorian Tourism Awards on Monday. By Latrobe Shire Council - 25th November 2004 - Back to News Organised by Bicycle Victoria, the VicRoads Great Victorian Bike Ride won the hotly contested ‘Significant Festivals and Events’ category.
Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Darrell White said he was thrilled with the announcement and congratulated Bicycle Victoria on their win, together with the Latrobe community who had welcomed the riders and helped make the event such a success.
Cr Sheridan Bond, who represented Latrobe City at the award presentation, said the Great Victorian Bike Ride stopped in Glengarry last year as a result of a cooperative effort by three Gippsland Councils to work together to attract the Great Victorian Bike Ride to the region.
"It was the first time in twelve years that the Great Victorian Bike Ride had come to Latrobe, and Events Latrobe and the tourism team worked tirelessly over many months to ensure that the stopover was the great success that eventuated," Cr Bond said.
At the Award presentation Bicycle Victoria's event director, Vincent Ciardulli, said that recognition of the Great Victorian Bike Ride was the result of twenty years of extremely hard work put in by staff. "They are an amazing team of volunteers and the cyclists – all 70,000 of them," Mr Ciardulli said.
"I would like to particularly give recognition to the local councils of Gippsland that helped make the 2003 ride truly memorable. They have set a high standard for other local councils and community organisations across the state," Mr Ciardulli said.
Celebrating its twentieth anniversary the 2003 VicRoads Great Victorian Bike Ride rode a classic ‘Summit to Sea’ route, starting at Mt Hotham in the Victorian Alps, along the Great Alpine Road, through forests, alongside rivers, past beaches and historical towns to Mornington beach on the outskirts of Melbourne. Part of the route was deliberately chosen to take cyclists into a Victorian region that had been badly fire-damaged.
Events Latrobe manager, Janiene Ayre, said that the 2003 Great Victorian Bike Ride organisers had been delighted with the number of participants. "They had originally aimed to attract 3,000 riders from across the State, but with more than 4,000 taking part they surpassed all expectations and achieved the best response in ten years.
"Regions compete fiercely to attract the event, and the announcement of this well-deserved award provides further encouragement to the organisers to bring the ride back to Gippsland at the earliest opportunity," Ms Ayre said.
This year’s Great Victorian Bike Ride features the Great Ocean Road and runs from 27 November to 5 December 2004.
"It’s a unique and unforgettable experience and I am sure that the towns in the south west of the state will be just as memorable and welcoming as Gippsland was in 2003," Vincent Ciardulli added.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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