News
For the fourth consecutive year, hundreds of cyclists and thousands of spectators are expected to take over the Village of East Davenport on Monday for the largest bicycle race event in the Quad-Cities.
The Kwik Star Criterium Ñ formerly known as the Quad-Cities Criterium Ñ is Òbigger and betterÓ this year, said John Harrington, who helps organize the annual Memorial Day festivities for the Quad-Cities Bicycle Club.
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Hundreds of professional and amateur bike racers are preparing for the Iowa Memorial Weekend Cycling Classic. Beginning Friday, there'll be four days of bike racing in eastern Iowa.
John Harrington from the Quad Cities Bicycle Club says the races in Burlington, Muscatine, and the Quad Cities have been held for many years during the Memorial Day weekend, but this year they're part of something new - the Midwest Flyover Championship Series.
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To All Racers competing in the Kwik Star Criterium on Memorial Day:
We have a host housing program for Mens Pro/1/2 and Womens Pro/1/2/3 teams. If your team is registered for the Kwik Star Criterium, we can provide a home for your team for the weekend.
Please contact Janette Harrington at jkhjwh@gmail.com, 563/343-0464.
You will need to fill out the following questionnaire and return to her.
Race Team Questionnaire
What is expected of racers who use host housting
Here is how you can help...
- Sunday, May 28th afternoon pre-set up
- Course set up and tear down
- Work one of 4 shifts during the Crit as a Crossing or Corner Marshal or be a Flagger.
- Volunteer to work two shifts or all shifts as an at-large helper to fill in any gaps that occur
- Be a Post Crit trash clean-up leader or volunteer to tidy up the course afterwards
- Support of working volunteers...making sure volunteers have...water...snacks
Join us at our annual pre-Crit meeting with all volunteers at the Mounds St. entrance of 11th St. Precinct on Tuesday, May 2nd.
I will be there at 5:00. Pizza will start at 5:30 and the official beginning time will be 6:00 p.m.
Contact Dean "Bareback" Mathias
309-737-8429
mathiasdebdean@peoplepc.com
Village of East Davenport, Iowa, April 10, 2017-The Kwik Star Criterium will donate to Honor Flight of the Quad Cities.
"We are pleased to make a donation to Honor Flight of the Quad Cities on Memorial Day," said Quad Cities Bicycle Club member John Harrington. "Our club has a history of donating to great charities, so with over 40 years of racing on Memorial Day we thought we'd give to Honor Flight of the Quad Cities. They do a fantastic job honoring our veterans. We also encourage the Quad Cities bicycling community to consider donating to HonorFlightQC.org"
"We at Kwik Star are delighted by the fact that more of our veterans will be able to go to Washington D.C. to see their memorials. It only seems appropriate on a holiday dedicated to the remembrance of our nation's war dead that we thank those who offered the same sacrifice and yet are still with us today. Thank you to the Honor flight of the Quad Cities for making this possible." Carl Rick, Public Relations Specialist and Third Generation Owner
The Kwik Star Criterium was first run as the Moline Criterium in 1965 and has evolved over the years, eventually landing on Memorial Day in 1975. Since then it has joined with other area races to form the Iowa Memorial Weekend Cycling Classic.
About Honor Flight of the Quad Cities
In 2008, The Quad Cities formed a local chapter of the Honor Flight Network, called Honor Flight of the Quad Cities (HFQC). The purpose of HFQC is to fly America's veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to honoring their sacrifices.
Top priority is given to WWII and Korean War Era Veterans, or any veterans with a terminal illness. The intention is to honor our local and regional heroes who were selfless in their military duty with a free trip to visit their memorials. Veterans within a 75 mile radius of the Quad Cities are encouraged to apply. The program operates on donations from organizations and individuals. Volunteers of all kinds plan and coordinate the flight events, and special guardians are trained to help escort the veterans on flight days.
John Harrington
Quad Cities Bicycle Club
jwhjkh@gmail.com
563-940-6023
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Carl Rick
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
crick@kwiktrip.com
608-791-7344
|
Margie Hansen
Honor Flight of the Quad Cities
mhansen@ridgecrestvillage.org
563-388-3592
|
VILLAGE OF EAST DAVENPORT, Iowa, March 8, 2017 - The Quad Cities Criterium, an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition run by the Quad Cities Bicycle Club, will be known as the Kwik Star Criterium this year as Kwik Trip, Inc. has signed on as title sponsor.
"Kwik Star is proud to be involved with the Quad Cities Criterium. The race has a great history and long tradition so we are grateful for the opportunity to help support an event which benefits the Quad Cities and our surrounding communities," said Carl Rick, Public Relations Specialist and Third Generation Owner of Kwik Trip, Inc.
"We are excited to have Kwik Star become the title sponsor of the Quad Cities Criterium, a staple of Midwest bike racing for many years," said Quad Cities Bicycle Club member John Harrington. "While our race draws racers from all over the country, the core of our ridership and spectators are from Iowa and the surrounding states."
The Quad Cities Criterium was first run as the Moline Criterium in 1965 and has evolved over the years, eventually landing on Memorial Day in 1975. Since then it has joined with other area races to form the Memorial Day Bike Race Weekend series.
In 2014 the race moved to its current location in the Village of East Davenport and features a challenging hilly circuit. New for 2017, all of the weekend races are part of the Midwest Flyover Series, which consists of bike races in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Minnesota, and features overall prize purses for each category.
About Kwik Trip, Inc.
Kwik Trip, Inc. operates its Iowa stores under the Kwik Star banner and is one of the largest independently held convenience store chains in the United States, with more than 550 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and employs over 18,000 people. In 2016, Kwik Star was ranked #1 on the Des Moines Register's Top Work Places list by its 1700 co-workers in Iowa. They currently operate six Kwik Stars and one Kwik Star Express in the Quad Cities area.
For More Information:
John Harrington
Quad Cities Bicycle Club
jwhjkh@gmail.com
563-940-6023
Carl Rick
Kwik Trip, Inc.
crick@kwiktrip.com
608-791-7344
The race weekend as a whole is being referred to as the "Iowa Memorial Weekend Cycling Classic" or "IMWCC".
The "IMWCC" is now a part of the
Flyover Championship Race Series
- The Flyover combines the best omnium races in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin into one Championship Midwest Omnium Race Series. With the goal to make it the most prestigious amateur race series in North America.
- The series promotes growth in youth cycling by aligning with USA Cycling's Road Development Race Series (RDRS). The RDRS junior riders development program provides racing to juniors, 9 year olds and up, and scores males and females separately. Like the elite men and women, our juniors compete for Flyover points and are awarded Flyover trophis for 1st - 3rd place.
Steve Tappa has been a friend and supporter of the Quad Cities Bicycle Club for many years. As sportswriter for the Rock Island Dispatch-Argus since 1989, Steve has covered every local and national sport. For years he highlighted our club's events in his weekly round-up of Quad Cities athletic events.
It is his longtime coverage of the Quad Cities Criterium that places him as the best bike race reporter in our region. His passion for our races remained strong even as we moved from Rock Island to the Village of East Davenport. His race coverage and interviews of past and present Criterium winners are without peer.
Club members, it's our turn to help Steve and his family. Over the last year Steve has endured pneumonia, congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. This year he had open heart triple bypass surgery and additional invasive procedures related to infections in his sternum. Next year he will have a 10 hour surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor at the base of his brain which, if successful, will result in deafness in one ear. His family is broke because of his medical bills.
Please consider financially helping the Tappa family at GoFundMe.
On a lighter note, the Tappa Family Fundraiser is being held at the Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 2nd Avenue in Rock Island on Friday, December 2 from 6 pm - 2am. Go to Tappa Family Fundraiser on Facebook for details about the silent auction and live music with three bands.
Let's do our part to make sure that Steve interviews the 2017 Quad Cities Criterium winners on the finish line in the Village of East Davenport.
Thank you,
John Harrington
