Lance Armstrong will not race at this year’s Singlespeed Mountain Bike Championships in Rotorua in October.
However, the cycling legend and seven times winner of the Tour de France, has a very good reason why not.
“My friend, Mike Sherwin, has told me Rotorua is a wonderful place,” says Armstrong, in a letter to the Singlespeed Worlds organizers.
“Unfortunately, I am unable to attend as it is the same date as the Ride for the Roses Weekend in Austin, Texas.”
Ride for the Roses is one of the main fund raising events run by
Livestrong, the organization Armstrong set up to raise money for cancer research.
“Mike Sherwin’s a good friend of Rotorua and a director of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Livestrong and has always talked up our town to Lance,” says Graeme Simpson, from the Singlespeed Worlds team.
“It’s a pity the dates clash, but Ride for the Roses is a labour of love for Lance and we respect that, of course.”
So much so that the Singlespeed Worlds will be supporting cancer research.
“We’ll have donation jars at registration,” says Simpson. “People can choose to give some dollars to the cause, if they want to.”
Cancer research is a cause close to the hearts of the Singlespeed Worlds team.
“We’ve have had friends and family die of cancer over the last few years,” says event organizer, Dean Watson.
“Others have survived - like Lance - and anything we can do to help a cause like this is time well spent.”
“It’s not every day you get a letter from someone like Lance," says Watson, with a laugh. "It might just go straight to the trophy room."
