SENIOR GAMES

The young at heart prove cycling is sport for a lifetime

Huntsman World Senior Games has become an event in which senior athletes shave seconds off their cycling times – and years off the way they feel. The event is held in October each year.

Participants have their choice of one or all of four exciting and challenging events. The first day begins with a 5K Hill Climb beginning at the sand dunes at the base of Snow Canyon and continues up through red and white Navajo sandstone juxtaposed against black lava beds and brilliant blue sky. This event is not for wimps.

On the second day, the city of Enterprise, northwest of St. George, hosts the Senior Games Time Trials. The course is certified, 40K and 20K, out and back with a fast, flat gradual 60 degree turn and a slight dog leg. The course has an altitude of 5,200 feet. The racing is grand, the scenery is spectacular, and the people are irreplaceable. The race is followed by a scrumptious hot lunch and local entertainment. All guests are invited to stay the day. Festivities do not end with the race. Participants quote "it is the best cycling event anywhere!".

The third event is back in St. George at Bluff Street Park for the Criterium. The excitement mounts as cyclists compete 27 laps and 13 laps on a triangular street circuit with slight upgrades for a 37K and 16K course. Music plays, people laugh, and the competition's fierce.

The final day brings the Road Races (62K, 50K and 37K) which is a circuit course with three start locations. The finish is a long downhill, fast and twisty, challenging desert ride through scenic Snow Canyon (reverse Hill Climb).

Tucked in the southwest corner of Utah, well away from the sprawling development of larger cities, St. George, Utah, isn't just a stopping place on the way to Las Vegas. This city of 50,000 has a rich pioneer history as well as a far-reaching reputation for incredible hospitality. It's excellent golf courses, first-rate medical center, commuter airline, symphony orchestra, wonderful climate, and many other factors have made it one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

It's beautifully situated among the many national parks, monuments, and breathtaking scenic treasures that make this region so popular with travelers from around the world. It also boasts the Huntsman World Senior Games which include the premier senior cycling event in the world. They are held every October amidst the sheerest and most breathtaking red-rock formations this side of Mars.

Competitors compete in one or more of the events and then gather for a fabulous evening of sharing "war stories", bragging, congratulating and saying good-byes until, like swallows returning to Capistrano, they all appear the following year in St. George to challenge each other once again.

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