Gateway Cup this weekend in St Louis

IMG_2445.JPG

The 2010 Gateway Cup is being held this weekend in four beautiful historic neighborhoods in the City of St Louis.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the event:

"The Gateway Cup offers four quality days of racing in a row, and St. Louis has been behind the races," said Brad Huff, who is returning to the Gateway Cup after competing for the last three years in the Tour of Missouri. "Elites and professionals from all over the nation will come because it's so well put on."

The secret to longevity has been strong leadership and sponsorship. At the front are event director Mike Weiss and Michael Staenberg of THF Realty, the race's presenting sponsor for the past four years.

"I'm trying to fill the void left by Tour of Missouri," Staenberg said. "We've had something going for a while. We think attendance and professionalism will get better this year."  . . .

Unlike the Tour of Missouri, which spanned hundreds of miles over state roads, each 'stage" of the Gateway Cup is more of an independent event. The races are held on loop courses ranging from 1 to 1.7 miles, on which riders complete multiple laps. Racing will return to Lafayette Park tonight, Francis Park on Saturday and the Hill on Sunday but will venture for the first time to Benton Park for the finale Monday.

Gateway Cup Schedule

Friday, Sept 3rd

Tour de Lafayette, starting at 4pm

Saturday

St. Louis Hills Francis Park Criterium, starting at 10am.

Sunday

Giro della Montagna, on The Hill, starting at 8:30am.

Monday

Benton Park Classic Criterium, starting at 10am.

Admission is free for spectators.

More info/details at the Gateway Cup web site.

Photo of 2007 Gateway Cup courtesy UrbanReviewSTL on FlickR, license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic