Exciting news for our beautiful Blue Ridge — USA Cycling is bringing back a national championship race.
10 News spoke with city leaders about the economic boost this will bring to the Star City.
Virginia’s Blue Ridge will be named host of the 2025-2026 Endurance and Mountain Biking National Championship.
The national championship races will be a thrilling showcase of athleticism and adrenaline in the heart of the Blue Ridge.
“Amazing terrain, beautiful trails, really great downtown in Roanoke, really welcoming community. It’s just going to be a fantastic place for a week of bike racing,” Brendan Quirk, president and CEP of USA Cycling said.
Over a thousand athletes will compete through the trails of Explore Park, Elmwood Park, and Carvins Cove.
“Everybody involved in American bike racing will come to this event, so you are going to have itty bitty 11–12-year-olds racing but you’re also going to have the athletes who are racing professionally the athletes who are representing us on the Olympic team they are all going to be here,” Quirk said.
City leaders rave about how this will be huge for our economic growth in the Star City.
“The hotel rooms, the restaurants and all of that and that’s something we all look forward to and it’s a good part of what we do,” Roanoke Mayor Lea said.
We are told people spend millions to watch events just like this.
“Visitors engaging in sports tourism spend 7.3 million dollars every single day every single day in Virginia 7.3 million and that represents 344 million dollars in state and local taxes,” Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation said.
“The important thing is having the quality of trails that are required for these athletes to have a great race, that’s hard work it takes a lot of money it takes a lot of planning, it’s not something you can build overnight and it’s a credit to many years of dedication and development by Virginia’s blue ridge to build out this amazing network of trails,” Quirk said.
The USA Cycling National Championships will be held next year from July 14 through July 20:
- July 14: Marathon Race at Carvins Cove Natural Reserve (approx. 400 athletes)
- July 15-16: Short Track Race at Elmwood Park (approx. 550 athletes)
- July 17-20: Endurance Cross Country Race at Explore Park (approx. 1,000 athletes)