Cyclists from around the world set to race in Elgin's historic Northeast Neighborhood
Hundreds of competitive cyclists will wheel into Elgin's historic Northeast Neighborhood on Friday for the eighth race of the 10-day Intelligentsia Cup Chicago.
Elgin Classic organizers expect more than the record 661 riders who raced last year. Participants in 10 divisions will compete on a 0.8-mile criterium-style course that starts and finishes on Cooper Avenue.
The duration of each race varies from 30 minutes in the novice categories to 75 minutes in the men's and women's pro races.
While some Intelligentsia Cup races are funded and run by their host towns, Elgin's race is a community event organized by volunteers, mostly from the Northeast Neighborhood Association.
Eric Larson, president of the association board, said a core group of about a dozen volunteers work all year long on the race. About 100 volunteers will report on race day.
"It's just people from the neighborhood and other individual volunteers who want to do something good for the neighborhood and good for the city," Larson said.
While the races are the main event, organizers have a lot more planned.
"Part of making this an event that is good for the neighborhood and good for the city is that it can't only be about competitive bike racing," Larson said.
The activities will kick off at 10:30 a.m. with a bike giveaway. Larson said 50 refurbished bikes and new helmets will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis to kids in need.
They'll follow that with a helmet decorating station, where volunteers from Side Street Studio Arts will help kids create stickers to personalize their bike helmets.
"A big theme of the race is not just encouraging riding bikes, but also doing it safely," Larson said. "Hopefully, if kids are proud of their helmet, they're more likely to wear it."
Other family activities include a bike safety clinic for kids at 11:30 a.m., kite making from 5 to 7 p.m. and a family fun ride from 6:15 to 6:45 p.m. The family festival area will include food trucks and beer from sponsor Fat Tire beer.
The 10-day racing series, which still has races remaining in Northbrook today, Lake Bluff on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday, drew 5,412 entries last year with cyclists from 42 states and 17 countries.
The Elgin race was founded in 2017 as the Dennis Jurs Memorial Race. Though the name of the race has changed this year, Larson said the event is still in the memory of Jurs, an Elgin racer who was killed on a training ride in 2015.