(Published Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:22:46 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Mike Heine Gazette Staff
ELKHORN
Walworth County is still in the race for an Olympic venue should Chicago land the 2016 summer games.
Chicago 2016, the city's Olympic bid committee, invited a contingent of county and state officials to lay out plans to bring mountain biking, road biking and possibly BMX biking events to Walworth County. The Chicago committee will hear the proposal at a meeting Monday.
"In order to make the proposal, you have to go to Chicago's committee," said Fred Burkhardt, executive director of the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance. "They are the nominated city for the United States. Chicago was either going to talk to us or they're not. The fact that they have decided to talk to us is one step closer to achieving our goal."
The bid package proposes to have mountain biking at the John Muir Trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, BMX biking at UW-Whitewater or Alpine Valley Resort in East Troy, and a road cycling race from downtown Chicago, through Racine and Kenosha counties and finishing at the Kettle Moraine State Forest area near Whitewater, Burkhardt said.
"It's the entire cycling cluster," Burkhardt said.
Burkhardt isn't sure when Chicago would have an answer as to whether it will include southeastern Wisconsin in a proposal that will go to the International Olympic Committee. Applications for all 2016 bids are due Sept. 13.
"I would suppose we'll have some kind of correspondence within 30 to 45 days. What that will say, I would not want to cast a guess on it," Burkhardt said.
Chicago is facing international competition from Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Madrid, and Prague, Czech Republic.
Chicago and Rio de Janeiro are likely the leading cities as the IOC typically alternates continents. London will hold the 2012 games, making the European cities of Madrid and Prague long-shots, and Beijing is hosting the games in 2008, giving Tokyo an outside shot.
The United States has not hosted the Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta games, which would be 20 years by 2016. South America has never hosted an Olympics, but Rio de Janeiro is hosting the Pan-American Games next year.
The IOC also likes having cycling events clustered together and using outlying areas, Burkhardt said.
Chicago 2016 hadn't released plans for its road biking or BMX courses, but was looking to have mountain biking at the Palos Forest Preserve just west of the city's downtown.
"We think we might offer an enhancement to that," with the Kettle Moraine trails, Burkhardt said.
"That will make the Chicago bid on an international level much stronger."
Road cycling courses typically start off on a rather flat surface, which Chicago has, and finish on more varying terrain, found easily in the glacial-formed hills here, Burkhardt said.
The local contingent will stress that southeastern Wisconsin has the vertical climbs necessary for the long-distance road courses.
"Why not start in Chicago and run it through three Wisconsin counties," Burkhardt said.
