Written by: Staff
Posted: Tuesday, 01 April 2008
Professional and elite amateur cyclists will have to wait until next year to participate in Virginia’s version of the Tour de France.
Matthew Butterman, event director of the Tour of Virginia, announced Monday that the 2008 edition of the tour has been cancelled. Butterman cites lack of sufficient funds as the primary reason, according to a letter posted on the event website.
State agencies that event organizers had contacted for financial support were devoid of funds for special projects, according to the site. And while several companies had expressed interest in sponsorship, none followed that interest through with action.
“I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t supremely frustrated, devoid of confidence and depressed after having this experience,” he wrote.
Despite the setbacks, Butterman promises there are plans for a 2009 event
“This cancellation doesn’t represent an end, just an opportunity to rethink, rebuild, and emerge stronger from the test,” he wrote.
To read the letter in its entirety, visit
www.tourofvirginia.com.
By day, they are government workers, computer analysts and lawyers. After 7 p.m., this league of men and women morph into quasi-superheroes. At Primal Fitness’s Parkour Boot Camp in Washington D.C., gym short-clad participants cat-leap on to 8-foot boxes with the ease of lemurs. 
