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| The Tour has been cancelled for 2008 In a message previously posted on this page, I stated that the University of Texas at Tyler informed us that we would not be able to use their campus to hold the tour this year. The fact is that UTT informed us that we would not be able to use the University Center facilities that we had used in the past. They did offer us the use of another building, but we did not believe that those facilities could accommodate our needs. This was not the only obstacle we faced in being able to hold the tour, but it was the "last straw" and shortly after we were notified in late January that the University Center would not be available, the Beauty and the Beast committee decided to cancel the tour. The UTT Campus has been a great venue for our tour in the past and we appreciate our relationship with the college and regret any confusion this statement may have caused. I know that canceling the Beauty and the Beast is very disappointing for many of us. The number of riders has steadily increased over the past 7 years because of the generosity of our sponsors and the hard work of many of our members and volunteers from our community. Our club's commitment to provide a beautiful, well supported, safe tour with a wide variety of courses for all skill levels has gained The Beauty and the Beast tour a reputation of being one of the premier cycling events in Northeast Texas. The proceeds from the tour in years past have allowed us to make meaningful contributions to many worthy causes. Handing out helmets to some of the 600 kids that received them from us this Christmas was a highlight of my year and made me very proud of our club. Supporting our community in this way is a big reason why we work so hard each year to hold the Beauty and the Beast. Thanks to our committee members who were already hard at work to make this year's tour a success. Eric Williams, Galen Williams, John Cobb, Kristin Blaise, and Carole Burroughs have spent time and effort soliciting donations and making plans for the tour but we all felt that it would be better to cancel this year than hold a tour which wasn't up to Beauty and the Beast standards. With your help we plan to hold a bigger and better tour next year. Your president, Joe Canal |
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