Bike races mark end of Italian Week By KENNETH JACKSON Metro Ottawa A cycling race yesterday capped 11-days of themed events to mark the misnamed Italian Week in Ottawa. “It’s been a great week. Besides a little bit of rain on Friday, our attendance numbers should be high again,” said Raffaela Plastino, president of Italian Week. The big events on the closing- day docket were Youth Relay and Italian Festival Grand Prix bicycle races, which closed down several streets in Ottawa’s Little Italy. The grand prix saw 104 riders vying in a 100-kilometre event. First prize went to Darko Ficko, followed by Charly Vives in second and Yann DeVille in third. “This is one of the best races I enter every year. The energy from the crowd is unreal,” said Ficko, who captured $450 in prize money and his weight in beer — which turned out to be six cases of Stella Artois. “There were people coming out of their homes to watch the race,” he said. “One house had a 50-foot banner with my name on it. I have never met those people before in my life. It’s incredible,” he said. In the youth race, a team of four dubbed the Grandmas won the race and 60 kilograms of ice cream. “That’s a lot of ice cream,” said team member Maddie Martin. “We are going to have an ice cream house party and everyone is invited.” Braeden Elliot crossed the finish line for The Grandmas and said the two-kilometre route was harder than he first imagined. “My legs were burning. It was basically a two-kilometre sprint on a bike,” Elliot said. “We don’t bike that much either.” Peter Tyler, one of the organizers of Italian Week, said the races always draw a crowd. “People like gathering along the street and have a beer at one of the local pubs. |