National champions and top-level cyclists to attend historic race
Vancouver, B.C. – The storied Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix arrives on Wednesday, July 10 and with more than $50,000 in combined prize money and primes on the line and some of the top Canadian cyclists and professional American teams registered to participate, the racing will be fast-paced and exciting from start to finish.
Below is a list of some of the top riders registered for this year’s Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix, though history has shown to never count out top local riders. Many on this list are returning pros after catching the eye of team directors in previous years at the race.
MEN’S FIELD
Alec Cowan | L39ION of Los Angeles
Cowan is the lone Canadian rider on the L39ION of Los Angeles men’s team and the Calgary, Alberta product has been with the squad since 2021. The 27-year-old was second at the FC Tulsa Arts District Criterium last month as part of the Saint Francis Tulsa Tough in Oklahoma. He has one other top-10 finish so far this year — it came in May at the Easton Twilight Criterium/PA Elite State Crit Championship. The eight-year pro was the 2023 Canadian National Criterium champion and is a two-time stage winner at the UCI 2.2 Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Cory Williams | Miami Blazers
Williams is a sprinter for the Miami Blazers, a team he helped found alongside his brother Justin as part of Williams Racing Development. In addition to his cycling accomplishments, the 30-year-old from Los Angeles is a champion for diversity in the sport of bike racing. He has four first place finishes this year, including at the ELDO Race Series in Long Beach, California in May. Internationally, Williams represents Belize, which is where his father is from. He won the 2024 Belize national road race and individual time trial championships last month.
Al Murison | Ribble Rebellion
Murison, a dual UK-Canadian citizen, moved to Vancouver in 2016 and firmly established himself in the B.C. cycling scene. The 32-year-old holds three provincial championships and two Provincial Road Race Championships. He narrowly missed the podium at last year’s Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix, finishing fourth. At the USA CRITS Speed Week series featuring the world’s top crit teams earlier this spring, Murison posted third place finishes at the Spartanburg Reg Healthcare System Criterium and the Spin the District Hapeville Criterium.
Dušan Kalaba | ButcherBox Cycling p/b LOOK
Kalaba is one of many former national champions registered for this year’s Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix. The product of Belgrade, Serbia won the road race at the 2017 Serbian National Road Championships. Kalaba, 28, just missed the podium during this year’s Saint Francis Tulsa Tough in June, finishing fourth at the McNellie’s Group Blue Dome Criterium and McElroy River Parks Criterium. As part of the Midwestern State University cycling team, he won the men’s varsity criterium and individual crit at the USA Collegiate Road Cycling Nationals last year.
Tyler Stites | Project Echelon Racing
2024 has been good for Stites, a 26-year-old from Tucson, Arizona. He has nine podium finishes this year, including wins at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, Tour of the Gila, and Tour de Beauce. Additionally, he was first in the general classification at the Tour of the Gila and Redlands Bicycle Classic. Stites also placed second in the 2024 U.S. National Championships individual time trial and won the Rhodes GP by Culture & Sports Organization — a UCI 1.2 race — in Greece in March. During his career, he’s also won two stages at the prestigious Joe Martin Stage Race.
Kaler Marshall | Expeditors Elite Cycling
It is a common sight to see Marshall on the podium in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. He finished second in the Tour de Delta | White Spot UCI Road Race in 2018 and 2019 in addition to being runner-up in the 2016 Tour de White Rock Road Race. The 38-year-old from Walla Walla, Washington also took home the 2016 Tour de White Rock omnium for most overall points. Marshall also nabbed the Redlands Classic king of the mountain prize in 2022. More recently, he claimed sixth and eighth place finishes during May’s Tour de Bloom in Wenatchee, Washington.
Campbell Parrish | TaG Cycling
Parrish, from Vancouver, is a rising star in Canadian cycling. He was a crowd favourite at last year’s Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix, spending many laps off the front. The 19-year-old was third at this year’s U23 Canadian national road championships individual time trial after winning the Junior time trial in 2022. On the pro circuit this year, Parrish claimed victory in the Palisades Time Trial in May, which is Stage 3 of the Tour de Bloom. He was also part of Canada’s team that won gold in the men’s team pursuit at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile.
Ruben Apers | Ribble Rebellion
Apers, from Belgium, was fifth in the time trial at the UCI Junior Road World Championships in 2016. During his career, the 25-year-old has raced and been in breaks in Monuments like France’s Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, which takes place in his home country. He’s also competed in one of the youngest Classic races — the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. Apers’ experience in cobbled classics like Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders could benefit him as he navigates the cobblestone streets that make up the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix course.
WOMEN’S FIELD
Kendall Ryan | L39ION of Los Angeles
Ryan is looking to grow her legend at the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix after becoming the first rider ever to win the race four times last year. Much like previous years, Ryan has momentum in her return to British Columbia, as she won the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic in New York two weeks ago. The Lower Mainland of BC agrees with the native of Ventura, California as she had eleven first place finishes at former BC Superweek events from 2017 to 2019. The 31-year-old Ryan is a five-time USA national champion who was born into a family of cyclists.
Ivanie Blondin | Team Goldman Sachs ETFs
Known primarily as a speed skater, Blondin has an impressive athletic resume, including an Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit at the 2022 Winter Games and multiple World Cup podiums. She also claimed silver in the speed skating mass start at Beijing 2022. On the cycling circuit, Blondin helped her Goldman Sachs ETFs team claim third in the overall podium at USA Speed Week earlier this spring. The 34-year-old from Ottawa, Ontario is no stranger to the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix after finishing third at the race last year.
Holly Simonson | LA Sweat
Now into her second year with the LA Sweat team, Simonson was the 2023 Canadian National Criterium Champion and spent much of this past April and May competing in races in Belgium. The Victoria, B.C. product is bound to have some extra motivation when she rolls up to the start line at the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix as it’s essentially a local criterium for the 26-year-old. Simonson won the 2023 Agency Grand Prix in her hometown last summer and claimed the Under-23 Women’s BC Road Championship in 2019.
Skylar Schneider / Samantha Schneider | Miami Blazers
Skylar, the 2023 Pan American Road Continental Championship gold medalist, is a formidable rider who’s been on the podium no less than 11 times this year, including four first place finishes last month. Just over a week ago, she won the Boise Twilight Criterium as a tune up for the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix. Samantha, born in 1990, has no less than five podium appearances in 2024, including two during last month’s Kwik Trip Tour of America’s Dairyland. She finished second in both the Shorewood Criterium Cycling Classic and Janesville Town Square Grand Prix. The sisters also own a successful bakery in West Allis, Wisconsin called The Bread Pedalers.
Llori Sharpe | L39ION of Los Angeles
Sharpe is trailblazer in Jamaican cycling as the first cyclist from the Caribbean nation to ever ride for a UCI road team. The 23-year-old claimed the Jamaican road race and time trial national titles both this year and in 2023. Last year she was also runner-up in the Caribbean Road Championships road race. Sharpe’s background is in multiple sports, but she was named Athlete of the Year in Cycling at Jamaica’s prestigious RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation national awards in 2021. Her best result this year is 11th place at the Roger Millikan Grand Prix in Brea, California.
Alexi Ramirez | Miami Blazers
Now in her fifth-year racing in the United States, Ramirez is one of the top women’s pro cyclists from Trinidad and Tobago. She claimed top spot in the individual time trial and road race at the 2023 Trinidad and Tobago National Road Championships. The 28-year-old grabbed silver in the women’s omnium — or overall points — at the Pan American Elite Track Cycling Championships last year in Argentina. In 2019, Ramirez finished third in the Elite Road Caribbean Championships individual time trial and fourth in the road race.
The 51st anniversary of the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix starts with the Youth Race at 5:30 p.m., followed by the official opening ceremonies at 5:55 p.m. The pro women’s race begins at 6:15 p.m. while the pro men take the course at 7:30 p.m. The official award ceremonies are set to occur around 9 p.m. at the start/finish line at the corner of Water St. and Cambie St. in historic Gastown.
Live streaming of the men’s and women’s races is available on the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix website at https://globalrelayggp.org.
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