2002 UIPA Nominee Local/Regional
Coverage
THIS IS 'NON-MOTORIZED RECREATION: The 24 Hours of Moab Bike Race...
The 9th annual '24 Hours of Moab' bicycle race
occurred on October 18-19, just ten miles south of
Moab, near the Behind the Rocks at the top of
Blue Hill. The 12 mile race course comes
within a fraction of a mile of proposed Utah
Wilderness Coalition wilderness areas.
Race organizers estimated that as many as 7000
people participated in this event, and clearly, the
vast majority were spectators, not participants.
And our estimate is that perhaps as many as 2000
vehicles--mostly SUVs and motor-homes were parked
off -road and camped for the event.
This race course comes very close to proposed
wilderness; from 1995 to 1998, the course DID
invade Utah Wilderness Coalition acreage. In
1998, the UWC withdrew the land as potential
wilderness, although SUWA maintains that the
withdrawl had nothing to do with the '24 Hours'
event.
In addition, much of the course is run on
'user-created' roads, which the UWC does not
recognize as roads at all.
No one from any Utah environmental group
monitored this event. The Zephyr hopes the UWC
will re-instate the lands it once considered worthy
of wilderness designation...JS
Want to see MORE damage from the '24 Hours of Moab' bike race. Go to this link to see Lee Bridgers' documentation... http://www.dreamride.com/24hrrace2.html
