The Tour of Utah has come into its own since 2000 when the first inkling of the race was an amateur stage race held in Salt Lake City. Long-time Park City area resident and Summit County employee, Pat Putt loves the sport and has been a part of the world pro cycling event since the beginning. Carolyn Murray has this:
Summit County Community Development Director, Pat Put, says working the Tour of Utah is like Christmas in August. Eighteen years-ago he helped organize and competed in the Thanksgiving Point Stage Race. He’s been involved in the evolution of the Tour of Utah to what is now a world-wide pro cycling event.
“This race grew out of a local amateur stage race that began in 200. It was a stage race called the Thanksgiving Point Stage Race. In 2004 it made a humongous leap into an NRC 4 (National Racing Calendar) race and from there it blossomed into what we have today.”
Putt says races come and go in the United States but the Tour of Utah has the energy and excitement of the most renowned cycling events worldwide.
“You know, for me, one of the measures is not just how many people are there at the finish line, it’s the number of people that are at the starts and the energy. I think our energy level compares with other really big races and we’ve had people come up to us all the time and say we’ve been to the Tour De France, we’ve been to the Giro D’Italia and it’s just like that. And when we hear that kind of feedback it’s like we’ve got something here.”
Putt has loved cycling his entire life. He’s raised four boys in Park City and has cultivated in them the love of the sport. He says he is grateful for the cycling community because it has enriched their lives in so many ways. Two of his boys, Chris and Tanner, have ridden the Tour of Utah in the past. Tanner is still riding professionally with the United Healthcare Team and until a head injury a few weeks ago was planning to race.
“He didn’t race this year and likely not to race in Colorado. He unfortunately had an incident a couple of weeks back. He went down, hit his head and concussion protocols are such that we want to keep him safe. Don’t want to put him in harm’s way so yea. Was it hard to not see him out there. From a parent’s perspective, you’ve seen him so many times. He and his brother Chris have raced the race a number of times but you embrace those memories and those good times. You know he’s going to get through this and I’m pretty confident we are going to see him back here in a race in upcoming years.”
Chris raced the Tour of Utah in 2014 and 2015. He’s been working for Summit County this summer as the Lead Brand Ambassador for the Summit Ride Share Program. With nine stations and about 140 bikes, he’s busy helping users with apps and operational issues.
“Yea, you know it’s like anything. Ninety -nine percent of the people are going to go out there and have a great day and love it. It’s a brand new system and we‘re a Guinea pig and if something goes wrong with the bike…it’s for the most part super positive feedback. At the rate that it’s growing and basically, the demand for them, the more stations we can get…people are going to ride the bikes for sure.”
Putt looks forward to the Tour of Utah returning to Park City next year and hopes the final stage stays in town for a long time to come.
