03/12/2025
No KSR in 2025
It is with disappointment that I am writing to let you know that we will not be holding the Killington Stage Race in 2025. While I have enjoyed putting the event on it never seemed to regain its footing following 2 years of COVID mandated cancelations. Last year the event had the smallest number of participants in its history with 241 racers competing. This number was just too small to keep the race viable. For comparison in 2011 we had 640 racers!
In addition to dwindling support for the event from racers, there were other headwinds that resulted in my decision to cancel:
Last fall the Killington Resort was sold to new owners. The new owners had resort management evaluate the events they supported. Based on the small turnout last year they made the decision to withdraw their support for the event. Since the event is based at the resort and they were the primary sponsor this was a major blow to the event taking place this year.
USA Cycling has scheduled the Pro and Junior National Championships for the week of Memorial Day weekend. The KSR could not afford to lose any more racers, and Nationals would pull many racers from the event.
Last year we had a very small number of Canadian racers competing. Normally, Canadian racers are 20-30% of our competitors. I was told that the low turnout last year was because of conflicting events in Canada prior to and following the KSR and a desire to reduce travel. With the ever changing and senseless trade war between the US and Canada it seemed likely that we would once again have a small Canadian contingent racing this year.
It saddens me to cancel the event as doing so removes what were two fun and challenging open road races from the already very small number of open road race events remaining on the racing calendar. It is also getting more challenging to permit open road races making the loss of these two established races that much more painful.
I am sure many of you want to know if the event will take place in 2026. At this point I cannot say as so much is out of my control. What I can say is I will consider doing so if I can find a sponsor and the event looks viable. If the event had taken place this year, I planned to prohibit time trial bikes from being used on Stage 3 as not having a TT bike was an issue for many racers that may have kept them from competing. While I contemplate the future of the KSR I would welcome your suggestions for how to improve the event.
On a more positive note, I am planning to put on the Green Mountain Stage Race once again this year. The event will be on Labor Day weekend (August 29-September 1). I plan to open registration in April and will send an email to the GMSR email list and post on the GMSR website and GMSR page once registration is open. As the cancelation of the KSR makes clear, if events like these are to have a future, we need racers to sign up and compete. At GMSR we do not have financial sponsors, it is solely entry fees from racers that pay for the event. I hope you can make it to the GMSR this year.
Finally, I want thank all of you who competed at the KSR over the years. We had so many fantastic days of racing with great camaraderie and competition that made the event one I looked forward to year after year.
Gary Kessler
Race Director
Killington Stage Race
Green Mountain Stage Race
