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Tour of Somerville
File:Tour of Somerville 2017.jpg
Race details
Date Memorial Day
Region Somerville, New Jersey
Nickname(s) “The Kentucky Derby of Cycling"
Discipline Road
Type One-day
History
First edition 1940 (1940)
Editions 76 (as of 2019)
First winner  Furman Kugler (USA)
Most recent  George Jackson (NZL)

The Tour of Somerville is an annual, three-day series of bicycle races held in and around Somerville, New Jersey, during Memorial Day weekend. The featured Memorial Day event, the Kugler-Anderson 50-mile race for professional and elite cyclists is the oldest competitive bicycle race in the country, having first been run in 1940. The event has become known as "The Belmont Stakes of Cycling" and draws international Olympians and top cyclists from around the world. It was known as the predominant cycling race in America from the 1940s through the 1980s.

History

Furman Kugler and Fred "Pop" Kugler
First Tour of Somerville winner Furman Kugler and his father, tour founder, Fred "Pop" Kugler
Tour of Somerville Champs 1940
Fred Kugler Sr., Fred "Pop" Kugler (Tour of Somerville founder), Furman Kugler, Harry Naismyth, Mildred Kugler, Somerville mayor Freas Hess, and Carl Rauber

The Tour of Somerville is the oldest major bicycle race in the United States. It was first run in 1940. The race was created by Somerville bike shop owner Fred “Pop” Kugler when his son, Furman, a past National Cycling champion and one of the country's most promising cyclists, had wanted a race closer to home. In an interview before his death in 1990, Pop recalled that “Furman wanted to sleep in his own bed for a change the night before a race, so I figured ‘why not, let’s give people something to look at.’”

The elder Kugler got the necessary licenses and sanctions from cycling officials in 1939 but the one thing he didn’t count on was a snag from the state capital. “I wanted to call it a race,” he said some years later, but New Jersey law specified that no contest of any type for wage, purse, or prize could be held on a state highway. The dilemma was that Somerville's Main Street was, and still is, state highway Route 28. The state motor vehicle commissioner at the time suggested if the race instead be called a “Tour” he would issue a permit.

The First Races

Furman Kugler won the first Tour of Somerville in 1940, which attracted a field of 117 riders from as far away as New England and the Midwest. He repeated his dominance by winning his hometown race again in 1941. Furman sat out the 1942 event and that opened the door for one of his closest friends, Carl Anderson of Clifton, New Jersey, to take top honors. The race was suspended during World War II, during which Furman was killed in Okinawa and Anderson in Belgium. Renewed in 1947, the Tour was appropriately renamed The Kugler-Anderson Memorial and has been held every Memorial Day since.

Kugler's first 1940 win for the 50-miles clocked in at 2 hours and 8 minutes while riding a fixed gear, steel bicycle with wooden rims. Given advances in bike technology and the physical evolution of competitive cyclists, recent winning times for the race have been approaching the 1 hour and 40 minute mark. The bike Kugler used to win the 1940 and 1941 races is currently encased for display in a plexi-glass monument along the race circuit near Somerville Borough Hall. For his efforts during the inaugural race, Kugler won a new bicycle valued at $75, a trophy, an oil painting and a badminton set, a far cry from the current $20,000 in total prizes, distributed in equal $10,000 purses for the top men and women finishers.

Evolving History

Once known by race organizers as an event “second only to the national championships,” past competitors have included the likes of Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and Olympic gold medal speed skater turned cyclist Eric Heiden, as well as scores of national, Olympic, and world cycling champions from throughout the world. More than a sports event, the Tour has evolved as a combined street fair, music festival, arts expo, and neighborhood lawn party all wrapped around the fast-paced, multi-lap competition through the streets of Somerville's historic downtown.

Since 1947, the race has been an annual tradition in Somerville dedicated in part to honoring American heroes and Memorial Day. According to race announcer and former Tour competitor Joe Saling, the race is such a fixture in the community that, "no one calls it the Tour of Somerville in town, it's just 'the bike race.'" Although the course through the town has changed over the years, Saling explains that the essence of the race never has. The focus of the event has always been working with the town to create a venue for a classic criterium, the kind of race that America is famous for all over the world.

Kugler-Anderson Memorial (1940)

From its earliest beginnings, the Kugler-Anderson Memorial event has read like a who's who of North American cycling. In the 1940s and 1950s, national champions Furman Kugler, Donald Sheldon, and John Chilseko, as well as Olympians Jack Heid and Art Longsjo, all took victories (Kugler and Sheldon, twice) and laid the foundation that would make this event a national classic. This trend continued into the 1960s, with wins by Olympians Michael Hiltner, Hans Wolf, and Jack Simes, and into the 1970s, with nationally renowned cyclists Roger Young, Ron Skarin, Rory O'Reilly, Dave Boll, Dave Ware, and William Martin, all taking wins.

Harry Naismyth Junior (1949)

In 1949, the Harry Naismith Junior event was officially added for males age 15–17. Harry Naismith (see photo, right) was from Somerville, N.J. and became Junior National Champion in 1940. Two cyclists who won both the Harry Naismith Junior event and Kugler-Anderson Memorial event were Jackie Simes and Roger Young. Several of the winners of the Harry Naismith Junior event also won national championships during their cycling career: Jackie Simes, Bobby Fenn, Alan Grieco, Roger Young, Bruce Donaghy, Andy Weaver, Dale Stetina, Jeff Lippincott, David Brinton, Ken Christoff. Many of these riders also competed at the Olympics, Pan-American Games, and/or World Championships (Jackie Simes, Roger Young, Bruce Donaghy, Andy Weaver, Dale Stetina, David Brinton). Paul Willerton, the winner in 1987, later rode professionally with Greg Lemond in Europe.

Jaycee/John Chilseko Intermediate (1971)

In 1971, the Jaycee/John Chilseko Intermediate event was added for males age 12–14. Chiselko, who was from Somerville, was the winner of the Kugler-Anderson Memorial in 1954 and "as a 17 year old high school senior in 1954, the youngest record winner of the Tour. He was also a junior national champion and winner of the best all-around rider in the United States two years running."

Jaycee/Alan Bell Midget (1972)

In 1972, the Jaycee/Alan Bell Midget event was added for males and females age 9–11. Alan Bell was from Somerville, NJ, and "was a member of the 1956 and 1960 US Olympic Teams which competed in Melbourne, Australia and Rome, Italy." While Bell never won the Kugler-Anderson event at Somerville, on five occasions he "finished second in the prestigious" event.

Mildred Kugler Open (1976)

Although women first competed in a featured race during the early 1950s, a formal effort to expand women's racing as a separate part of the Tour of Somerville did not occur until 1976, when the Mildred Kugler Open 25-mile event was added. Mildred, daughter of race founder Fred “Pop” Kugler, was herself a New Jersey state champion who won the 1940 national cycling championship in her category. Although she retired in 1942 at the early age of seventeen, she later came out of retirement and won the 1952 NJ state championship, as well as third place at the National Championships that same year.

Popularity

In 1980, Sports Illustrated published a six-page photo feature story on the race headlined “The Somerville Whirl,” in which author Sarah Pileggi concluded: “As for the spectators, at the cost of not one penny and from the best location in the house, the sidewalks, they will be able to watch the world’s finest athletes whirring past on their delicate machines 77 separate times. Which, all things considered, surely makes Memorial Day in Somerville the greatest bargain in sport.”

Joe Saling, who was the announcer of the Tour of Somerville for many years, remembers when the race was "the most prestigious race in the country to have on your record," and recalls how riders felt about winning Somerville: "I remember Ron Skarin, who was on a couple of Olympic teams and multiple-time national champion, won Somerville twice in the seventies. And when he won the first time, he said that it topped anything else he’d done in his career."

Five-time winner, Laura van Gilder, summed up the prestige of this event in 2021, saying, “[n]ationally, this race was the ‘Grandaddy’ of all criterium races and one not to miss. It remains one of the oldest races in America and still has the prestige of an iconic event on the racing calendar.”

In the past, the Tour of Somerville has been estimated to attract "up to 30,000 people each year" with some estimates of spectator attendance being even higher. In a May 28, 1983 article, The Courier News reported that "over 40,000 thousand people are expected to line the course for the 3:15p.m., 50-mile event [Kugler-Anderson Memorial]."

21st century

Begun as a Memorial Day event only and having remained so through the 1990s, changes were made then to extend the Memorial Day event into a three-day series in order to give cyclists more opportunities to compete during the weekend. As such, this year's Tour of Somerville Cycling Series, with primary sponsorship provided by Unity Bank, will also include a number of Saturday races for USA Cycling licensed riders of various skills levels in neighboring Bound Brook, New Jersey, and a Sunday series of straight line sprint racing down Somerville's historic Main Street prior to Monday's historic Tour of Somerville.

In 2019, for the fourth consecutive year, “both men’s and women’s race participants will be competing for equal $10,000 prize lists.” The 2020 race was cancelled for the first time ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 race was postponed to Labor Day, only to be later cancelled due to serious flooding in Somerville from the remnants of Hurricane Ida four days prior to the race.

Recent changes to the Tour's course have shortened the length of a lap by several blocks to move the start finish line to the heart of the town's commercial Main Street. Since 2017, promoters decided to shift crowds away from the lawn and streets surrounding the Somerset County Courthouse to a more central Main Street location. Regarding the change, Jackie Simes, former Olympian and two-time winner of the Tour, has said, “It makes racing a little more technical from the riders’ perspective, which is good. It's a harder turn to make on to Bridge Street, I remember being smack up against the curb because it funnels down in there; it's a great place to watch the race."

With the onset of other large races nationally competing for riders with Somerville on Memorial Day, Somerville has adapted to still bring a powerful field of professional and premier amateur cyclist to the Tour. As race announcer Saling concludes that in recent years, "We don't necessarily have full representation from all the pro teams, but we do attract so many individually strong racers that spectators are going to see a race where the action is non-stop. No single team is able to control the overall strategy, and it leads to a situation where David really can knock off Goliath."

Kugler-Anderson Memorial Tour

Winners

Year Winner Nationality
2024 Cesar Marte United States (NY)
2023 Danny Estevez  United States (MA)
2022 George Jackson  New Zealand
2021 Canceled due to Hurricane Ida
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey
2019 Connor Sallee  United States
2018 Shane Kline  United States
2017 Noah Granigan  United States
2016 Scott Savory  Guyana
2015 Andrew Dahlheim  United States
2014 Adam Alexander  Trinidad and Tobago
2013 Hilton Clarke  Australia
2012 Luke Keough  United States
2011 Timothy Gudsell  New Zealand
2010 Ben Kersten  Australia
2009 Lucas Sebastián Haedo  Argentina
2008 Lucas Sebastián Haedo  Argentina
2007 Hilton Clarke  Australia
2006 Juan José Haedo  Argentina
2005 Kyle Wamsley  United States
2004 Viktor Rapinski  Belarus
2003 Jonas Carney  United States
2002 Jonas Carney  United States
2001 Eric Wohlberg  Canada
2000 Jonas Carney  United States
1999 Eric Wohlberg  Canada
1998 Jonas Carney  United States
1997 Brett Aitken  Australia
1996 Julian Dean  New Zealand
1995 Jason Snow  United States
1994 Jonas Carney  United States
1993 Gary Anderson  New Zealand
1992 Jonas Carney  United States
1991 Brian Moroney  United States
1990 Matt Eaton  United States
1989 Graeme Miller  New Zealand
1988 Roberto Gaggioli  Italy
1987 Paul Pearson  United States
1986 Marc Maertens  Belgium
1985 Matt Eaton  United States
1984 Davis Phinney  United States
1983 Steve Bauer  Canada
1982 Gary Tevisiol  Canada
1981 Wayne Stetina  United States
1980 Steve Bauer  Canada
1979 William Martin  United States
1978 Jocelyn Lovell  Canada
1977 Dave Ware  United States
1976 Dave Boll  United States
1975 Rory O'Reilly  United States
1974 Ron Skarin  United States
1973 Ron Skarin  United States
1972 Roger Young  United States
1971 Eddie Parrott  United States
1970 Robert Farrell  Trinidad and Tobago
1969 Jackie Simes  United States
1968 Siegi Koch  Canada
1967 Jackie Simes  United States
1966 John Aschen  United States
1965 Eckhard Viehover  Germany
1964 Hans Wolf  United States
1963 Olaf Moetus  United States
1962 Richard Centore  United States
1961 Robert McKnown  United States
1960 Michael Hiltner  United States
1959 Rupert Waltl  United States
1958 Art Longsjo  United States
1957 Arnold Uhrlass  United States
1956 Jack Heid  United States
1955 Pat Murphy  Canada
1954 John Chiselko  United States
1953 Hugh Starrs  United States
1952 Ernest Seubert  United States
1951 Francis Mertens  United States
1950 Richard Cortright  United States
1949 Frank Brilando  United States
1948 Donald Sheldon  United States
1947 Donald Sheldon  United States
1943–1946 Canceled due to World War II
1942 Carl Anderson  United States
1941 Furman Kugler  United States
1940 Furman Kugler  United States

Multiple winners

Riders in italics are still active.

Wins Rider Editions
5  Jonas Carney (USA) 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003
2  Hilton Clarke (AUS) 2007, 2013
 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (ARG) 2008, 2009
 Eric Wohlberg (CAN) 1999, 2001
 Matt Eaton (USA) 1985, 1990
 Steve Bauer (CAN) 1980, 1983
 Ron Skarin (USA) 1973, 1974
 Jackie Simes (USA) 1967, 1969
 Donald Sheldon (USA) 1947, 1949
 Furman Kugler (USA) 1940, 1941

Wins per country

Wins Country
49  United States
8  Canada
4  Australia
 New Zealand
3  Argentina
2  Trinidad and Tobago
1  Germany
 Belgium
 Guyana
 Belarus
 Italy

Mildred Kugler Women's Open

Winners

Year Winner Nationality
2024 Coryn Labecki United States (PA)
2023 Jessica Chong  United States (PA)
2022 Katia Martinez Mexico
2021 Canceled due to Hurricane Ida
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey
2019 Maggie Coles-Lyster  Canada
2018 Laura Van Gilder  United States
2017 Laura Van Gilder  United States
2016 Ellen Watters  Canada
2015 Lauretta Hanson  Australia
2014 Erica Allar  United States
2013 Kimberley Wells  Australia
2012 Ruth Winder  United States
2011 Theresa Cliff-Ryan  United States
2010 Theresa Cliff-Ryan  United States
2009 Tina Pic  United States
2008 Tina Pic  United States
2007 Theresa Cliff-Ryan  United States
2006 Tina Pic  United States
2005 Laura Van Gilder  United States
2004 Melissa Sanbom  United States
2003 Sarah Uhl  United States
2002 Laura Van Gilder  United States
2001 Christina Underwood  United States
2000 Tina Pic  United States
1999 Laura Van Gilder  United States
1998 Karen Bliss-Livingston  United States
1997 Karen Bliss-Livingston  United States
1996 Jessica Grieco  United States
1995 Jessica Grieco  United States
1994 Jeanne Golay  United States
1993 Marianne Berglund  Sweden
1992 Laura Charmeda  United States
1991 Karen Bliss-Livingston  United States
1990 Jan Bolland  United States
1989 Susan Elias  United States
1988 Susan Elias  United States
1987 Henny Top  Netherlands
1986 Peggy Mass  United States
1985 Sophie Eaton  United States
1984 Sue Novara-Reber  United States
1983 Sue Novara-Reber  United States
1982 Sue Novara-Reber  United States
1981 Karen Strong  Canada
1980 Karen Strong  Canada
1979 Karen Strong  Canada
1978 Sue Novara-Reber  United States
1977 Karen Strong  Canada
1976 Mary Jane Reoch  United States

Multiple Winners - Women

Riders in italics are still active.

Wins Rider Editions
5  Laura Van Gilder (USA) 1999, 2002, 2005, 2017, 2018
4  Tina Pic (USA) 2000, 2006, 2008, 2009
4  Sue Novara-Reber (USA) 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984
4  Karen Strong (CAN) 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981
3  Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA) 2007, 2010, 2011
3  Karen Bliss-Livingston (USA) 1991, 1997, 1998
2  Jessica Grieco (USA) 1995, 1996
2  Susan Elias (USA) 1988, 1989

Wins Per Country - Women

Wins Country
35  United States
6  Canada
2  Australia
1  Netherlands
1  Sweden

Harry Naismyth Junior (age 16-18)

Winners

Year Winner Nationality/Home
2024 Alexander Barr Lebanon, PA
2023 Enzo Edmonds Brooklyn, NY
2022 O'Neill Gatta Wilimington, DE
2021 Canceled due to Hurricane Ida
2020 Canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey

2019 Lucas Huesman Stonington, CT
2018 Gabriel Tonin NY
2017 Alexander Chrystall Wellesley, MA
2016 Wyatt Goral Andover, NJ
2015 Aaron Temple Thornton, PA
2014 Noah Granigan Somerville, NJ
2013 Peter Goguen Hopedale, MA
2012 ?
2011 ?
2010 Kevin Mcguire NY
2009 Gavin Mannion Dedham, MA
2008 Nikolai Masluk Middletown, NJ
2007 Shane Kline Bally, PA
2006 Shane Kline Bally, PA
2005 Shane Kline Bally, PA
2004 Elliot Gaunt Lockhaven, PA
2003 Matt Crane Old Greenwich, CT
2002 Owen Nielsen Roanoke, VA
2001 Robby Ketchell Glen Spey, NY
2000 Not held
1999 William Skinner Monson, MA
1998 Dustin Rademacher Monson, MA
1997 Dustin Rademacher Monson, MA
1996 Lewis Elliott Holden, MA
1995 Matt De Canio Rapidan, VA
1994 Not held
1993 Joseph Papp Bethel Park, PA
1992 Paul LeBlanc Colorado Springs, CO
1991 Glenn Milano Media, PA
1990 George Hincapie Farmingdale, NY
1989 Jonas Carney Annandale, NJ
1988 George Hincapie Farmingdale, NY
1987 Paul Willerton Hollister, CA
1986 Ken Christoff Grand Junction, CO
1985 Aaron Frahm Greensboro, NC
1984 Dave Brinton Studio City, CA
1983 Craig Schommer Colorado Springs, CO
1982 Gregory Jannone Bound Brook, NJ
1981 Neil Cormier Stow, MA
1980 Jeff Lippincott Princeton, NJ
1979 Adam Deutsch Somerville, NJ
1978 Jeff Michaels Enfield, CT
1977 Andy Weaver Miami, FL
1976 Bruce Donaghy Audubon, NJ
1975 Christopher Meingast Detroit, MI
1974 Dale Stetina Indianapolis, IN
1973 Scott McLean North Hollywood, CA
1972 Keith Ward Pennington, NJ
1971 Jesus Portalatin Jamaica, NY
1970 Roger Young Detroit, MI
1969 Gary Campbell Paramount, CA
1968 Mike Hiltner Rockville, MD
1967 Joe Perez Newark, NJ
1966 Dave Chauner Rosemont, PA
1965 Jeffrey Patton Huntington Station, NY
1964 Vincent Morris Hatboro, PA
1963 Oliver Martin New York, NY
1962 Alan Grieco Hackensack, NJ
1961 Ray Mathews McLean, NJ
1960 Bobby Fenn New York, NY
1959 Jackie Simes Closter, NJ
1958 Preston Handy New York, NY
1957 Ed Ruesing University, MO
1956 Harvey Moore Royal Oak, MI
1955 Don Carlin Newark, NJ
1954 Vernon Hill Kansas City, MO
1953 Ed Miller Somerville, NJ
1952 Harry Tobin Somerville, NJ
1951 Don Tokash Somerville, NJ
1950 Hank McEwan Woodcliff Lake, NJ
1949 Andy Werth New York, NY

Multiple Winners - Junior

Wins Rider Editions
3 Shane Kline 2005, 2006, 2007
2 Dustin Rademacher 1997, 1998
2 George Hincapie 1988, 1990

Jaycee/John Chilseko Intermediate (13-15)

Winners

Year Winner Nationality/Home
1989 Race discontinued for

Intermediate category

1988 George Hincapie Farmingdale, NY
1987 George Hincapie Farmingdale, NY
1986 Vernon Sides Reidsville, NC
1985 Trevor Silvera Westbury, NY
1984 Michael Hakanson Macungie, PA
1983 Rob Lattazi Hamden, CT
1982 David Brinton Studio City, CA
1981 Gordon Holterman Petersburg, VA
1980 David Pederson Bethesda, MD
1979 Dave Lettieri Scranton, PA
1978 Tom Krogh Paulsen Rockville, MD
1977 John Clowes Bridgewater, NJ
1976 James Gesquiere Detroit, MI
1975 Michael Rounds Warwick, RI
1974 Bruce Donaghy Audubon, NJ
1973 Mike Walter Jersey City, NJ
1972 Alan Fella Somerville, NJ
1971 Gary Bell Somerville, NJ

Multiple Winners - Intermediate

Wins Rider Editions
2 George Hincapie 1987, 1988

Jaycee/Alan Bell Midget (10-12)

Winners

Year Winner Nationality/Home
1989 Race discontinued

for Midget category

1988 Yani Feldman Columbia, MD
1987 John Correia North Tarrytown, NY
1986 Anthony Inturrisi Hawthorne, NJ
1985 George Hincapie Richmond Hill, NY
1984 George Hincapie Richmond Hill, NY
1983 Jonas Carney Annandale, NJ
1982 Brandon Ramey Norfolk, VA
1981 Lisa Andreu Dearborn, MI
1980 Celeste Andreu Dearborn, MI
1979 Jim McCarthy Allentown, PA
1978 Gordon Holterman Petersburg, VA
1977 Sophie Eaton Renfrew, PA
1976 Guillermo Lopez Jr. Queens, NY
1975 Michael Grotz Park Ridge, NJ
1974 Italo Bastianelli Bricktown, NJ
1973 Italo Bastianelli Bricktown, NJ
1972 Italo Bastianelli Bricktown, NJ

Multiple Winners - Midget

Wins Rider Editions
3 Italo Bastianelli 1972, 1973, 1974
2 George Hincapie 1984, 1985
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