The LoToJa Classic is a long distance one-day amateur bicycle road race from

Logan, UT Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population at 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin Co ...

to Jackson Hole, WY, USA. It is held in September on the first Saturday after

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

History

LoToJa was started in 1983 by two Logan cyclists, David Bern, a student at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

, and Jeff Keller, the owner of Sunrise Cyclery. The two men wanted a race that resembled the difficulty of a one-day European classic like Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders. LoToJa's first year featured nine cyclists racing 192 miles from Logan to a finish line in Jackson's town square. The winning time was just over nine hours by Bob VanSlyke.

2006

Kirk Eck was won the 2006 LOTOJA Classic with a 9:16:56 time. This was his second win.

2007

The 2007 race included roughly 1,400 people from 40 different states in the United States. The fastest time in the 2007 edition of the race was posted by Mark Zimbelman, a resident of Provo,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, who won the masters 45+ category. His time of 9:06:44 was also good for a course record with Mark Schaefer finishing less than a wheel length behind. Schaefer and Zimbelman led the race alone for the last . The winner of the Men's Pro Category 1 and 2 race was Cameron Hoffman of Clearfield,

with a time of 9:24:18.

2009

Zimbelman's course record held during 2008 but was beaten in the 2009 race by Cameron Hoffman of Clearfield,

with a time of 9:02:52. This was Hoffman's third year in a row winning the Men's Pro Category 1,2,3 race. Hoffman, David Francis of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and Robert Lofgran of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

had to chase racer Dave Botchek (Colorado Springs CO) who had been out in front 190 miles before being caught due to a puncture 13 miles from the finish. Dave Botchek had previously won the event in the 90's. They finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively with less than a second between Hoffman and Francis and Lofgran finishing about five seconds later.

2010

Cameron Hoffman's 2009 course record time of 9:02:52 was broken in 2010 by Alfred Thresher with a time of 9:01:44.

2012

Rob Verhaaren crashed and died during the final stages of the race in Wyoming. A new LOTOJA course record was set by Leon Bergant from

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, with the time of 8:57:19.

2017

Kai Applequist from

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set the new record in the men's division in 2017 with a time of 8:42:31.

2018

The current course record was set in 2018 by Spencer Johnson, of

Riverton, Utah Riverton is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest ...

, with a time of 8:18:29. The women’s course record, 9:35:00, set in 2013, is held by Melinda MacFarlane from Salt Lake City, Utah.

2023

Over 1,500 cyclists participated in the 2023 race.

Course

The race starts at the Sunrise Cyclery in Logan, Utah and heads north into southeastern Idaho and winds across western Wyoming. The finish line is near the base of the

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park at in Northwest Wyoming. Below its north face is Teton Glacier. The mountain is a classic destination in American mountaineering via the Owen-Spalding rout ...

at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (at Teton Village), one of America's ski destinations. Along the course are three mountain passes, plus hilly to rolling terrain that results in more than of climbing.

Notable winners

Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. ...

( Team RadioShack) *

Marty Jemison Marty Jemison (born May 18, 1965) is a former American cyclist. Since retiring from Professional Cycling, Marty has been leading tours for his own companJemison Cycling ToursAn extended list of results can bHis most successful day in the Tour de ...

( U.S. Postal), 1997 *

Scott Moninger Scott Moninger is an American professional road racing cyclist. He was born October 20, 1966, in Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Boulder, Colorado, in the mid 1980s to further his career in cycling. Moninger turned prof ...

, 1996 * John Frey *

Alison Tetrick Alison Marie Tetrick (born April 4, 1985) is an American racing cyclist. She rode at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships. Tetrick comes from a sporting family – her grandfather, Paul Tetrick, won more than a dozen national time trial titles, ...

, 2019

Charitable fundraising

LoToJa is a fund-raiser for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, Autism Spectrum Disorder Connections and other medical research foundations. By 2014, the LoToJa organizer,

Epic Events Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

had raised over US$250,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. As of 2023, over $2.7 million has been raised through sponsors and cyclists.

Past winners

References

{{reflist

External links

LOTOJA Website
Cycle races in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1983 1983 establishments in Utah 1983 establishments in Wyoming Road bicycle races Sports competitions in Utah Sports competitions in Wyoming