2019 Tour de Donut, Buckeye Donut Dash registration is open – The Daily Advocate

TROY – For its third year in Troy, the Tour de Donut ride once again will start and end around the square of historic downtown Troy on Aug. 24.

Last year’s event in Troy brought in 2,700 riders, the largest participation number to date. Being Ohio’s largest one-day bicycle event, cyclists traveled to the Tour de Donut from 28 states and Canada.

For 2019, the Tour de Donut once again welcomes Be The Match as its official charity partner. For the runners/walkers out there, Be The Match invites them to participate in the Buckeye Donut Dash. This 5K will begin in downtown Troy at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 24, running simultaneously with the Tour de Donut.

The Buckeye Donut Dash raises funds to help patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. With participants support in fundraising, they help more patients afford transplants, add potential marrow donors to the Be The Match Registry and make more life-saving research possible.

The Tour de Donut is a unique bicycle event in which participants’ ability to eat doughnuts is just as important as their ability to ride their bicycle. During this timed bicycle event, riders visit doughnut stops along the course. For each doughnut the rider will eat (and keeps down), five minutes will be deducted from their ride time.

The Glazer, a special doughnut stop, will return by popular demand. Each doughnut eaten at this stop is worth a 10-minute deduction in ride time.

A competition will be held between area doughnut shops during the Troy Strawberry Festival in June to choose the coveted special glazer doughnut.

Traditionally there have been three distances offered for the Tour de Donut, 16, 32 a 64 miles, but in 2019, an additional distance will be introduced. A 10-mile ride on the bike path will be offered for those beginners or young riders who want to participate but do not feel comfortable riding on the road with other riders due to car traffic.

The Donut Mini will return with one doughnut stop. The Full will offer two doughnut stops. And, for the experienced cyclists, the Double D Challenge will have three doughnut stops.

New this year, the winner of each category for each ride will receive a championship jersey compliments of Kettering Health Network.

A free children’s bike ride will take place at 8 a.m. on North Market Street. Anyone interested can register the day of the event at The Rec parking lot in downtown Troy. All children participating will receive a free T-shirt, finisher medal and all the doughnuts and milk they care to eat courtesy of Orthopedic Associates of Southwest Ohio.

Due to packet pickup on Aug. 23, an evening event has been designed to welcome riders, runners and residents to the area. This event, “Donut Jam,” will highlight bands, a doughnut eating contest, beer and food trucks, many children’s activities and the popular shops and restaurants in downtown Troy.

Aug. 24’s festivities will begin early with registration starting at 5:30 a.m. Breakfast foods will be available throughout downtown and at food trucks. Everyone will be gearing up for the 8:30 a.m. start of both the Tour de Donut and the Buckeye Donut Dash. More musical entertainment and children’s activities, along with a visit by the Columbus Zoo, will be a way to spend the morning.

Online registration is open. Cyclists should visit https://runsignup.com/Race/OH/TROY/TourDeDonut and runners/walkers should visit https://runsignup.com/Race/OH/Troy/TheBuckeyeBetheMatch5KRunWalk to get registered.

Volunteers are needed in a variety of areas including Tour de Donut set-up, the children’s activities area and beer pouring from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Aug. 23 and from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 24. Anyone who is interested in volunteering should contact the Miami County Visitors Bureau at 937-339-1044.

The Tour de Donut ride will start and end around the square in downtown Troy on Aug. 24.