CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Tim Brady says it was another successful year hosting the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships in the Capital City.
The premiere national cycling championship event wrapped up in the city on Memorial Day after 8 days packed full of multiple race categories, hundreds of cyclists and spectators, and a total of 46 different national champions taking home their titles and gold medals.
Brady said they had riders and spectators from all over the United States as far as Alaska participate in the event. And, he said visitors and residents alike came out and showed their support.
“A lot of people coming to the City of Charleston, and a lot of Charlestonians turning up, showing up and showing out, and showing the world what a great place Charleston, West Virginia is,” Brady said.
Brady said they believe they had even bigger crowds coming in for the event over last year, but it will take them a couple of weeks to put together a full economic impact report.
However, anecdotally, he said they have been hearing stories about businesses downtown having their single best day ever, and restaurants having to close down early because they ran out of food.
“So, based on the difference in the crowds this year and them being larger, and those little stories, we anticipate a really significant increase in the economic impact that this event brought to our city,” he said.
But, Brady said you can’t talk about the economic impact of the event without talking about the community impact as well.
He said they had approximately 58 local community sponsors invested in the event this year, and three local nonprofits that benefitted from it financially as well as in awareness. They included Mountaineer Food Bank, CAMC Foundation, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Brady said it truly takes the whole community stepping up and getting involved to pull something like this off.
“When we make our community a better place and we show that community impact, we also grow tourism, because people want to visit Charleston because it’s a thriving and vibrant community,” he said.
He said they also couldn’t do it with the city staff across every department, and the support they give in helping to host the event, from the mayor’s office, police, fire, public works, parking, among others.
Brady the increased number of residents showing out to give their support this year was also great to see.
He said he believes more residents came out for the event this year, because they have a deeper understanding of it compared to its inaugural year last year. 
“I think in year two there’s a different level of understanding and people really do see that the city is not locked down, you don’t have to avoid downtown Charleston, you can get anywhere you want to go if you just give yourself a few extra minutes, and I think people learned that last year, and that led to bigger crowds because more people were engaged with the event,” Brady said.
He said this is a big investment for the city, and it’s an investment that returns.
Brady said the contract that the city has with USA Cycling to host this championship event will last for three more years, culminating in 2028 with an Olympic year.
He said until then, the CVB and all of its partners plan to continue making the event bigger and better.
“Everything we’re doing now, we’re learning, we’re growing, we’re evolving, and everything is geared toward blowing this out in 2028 with an Olympic year and the culmination of a really great five years here in the City of Charleston.”