EDWARDSVILLE - The annual BuseyBank Edwardsville Rotary Criterium once again featured the annual kids' race billed by Rotary organizers as "the most important race in the world."
To family members, friends, and the crowd in general, the kids' race likely was the most important race of the day. Once again, it had a significant amount of entries and a lot of proud parents alongside some of the smaller children.
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The most inspiring racer crashed his bike, but someone helped put it back in place and the young man jumped on his bike and finished to a large ovation of Criterium fans on both sides of the aisle.
"It is great to feel some normalcy again," Brian Mulhall, the race director, said. "In a world that we still know isn't normal because of COVID-19, these events pull the community together, families and people together."
Mulhall said the kids' races always make him tear up a little bit when he sees those groups come down individually from their spot into the finish line.
"I think it's something they'll remember the rest of their lives."
