Photos by Mary Alice Murphy, with two of the unicyclist by Paul Michaud

The photos are of various races of the Downtown Silver City Criterium portion of the Tour of the Gila on Saturday, May2, 2026. They include photos of some of the amateur races, including Women 1, 2, 3,4, 5, the Men 3, the Men 1, 2 and then the citizen races, with children ages 3 and 4 years old, next were 5 and 6 years old, followed by 7-9 year-olds, the 10-12 year-olds and the 13-16 year-olds. Some had to be broken down into a girls race and a boys race because of the large numbers of registrations. The last group did a full loop of the race from start line back to finish line and included those from 16 years old through adults, including a unicyclist, who finished the loop ahead of a few bicyclists.

Some of the photos highlight racers going by important downtown structures. One photo shows a man brining a load of sandwiches to presumably the team calling the races, with commentary throughout the day. Photos also show three of the four corners that racers have to take to complete the loop. 

GRMC oncologist Dr. Michael Luca Durando, who has been growing his hair out for three years in order for it to be long enough, and Tour of the Gila Race Director Jack Brennan getting their hair cut to donate to Locks of Love to provide hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss. They had their hair cut publicly at the Start/Finish line at noon. Other donors had their hair cut at the GRMC booth in The Hub Plaza.

The citizen races were followed by the UCI Women, sho did 25 laps from the start line on Bullard, left onto College Ave., left onto Cooper, then left onto the downward fast trip on Broadway, with the last left taking them onto Bullard back to the start/finish line. The UCI men followed by doing 40 laps of the same route. [Editor's Note: this photo essay will be followed by another with theUCI results and overall winners. ]

To pause the slide show, mouse over the image.

Other results at https://tourofthegila.com/2026-downtown-cirterium-results/