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Past Tour de Skeeters

    2021 Tour de Skeeter

    Thanks to all who sponsored, registered, donated, and participated in the 3rd annual Tour de Skeeter! We appreciate all of you!


    "On June 19th, the unofficial pregame to the 2021 Virginia Mosquito Control Awareness Week took place. The VMCA Student Competition Committee hosted our 3rd annual Tour de Skeeter fundraising event (TdS). This was our most successful TdS yet, with 31 registered riders and 5 vendor sponsorships. After expenses, we raised over $850. It was great to finally get back to a level of normalcy and have drinks and lunch together in person. I want to thank all that registered/participated in the event. I also want to give an extra thank you to the sustaining members that made this event possible: Jeff O’Neill with Central Life Sciences, Joe Iburg with Adapco, Steve Molnar with Target Specialty Products, John Singletary with Veseris, and Jeff Hottenstein with Clarke. Sponsorships were used to purchase shirts, prizes, and food for the participants, while event registration fees help facilitate future VMCA student competitions.


    This year, we offered a drawing to win a $200 Amazon gift card for all that registered. We conducted the drawing at the Tavern having a guest pick a name from a hat. Pete Petropulos from Ogden, Utah was our winner. He was not able to make the journey to participate in the event, but still supported Virginia’s vector borne disease studies. Congratulations Pete."

    -SCC Chair Jay Kiser 



    If you have any pictures or stories from this year or past Tour de Skeeters that you'd like to share, please send them to virginiamosquito@gmail.com

    A huge thank-you to our 2021 sponsors!

    2nd Annual Tour de Skeeter

    The second annual Tour de Skeeter goes on!

    The 2020 Tour de Skeeter had a few hiccups but eventually came together nicely. The original date in June was postponed due to the looming Covid-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing. The rescheduled date in August needed to be postponed due to the possibility of rain. Finally, on October 17, Tour de Skeeter 2020 took place. 


    It was gorgeous crisp autumn morning with leaves just starting to change color for the new season. From all over Virginia, and even North Carolina, VMCA members with their families and friends met up at the Indian Fields Tavern. Most drove to the tavern and explored the Capital Trail on bike or on foot. Some started from Richmond or Jamestown and biked to the tavern. Appetizers, drinks, games, and old friends awaited all. Maintaining mask usage and social distancing where necessary, everyone seemed to have a great time.


    With the gracious sponsorships of 4 VMCA sustaining members and 24 registrations, VMCA’s student competition committee raised over $175 (after expenses). We were hoping to have a bigger turnout this year with, but with all that took place in 2020 we were happy to just have the event. 

     An extra thank you goes out to the sustaining members that made this event possible: Jeff O’Neill with Central Life Sciences, Kurt Vandock with Bayer, Ted Bean with Adapco, and Seth Egan with Co-Diagnostics. Their sponsorships were used to purchase all the enticing swag that went to each of our registered event goers: reusable straws, Tour de Skeeter decaled t-shirts, totes, and masks. 


    For future events like this, you don’t have to bike if you register to the event! Many just sign up and pay to get the awesome swag… and contribute to the student competition of course.  

    Thank you, 2020 Sponsors!

    Inaugural Tour de Skeeter

    Fundraiser to benefit the SCC Poster Competition Award


    The VMCA Student Competition Committee held its inaugural Tour de Skeeter on Saturday, June 22, 2019 kicking off National Mosquito Control Awareness Week (June 23-29). It was a beautiful day for bike-riding with a nice breeze and a high temperature around 80 degrees. A total of 30 people and 4 kids signed up and about half were actually able to make the trip and bike some amount of the trail. 


    One group (Jay Kiser- Suffolk Mosquito Control and 2 friends) rode from Jamestown to Richmond on Friday night and then rode down to the tavern Saturday morning with Michael Rollins of Prince William County and Ryan Levering of Henrico County. Another group (Lisa Wagenbrenner- Chesapeake Mosquito Control and Tim DuBois- Portsmouth Mosquito Control with wife and friend) rode up from Jamestown to the tavern. The final group (Karen Akaratovic- Suffolk Mosquito Control and Penny Smelser- Norfolk Mosquito Control, both with their families) parked at the tavern and rode a few miles north and back. Ann Herring of Suffolk Mosquito Control graciously volunteered to be the emergency support person and was stationed at the tavern. Although some of us felt pretty exhausted at the end, luckily no one had a catastrophic issue. Everyone met up at the Indian Fields Tavern to relax and socialize for a couple hours. The tavern supplied some delicious appetizers and everyone had a great time playing corn hole and Frisbee while the kids played with bubbles, chalk, and a good old-fashioned game of tag. Afterwards everyone left on their separate ways, some had people pick them up and others rode back to their original starting point. 


    Next year, there are a few things the committee would like to do differently. For one, we would like to get the word out about the event a little earlier. This year we were only able to give regular registration a 2 week notice. Getting set up took a fair amount of planning with more details than any of us realized, so it took us a while to get the ball rolling. Secondly, we would like to better organize riding groups if possible. This happened pretty last minute for most people but fixing this will come with getting the announcement/registration deadline out earlier. A third point worth considering is setting up different locations for the event. For example, if people in the northern or western areas of Virginia were interested in participating but not wanting to make the drive down to the Lower Peninsula for the Capital Trail, perhaps we could set up another trail or two in different areas. This would require some help from committee members or volunteers in these areas but is definitely something the committee is willing to explore if there is interest. Finally, several people suggested making the event an overnight/weekend long activity via campgrounds. The Chickahominy Riverfront Park at mile marker 7 could be a great location for such a proposal with over 120 campsites, boat access/rentals, fishing, walking trails, playground and pool, and many other features.


    A huge thank-you goes out to Ted Bean with Adapco, Jeff O’Neill with Central Life Sciences, Zach Cohen with Summit Chemical, and Jim Andrews with Valent Biosciences who all sponsored the event so that we could purchase items (t-shirt, water bottle, tick spoon, etc.) to give to the participants and order food for the break time. Without their support, we would not have been able to raise as much money as we did, which was a total just shy of $300!  


    Thank you, 2019 Sponsors!

    2019 Photo Gallery

      Copyright © 2022 Virginia Mosquito Control Association - All Rights Reserved.

      Website Chair Karen Akaratovic (kakaratovic@suffolkva.us) 

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