The Tour of the Dragon is a grueling 268 kilometers, one day cycling race through pristine Bhutanese valleys, climbing heights of nearly 4000 meters and is a marque sporting event, organised every year by the Bhutan Olympic Committee on every first Saturday of September.

Many local participants have already started practicing for the race as it is very challenging and intense, and the race is considered to be the toughest one day cycling race in the world. Like in the earlier editions of the race many international riders will also be taking part.

This year’s edition of the Tour of the Dragon will also have a women rider participating as in the two previous editions. Ms. Sandra Walter from Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, will be participating this year, making her the third women participant ever, in the race. Previously, Ms. Yoshi Kubota from Japan participated in the 3rd edition and Ms. Yeshey Dema, the only local women rider took part in the 2nd Tour of the Dragon and completed it.

Sandra was the winner of this year’s free trip to Bhutan sponsored collectively by the Bhutan Olympic Committee, AmanKora, and Q Energy Drinks, with the aim of bringing high profile elite cyclists to participate in the race and also to promote the Tour of the Dragon in the North American cycling circuit. The Bhutan Olympic Committee, AmanKora and Q Energy Drinks, to promote and build interest and hype around the Tour of the Dragon, had put the names of the eight winners of the first four races of the Canada Cup Mountain Bike Series into a hat to draw one as the prizewinner. The 2013 Canada Cup Mountain Bike Series is a series of 5 races starting in May at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada with the finals in August, at Whistler, British Columbia. The coordinators of 2013 Canada Cup Mountain Bike Series said that they would make every effort to promote a prize of such magnitude as they also see it as a benefit to attract more racers, especially at the elite level, to their races.

Sandra Walter qualified twice with first place finishes at the Test of Metal and the Sudbury Canada Cup #3 (Mount Tremblant and Baie St. Paul) and it was her name that came out of the Q hat. She is a very prolific cyclist and apart from winning a lot of individual titles and merits, she was also a member of the Canadian Cycling National team from 2002-2007. Currently Sandra is participating at the World Championships in South Africa. Apart from cycling, she works as a freelance writer.

So far about 9 foreign riders have registered for the 4th edition of the Tour of the Dragon.