Ruboyianes: ‘It’s going to be the best El Tour yet’

The 41^st El Tour de Tucson will be a special one for Shawna Ruboyianes, given it’s her second as El Tour’s chairwoman of the board and the sponsor of Stewart Title Main Stage.

Ruboyianes is president of Stewart Title.

“We are very excited and optimistic about this year’s event,” said Ruboyianes. “We are projecting to have even more riders than for our 40th anniversary. It’s going to be the best El Tour yet.”

Projections are more than 9,500 cyclists and runners/walkers will be on their respective courses on Saturday morning. It all begins and ends near the Tucson Convention Center in Downtown Tucson.

That would be a good day for all involved.

“I’ve been part of El Tour for a number of years through Stewart title,” she said. “We do a number of events throughout the year in Tucson and El Tour is dearest to my heart.”

In part because Stewart has an ‘unofficial” cycling team riding in the event – of which she’s a cyclist of the “weekend warriors” – and they have numerous volunteers who work the event all three days.

“We love being part of the community, we are very much a part of it,” she said.

She noted many of her Stewart Title employees have won numerous awards for their donations to local charities.

At Stewart Title, they believe in building a stronger, healthier community — on and off the road. Whether you’re navigating real estate transactions or riding for a cause, they are here every step of the way.

“We get involved in a number of areas,” she said.

One area of importance is diversity and inclusiveness. Ruboyianes has made it a point to include more women and adaptive sports riders.

“I’ve made it a point to focus on adaptive riders and we we’ll have more adaptive riders than we’ve ever had before,” she said.

Last year, there were more than 100 adaptive cyclists; this year it’s estimated more than 150 will be on the El Tour course on Nov. 23.