BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MONTGOMERY -- Marjorie Keith and John Booker are not quite the cycling equivalents of Germany's Jan Ullrich.
Mr. Ullrich captured last year's Tour de France bicycle race while Marjorie, 3, and John, 6, won Le Petit Tour de Montgomery in their age groups Saturday by pedaling Big Wheels.
The Big Wheel bicycle races were among the highlights of the annual Bastille Day in downtown Montgomery to celebrate French independence. The French national holiday commemorates the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille, a jail where political prisoners were detained.
"I took my race by two lengths," said John Booker; while Marjorie's father, Jonathan, said his daughter just didn't quit and kept pedaling far into a yard after the race was over.
Asked her strategy, Marjorie slurped a grape Hawaiian Ice and said: "Go fast."
Saturday was Montgomery's fifth Bastille Day celebration. It is part of Montgomery's sister-city relationship with Neuilly-Plaisance, a city of 18,000 about 10 miles east of Paris on the Marne River. It began as a way to bring new opportunities to Montgomery and provide a link to people from other countries and cultures.
Montgomery police said the event draws crowds of 3,500 to 4,500 each year. Elise Mayer, 16, of Paris and a cousin of Neuilly-Plaisance Mayor Paul Hery, attended the celebration. She is staying in Blue Ash as part of a cultural exchange program.
Ms. Mayer said the Montgomery event is a nice way to recognize the French holiday by a sister city. She described the Bastille Day celebration as the French equivalent of Independance Day with fireworks and parties.
She said she will share pictures of her visit with her cousin.
