The 36th annual Tour de Moore, expected to attract about 400 cyclists from all over the world, kicked off this morning in Southern Pines.

Six races are on tap for the event, which began at 9 a.m. The racers are competing for $8,000 in prizes and primes.

The featured race is the eight-lap, 102-mile race, which departed at 9. The featured race will finish up approximately at 1 p.m. The course starts and finishes on Ridge Street.

The course for 2011 will be the original Woodlake loop run in reverse. Riders departed on Ridge Street a few blocks from the Campbell House and headed east out Young’s Road toward Woodlake.

After completing the required number of laps around the lake, the riders head back to Southern Pines, finishing three blocks past the start on Ridge Street.