NINE TITLES AWARDED ON OPENING DAY OF NATIONAL ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Ottawa, ON – June 16, 2016) The 2016 Global Relay Canadian Road Championships p/b Lexus opened on Saturday in Ottawa, with nine titles awarded in road races across multiple categories.
The day was highlighted by an impressive solo win in the Elite Women’s road race by Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ontario. Joelle Numainville of Montreal, Quebec, finished second, and Leah Kirchmann of Winnipeg, Manitoba, was third.
Foreman-Mackey, a member of Canada’s world-class team pursuit squad, and a bronze medalist at the world championships in the Individual Pursuit, joined a breakaway on the fourth lap of 11, on a mostly flat 10 kilometre circuit. Eventually, she dropped the rest of the leading group to ride the final 15 kilometres on her own, to win with a time of two hours, 52 minutes and 44 seconds, collapsing on the side of the course after the finishing, having ridden nearly 70 kilometres at the front of the race in 30 degree heat.. Numainville, the defending champion, outsprinted Kirchmann for second, one minute and 18 seconds behind Foreman-Mackey.
Foreman-Mackey, who races for the local Ottawa-based The Cyclery-Opus team, attributed her win to strong team support. “I didn’t think the break was going to stick,” admitted Foreman-Mackey, “I thought it was a bit too early. But I knew I had a lot of team mates back in the pack, so I was able to lay it out on the line, knowing that if it got caught, I had a whole bunch of team mates ready to go. So I was able to commit fully to the break. I couldn’t be happier that it stayed away.”
The Junior titles were both decided in sprints, with Thierry Kirouac Marcassa (Equipe du Quebec) winning the men’s race and Erin Attwell (Cycling BC) the women’s.
In the Para-cycling events, Robbi Weldon (SAS-Macogep-Acquisio p/p Mazda) repeated as tandem champion with her new pilot, Audrey Lemieux, while Daniel Chalifour ( Équipe du Québec) and his pilot, Jean-Michel Lachance, took the men’s title.
Louis Albert Corriveau Jolin (Équipe du Québec) won the combined men’s and women’s Trike category, with Charles Moreau (Équipe du Québec) taking the combined men’s H3/4 title by only three seconds over Alex Hyndman (Team Ontario). Myriam Adam (Équipe du Québec) won the combined men’s and women’s H2 title by ten seconds, ahead of Matt Kinnie (VeloNB). Tristen Chernove (Cycling BC) won the combined men’s and women’s C1-C5 national championship.
The Championships continue on Sunday with the Elite/Under-23 men’s 180 kilometre road race, followed by the Individual Time Trial competition on Tuesday.
