OTTAWA, Oct. 30, 2016. – A capacity crowd came out for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Celebration & Fundraising Gala on Friday evening, at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa. The occasion was to celebrate and honour the cycling athletes, coaches and staff who represented Canada at the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio. Organized in partnership with members of the Ottawa cycling community, the evening also recognized athletes, coaches and builders from the National Capital Region.

Over 25 athletes were in attendance, including gold, silver and bronze Paralympic medalist Tristen Chernove, Paralympic double silver medal winner Ross Wilson, Paralympic double bronze medalist Charles Moreau, bronze medal winning Paralympian Shelley Gautier, Olympic bronze medalist Catharine Pendrel and the Olympic bronze medal winning Women’s Team Pursuit squad.

John Tolkamp, President of Cycling Canada, said “The Olympic/Paralympic celebration is a fantastic and unique opportunity to bring all the athletes and coaches together and honour the accomplishments of a team which no doubt inspired the nation over this past summer Rio Olympics. We also wish to thank the Ottawa Cycling community in supporting this event and making the evening a fitting tribute to a team of talented athletes and coaches.”

The Silent Auction featured spirited bidding for autographed jerseys, Olympic prints, paintings and donated items, with over $10,000 raised. The funds raised will be shared between Cycling Canada national team programs and the National Capital Region Cycling Bursary program.

In addition to honouring the Olympians and Paralympians, special recognition was given to Cycling Canada CEO and Secretary General Greg Mathieu, who will be retiring at the end of this year, after four decades of service to Canadian sport. Under Greg’s leadership at Cycling Canada, cycling has grown to become one of Canada’s top medal-producing sports.

Tolkamp stated, “It is fitting that as part of our Olympic Celebration we could also recognize the upcoming retirement of Greg Mathieu, who has a long career in sport, both as a COC employee and National Sport CEO, attending 9 Olympics and dozens of other major Games. Greg has been a significant contributor to advancing the Olympic movement in Canada and is respected across many sports, the COC [Canadian Olympic Committee] and Sports Canada. Greg has been instrumental in the growth of Cycling Canada, and it was a privilege to honour him and his family along with the Olympians.”

Ottawa, Oct. 6, 2016 – Cycling Canada is searching for a Pathway Development Manager who possesses vision, energy along with significant experience in coaching and sports administration.

Answering to the High Performance Director – Head Coach, the Pathway Development Manager will be responsible for ensuring podium pathway alignment of all Cycling Canada programs, as well as assisting provinces and territories in aligning their pathways to that of the national body.

Complete Job Description and Job Posting are available here: https://cyclingcanada.ca/employment/ 

OTTAWA, Sept. 20, 2016. – Cycling Canada is pleased to announce the details for its second annual Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame Weekend, to be hosted in Milton, ON, on October 1^st and 2^nd.

Festivities will kick-off on Saturday, October 1^st with the official unveiling of plaques to commemorate the 2016 induction class. The unveiling ceremony will be open to the public and will take place in the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre (Community Entrance) at 6:30pm, just prior to the start of the Saturday evening session of racing at the Milton International Challenge.

The events continue on October 2^nd with the Lexus “Ride with Legends” and Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame induction luncheon, both to be hosted at Crosswinds Golf and Country Club in Burlington, ON.

The Lexus “Ride with Legends” will present local cyclists with a unique opportunity to join Hall of Fame members and Canadian National Team athletes for a fully-supported road ride through the beautiful Halton Hills region. Confirmed riders include:
Hall of Fame members/inductees: Steve Bauer, Curt Harnett, Gordon Singleton, Gord Fraser, Alex Stieda and Brian Walton.
Members of Canada’s 2016 Olympic track cycling team: Kirsti Lay, Hugo Barrette, Kate O’Brien.

Participants will be able to choose one of two ride routes (50km and 70km). All riders will receive an official Canadian National Team jersey and will be treated to a buffet breakfast at the golf club before the ride.

The 2^nd annual Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame induction luncheon will be held following the ride from 1pm to 3pm. The ceremonies will honour the 2016 class of Hall of Fame inductees, which includes Gord Fraser, Louise Lalonde, Marie-Hélène Prémont, Alex Stieda, Brian Walton and Canada’s 1908 Men’s Team Pursuit squad.

The Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame, which has its permanent home at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, was inaugurated in 2015. The inaugural class of inductees included Steve Bauer, Tanya Dubnicoff, Curt Harnett, Marc Lemay, Jocelyn Lovell, Lori-Ann Muenzer, Torchy Peden, Gordon Singleton and Alison Sydor.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

The Hamilton 2003 Road Cycling Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural winners of the Ross Chafe Award.  Ross Chafe was a long serving member of the Hamilton Road Foundation Board and instrumental in obtaining positive investment returns for the Foundation’s funds.  It was his philosophy that the Foundation should utilize its resources to the full extent possible to support the developing riders.  He died tragically in a cycling accident in 2015.

On the women’s side Ruby West (Dundas, ON) who was third in the Time Trial and seventh in the Road Race at the 2016 Canadian Junior Road Championships was selected for the award.  She is coached by Kevin Simms at the Centurion Next Wave club.  “I am honoured to be the first female recipient of this award.  This means so much to me because it provides me with great encouragement and validation that I am on the right path with my cycling career.  The award will go a long way towards travel expenses to international camps and races,” said Ruby.

Jordann Jones (Jerseyville, ON) was the male winner of the award.  He was the winner of the Time Trial and placed second in the Road Race at the 2016 Canadian Junior Road Championships.  He rides for the Team NCCH p/b DEC Express club and is coached by Rick Lee.  Jordann was thrilled to be the recipient of the men’s award; “I am honoured to have won the Ross Chafe Award.  Ross competed on the Canadian National Men’s team at multiple Road World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and Pan Am Games.  I hope I can do as well as he did.  This award will go towards helping me achieve my goals in cycling and my post-secondary studies.”

The Chair of the Hamilton 2003 Road Cycling Foundation, Linda Jackson, had this to say about the inaugural awards; “We are thrilled to have two recipients of the calibre of Ruby and Jordann as our first two award winners.  There were many strong applicants and these two stood out not only due to their cycling performances but as importantly, their academic achievements and focus.  Providing this award to these worthy riders is a fitting memory to our dear friend Ross.”

Cycling Canada invites participants in the sport to provide their input to the development of the plan for the 2017 – 2020 quadrennial.

The survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CC2016EngSurvey

and will take 10-15 minutes to complete.

This is your opportunity to contribute to the plan that will guide the national body for the next four years.

Those that complete the survey will be entered into a draw for Hop On! gear.