Pietermaritzburg, August 31, 2017 – Canada opened the Para-cycling world championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on Thursday with two medals, a gold and a bronze.  Shelley Gautier of Toronto won the gold medal in Women’s T1 time trial, while Charles Moreau won bronze in the H3 men’s time trial.

Gautier, who won a bronze medal at the Rio Paralympics last year, is Canada’s most decorated para-cyclist. This is her seventh time trial world title, bringing her total of Road (time trial and road race) world championship titles to 13.  Her winning time for the 15.5 kilometre race was 38 minutes and 3.35 seconds, 5.11 seconds faster than Yulia Sibagatova of Russia.

“It feels magical,” said Gautier, “to have a team of people who all do the little things that help me … we did it!  I’m really, really excited to be world champion, and I’ll treasure it and ride well wearing [the rainbow jersey] in the next year.”

Moreau, of Victoriaville, Quebec, was a two-time bronze medalist in Rio, and this is his first world championships medal.  Moreau finished the 23.3 kilometre race with a time of 40 minutes and 22.98 seconds, 52.39 seconds behind winner Paolo Cecchetto of Italy.  Alex Hyndman of Morpeth, Ontario, finished 11th and Joey Desjardins of Hawksbury, Ontario, was 14th.

“It feels really good to get my first [Worlds] medal,” admitted Moreau.  “This year being a post-Games year and me having a new baby … it’s been a year of ups and downs.  So it’s been hard to work [train] consistently, and I was not sure what to expect at these first Worlds after Rio.  Today was a great experience, with a bigger field than in Rio, actually.  I had a bit of stress at the start with some problems with my bike computer and I started a bit too strong.  I had to slow my pace if I wanted to last the whole race, but I did well against some really experienced racers, and I’m really happy about that.”

Bromont, August 18, 2017 – The 2017 Global Relay Para Road Championships p/b Lexus concluded on Thursday with national titles awarded in the road races for multiple categories.  Held in Bromont, Quebec, the national championships bring together para-cycling athletes from across Canada to compete for the opportunity to become Canadian champion.

The road races were held on a 10 kilometre out-and-back course along Chemin Adamsville, west of Bromont and near Saint-Alphonse, with riders doing laps of the circuit over distances ranging from 30 to 80 kilometres.

“The past two days have been gorgeous conditions,” said Championships organizer Nicolas Legault.  “The athletes were impressive and put on a really good show.  We are really pleased with the help of the city and the local people.”

In the Tandem events, Rio Paralympians Shawna Ryan of Saskatchewan and her pilot Joanie Caron of Quebec won the 70 kilometre women’s race by nearly five minutes over the team of Annie Bouchard and Evelyne Gagnon of Quebec.  Matthieu Croteau-Daigle and Benoit Lussier led a Quebec podium sweep in the men’s 80 kilometre competition as they took their second gold medal of the Championships.

The title for the combined women’s and men’s Tricycle category race of 30 kilometres saw Quebec’s Louis-Albert Corriveau (T2) take the title with a time of one hour and 56 seconds, finishing two seconds ahead of Mike Shetler (T2) of Quebec, with the bronze medalist going to time trial gold medalist Shelley Gautier (T1), the first woman finisher.

The Handcycle competition was divided into two categories, with women’s H2/H3/H4 and men’s H1/H2 racing together for 30 kilometres, and was won by Quebec’s Myriam Adam (H3) ahead of Kara Douville (H4) of Alberta.  The 50 kilometre men’s H3/H4 competition was won by Rio Paralympic double bronze medalist Charles Moreau (H3) of Quebec, followed by Joey Desjardins (H3) of Ontario.

The final championship category was the 50 kilometre combined women’s C4/C5, with Quebec team mates and Rio Paralympians Nicole Clermont (C5) and Marie-Claude Molnar (C4) taking gold and silver, the reverse of their finishing order in the time trial.

Sébastien Travers, Head Coach of Para-cycling at Cycling Canada, said, “we had no specific expectations for our top riders at the Nationals, since we are leaving for the world championships in the next two weeks and they having been preparing for that.  The positive thing is that we have some new athletes from the NextGen program and other provinces that are showing great signs of progress.”

Bromont, August 14, 2017 – Para-cycling athletes from across Canada will gather in Bromont, Quebec, this week for the 2017 Global Relay Para-cycling Road Championships p/b Lexus on Wednesday, August 16th and Thursday, August 17th.  Riders will compete in the Time Trial on Wednesday and the Road Races on Thursday.

Time trial events will take place on a five kilometre out-and-back course on Boul. de l’Innovation and Boul. de Montréal, with categories racing 10, 15 or 20 kilometres.  The road races will be held on a 10 kilometre out-and-back course along Chemin Adamsville, over distances ranging from 30 to 80 kilometres.

Among the athletes attending will be members of Canada’s medal winning 2016 Paralympic team, including:

Michael Sametz – Men’s C3
Charles Moreau, Alex Hyndman and Joey Desjardins – Men’s H3
Shelley Gautier – Women’s T1
Marie-Claude Molnar – Women’s C4
Nicole Clermont – Women’s C5
Shawna Ryan and Joanie Caron – Women’s Tandem
Matthieu Croteau-Daigle and Benoit Lussier – Men’s Tandem

“The 2017 Para-cycling road championships held in Bromont will be the opportunity to see selected athletes for Road Worlds and newcomers competing together before the beginning of the WCC prep camp,” said Arnaud Litou, Para-cycling High Performance Manager at Cycling Canada.

“Despite the fact that the championship is taking place mid-week, we are expecting athletes coming from all over Canada for this event. We would like to thank the CNCB for organizing the para-cycling road championships. If you are interested in para-cycling, feel free to come witness these great athletes and coaches’ performances!”

Emmen, NED, July 3rd, 2017 – Canada’s para-cycling team had strong results over the Canada Day weekend, with eight medals, including three golds at the third and final round of the 2017 UCI Road World Cup, in Emmen, Netherlands. The team also had an additional 12 top-10 results just outside the medals.

The competition began on Friday with the individual time trial events, where Canada won six medals, led by gold medals for Shelley Gautier of Toronto in the Women’s T1 category, and Michael Sametz of Calgary in the Men’s C3.  Also winning medals were Ross Wilson of Sherwood Park, Alberta with a silver medal in the Men’s C1, plus bronze medals for Charles Moreau (Victoriaville, QC) in Men’s H3, Marie-Claude Molnar (St-Hubert, QC) in Women’s C4 and Nicole Clermont (St Denis de Brompton, QC) in Women’s C5.

Wilson, a double silver medalist at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, said “It was my first World Cup of the 2017 season and it was great to be back racing as part of the Canadian national para-cycling team.  It was a wonderful opportunity to test myself, and I was very pleased to be standing on the podium. Unfortunately, it was second rather than first, but I think I’m in a good position for [the world championships] in August.”

“After the Paralympics, I was on a bit of a high and continued to work and train with [national coach] Sebastien Travers, and go in a different direction from what I had done in the past.  I think we’ve seen some very good results and progress.  What also motivated me was the letter we received from Prime Minister Trudeau, encouraging the entire team to have great races and results. It was wonderful.”

The final two days of competition were devoted to road race events, where Canada won two more medals. Gautier took her second gold medal (and third of the World Cup season) in the Women’s T1 road race.  Charles Moreau also became a double medalist at this World Cup, with a second bronze in the H3 Men’s road race.  There might have been more medals if not for some bad breaks.  Ross Wilson was well positioned in the Men’s C1 road race going into the final 500 metres until a crash took him out of contention.  The multi-time medal winning women’s tandem team of Robbi Weldon (Ottawa, ON) and Audrey Lemieux (Montreal, QC) lost their opportunity in the road race also due to a crash.

Arnaud Litou, Para-cycling Manager, stated, “The Canadian para-cycling team won eight medals at the final Road World Cup in Emmen, and showed lots of character.  All the staff and athletes would like to dedicate these World Cup results to Sébastien Héroux [NextGen para-cycling athlete] who passed away this past Wednesday in Bromont-QC after losing a long fight with illness. In those hard moments for us all, we think about his wife and two children … as Sébastien always said:  ‘Pursue your dreams and live your life fully!’ He will always be with us!”