MILTON, March 21, 2017 – In less than two weeks the most important event in the Junior/U17 and Para track season will take place – the 2017 Canadian Track Championships p/b Lexus.  From March 31st to April 2nd, the top men and women in the Under-19 (Junior), Under-17 and Para-cyclist categories from across Canada will converge at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario. Admission is free to spectators for all days and all sessions.

National titles will be awarded in individual and mass start competitions for U19 and U17.  For the Junior category, the Championships have an added significance as this will be a selection event for the world championships team.  Events include Endurance (Individual Pursuit and Team Pursuit), Sprint (1000m / 500m Time Trial, Keirin, Team Sprint and Sprint) and Mass Start (Points Race, Elimination, Scratch).  For the first time, the exciting two-rider Madison race will be added for Junior categories.

On the Para side, the national championship will feature both newcomers to the sport and medal-winning veterans, competing in numerous ability-based classes.  Athletes will race for titles in the Individual Pursuit and 1000m / 500m Time Trials. Over the years, Canada has developed a Paralympic and world championship winning program.

“As we start off this new quadrennial leading into the Tokyo Games, the Track Championships are a great opportunity for up-and-coming cyclists and para-cyclists to be noticed by our national program coaches,” said Jacques Landry, Director of High Performance for Cycling Canada.  “Coaches and high performance staff are eager to see what these Nationals will produce in the way of future international podium prospects.  As participation numbers at Track Nationals continues to grow, so does the track culture in Canada. These are exciting times!”

The 2017 Canadian Track Championships p/b Lexus for Elite and Master categories will take place from September 27-30 at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre.

BURNABY, BC, February 27, 2017 – The 2017 Canadian track season opened with a pair of new events aimed at development riders – the Eastern and Western Challenge competitions.  After the success of the Eastern Challenge at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario, it was the turn of the Western Challenge at the B.C. Lower Mainland Burnaby Velodrome in Burnaby, BC, on February 24-25.  Cycling Canada worked in collaboration with Cycling BC and Kelyn Akuna for the Western Challenge.

Nearly 40 male and female athletes in the Under 15, Under 17 and Junior categories competed in events ranging from the Individual and Team Pursuit to the Team Sprint, Sprint and Keirin.  Mass start competitions included the Scratch Race, Points Race and Elimination.  Riders and teams came from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, plus the United States.

These events were created by Cycling Canada following the Track Competition review of the domestic competition system for track. Among the recommendations from the review were the creation of events aimed at development riders; to give them the opportunity to race an event with a caliber (and degree of organization) comparable to the Canadian Track Championships p/b Lexus.  This will give riders the opportunity to measure their preparedness for the world championships selection that takes place at the Championships.

Racing in Burnaby was held for Under-15, Under-17, Junior, Elite and Masters athletes. Spectators were encouraged to attend on both evenings and, aside from the racing, highlights included: a beer garden, food truck, DJ, and vendor booths. The flavor was slightly more family oriented on the Saturday evening with a kiddie kilo and face painting for kids.

Race organizer Kelyn Akuna said, “Operating in our relatively isolated track communities, it’s easy to forget how critical it is to travel to larger events where exposure to new competition and new ideas can test our mettle. Watching the inaugural Western Challenge this last weekend, I’m reminded of this fact and encouraged by the exchange of camaraderie and competitiveness that I witnessed from riders across Western Canada and the Pacific North-West. While I’m certainly pleased about the weekend, I’m also excited at the potential of this event and look forward to seeing it mature over the years.”

Jessika Grand Bois, the Track Coordinator at Cycling Canada, stated:  “We are grateful to be working with organizers such as Kelyn Akuna.  He, with the support of Cycling BC and a great group of volunteers, has been dedicated to making this first edition of the Western Challenge a success and an event we can build upon in the future. After having seen the U17 and Junior riders in both the Eastern and Western Challenge now, we are definitely looking forward to the upcoming U17/Jr/Para Canadian championships.”

LOS ANGELES, February 26, 2017 – Team Canada won two medals on the second day of racing at the Track World Cup final in Los Angeles on Saturday.  The Women’s Team Sprint squad won silver and the Women’s Team Pursuit squad won bronze.

After qualifying fourth on Friday evening, the Team Sprint duo of Kate O’Brien (Edmonton, AB) and Amelia Walsh (Ayr, ON) were second fastest in the next round on Saturday afternoon, putting them into the gold medal final against world champions Gazprom-Rusvelo in the evening.  Racing in their first final, the Canadians had a time of 34.146 seconds to take the silver medal, 0.311 seconds behind the Russian team.  This is Canada’s first ever World Cup medal in Team Sprint.  Canada finished eighth overall in the World Cup standings, despite racing in only two of four events.

O’Brien also made it through to the second round of the Women’s Keirin and eventually finished 11th.  O’Brien finished 13th overall in the World Cup standings, despite racing in only two of four events.

“It was a longer day for me,” said O’Brien, “I had four Keirins and two Team Sprints, so I had a lot in my legs.  But Walshy did a good lead out [in the Team Sprint].  Some of the cards played in our favour, but it’s a super exciting thing and we are really looking forward to the future.”

“It is pretty surreal for me,” admitted Walsh, who just moved to track from BMX.  “This is only my second track race, so it is surreal to be on the podium, to be honest.

In the Women’s Team Pursuit, the Canadian team of Laura Brown (Vancouver, BC), Jasmin Duehring (Vancouver, BC), Kirsti Lay (Montreal, QC) and Steph Roorda (Vancouver, BC) qualified third on Friday evening.  They finished second to New Zealand in the next round, with Annie Foreman-Mackey (Kingston, ON) replacing Lay, but won the bronze medal final against Italy with a time of four minutes and 25.487 seconds.  Foreman-Mackey replaced Roorda for the medal race.  Canada finished fifth overall in the World Cup standings, despite racing in only two of three events.

“The ride went okay,” said Brown, “we only really got together as a team this week, so to win bronze was pretty awesome, and we are really looking forward to world championships.  We did some experimenting with the [rider] order, which was fun to try.”

In other competition, Hugo Barrette (Iles de la Madeleine, QC) qualified eleventh in the Men’s Sprint and won his one-sixteenth ride before losing in the one-eighth finals to eventual bronze medalist Sam Webster of New Zealand. Barrette finished 18th overall in the World Cup standings, despite racing in only two of four events.

“It wasn’t my greatest day,” admitted Barrette.  “But top-10 is pretty good because I’m coming from far back with no racing in the past six months.  The objective is to do a great performance in Hong Kong [at the world championships], which I have in mind.  I’ve proven that even when I’m not in my best shape I can be competitive.”