August 14/07 9:44 am - Alberta Provincial Track Championships

Posted by Editoress on 08/14/07
 

Alberta Track Provincial Championships August 11-12, Glenmore Velodrome in Calgary AB
Courtesy Jim Smith

The Alberta provincial track cycling championships were held at the Glenmore Velodrome in Calgary this past weekend. During the week, we endured rain and cold temperatures and wondered whether we would be able to race. However, Saturday dawned fine and we were blessed with clear skies and relatively low winds on both days, although it was a little nippy at our 9:00 AM start times.

A total of 39 riders competed in seven different categories - elite men and women, in both power and endurance categories, and Masters A, B and C men. We had spirited, clean racing in all events and a number of spectators on both days who enjoyed the action. We even had spectators who weren't connected to racers!

The elite men's endurance category was closely fought. In the end, Jamie Sparling (Laz-Y-Boy), our one out of province rider, won the endurance omnium on a count back of results over Devon Smibert (Team H&R Block). Jamie won the pursuit, Devon the scratch race and Nick Jendzjowsky (Pedalhead Roadworks) won the points race by lapping the field on the second last lap. The men's power category had good, close racing but the winner in all of the sprint, kilo and keirin events was Felix Haspel (Synergy Racing). Although all the races were fairly close, Felix' domination of these events was complete.

In the elite women's categories, Tara Whitten (Velocity Cycling Club) took the power omnium by winning all three events, while Steph Roorda (Synergy Racing) edged Tara in the endurance omnium with wins in the scratch and points races. The two raced wheel to wheel in every event and the outcomes could never be foretold until the event was over.

Master A men provided some exciting racing but the winner of all the events and the omnium was Craig Debellefeuille (Synergy Racing) - an impressive display when you consider that the races ranged from sprints through to a lengthy points race. Master B events were dominated by Peter Toth (Juventus), while Ed Heacock (Edmonton Masters Cycling Team) led the Master C men. Peter actually won the combined Master A and B points race.

We were also joined by a group of local young and paralympic riders for three out of competition events on Saturday. These promising riders showed that track racing has more riders coming up through the system to challenge the older riders as both age - positively for the young 'uns, not so positively for the rest of us.

Thanks to Andy Holmwood of the ABA, Chris Wood and his team of commissaires, John Plant and Dennis Gregory for electronic timing and the race volunteers from Cyclemeisters/Team Bow Cycle and bicisport for their assistance in putting on this important event.

Next stop for our track riders: Dieppe on September 6th.

FULL RESULTS

Results Omnium