June 6/15 9:27 am - Cycling Canada Hires NextGen Women's Track Endurance Coach

Posted by Editor on 06/6/15
 

Continuing in line with its numerous program expansions, Cycling Canada has recently hired Cameron Jennings as NextGen (Development) Women's Track Endurance Coach.

As of June 1st, Jennings is heading the NextGen Women's track endurance program based out of the Mattamy Homes velodrome in Milton, Ontario. Through the international success of Canada's Women's track endurance program, Cycling Canada has identified the importance of ensuring continued success by increasing the pool size of athletes that would eventually feed into the high performance program.

Through Jennings' leadership, the NextGen program will underpin the future international Women's track endurance performances by working with up to a dozen talented track endurance development women on a daily basis through training track side in Milton and through targeted road and track competitions.

To ensure optimal preparation of the development talent pool, Jennings will be working closely with Women's Track Endurance Coach Craig Griffin and Women's Road Coach Denise Kelly.

The new coaching hire originally hails from Australia, where he had been employed at the Central Queensland University as an Associate Lecturer (Skill Acquisition and Movement Analysis), coaching local cyclists in his home town of Rockhampton, and working as an assistant coach at Cycling Queensland for National Road and Track Championships.

With accepting this new coaching position based out of Milton, Jennings leaves his more recent role as head coach of the Argyll Velodrome Racing Academy (AVRA). During his tenure at the Edmonton-based academy, the coach developed many athletes that would eventually be selected onto the national cycling team.

"We are extremely happy that Cam (Cameron) has decided to accept our offer to coach our newly-formed NextGen Women's Track Endurance Program. Given Cam's coaching knowledge acquired in both Canada and Australia, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be a valued asset to our ever expanding, internationally successful programs," stated Jacques Landry, High Performance Director - Head Coach for Cycling Canada.

"It is thanks to partners like Sport Canada, Own the Podium, Canadian Sport Institute - Ontario and Ontario Cycling Association that we can acquire coaching talent such as Cameron Jennings into our programs, with the sole intent to build a strong cycling nation," Landry went on to say.

"I am truly honoured to have been named as Cycling Canada's NextGen Women's Track Endurance Coach. It is a position that I have long been working toward since I started coaching local cyclists in my home town of Rockhampton some 8 years ago," said Jennings. "I would like to thank everyone that has helped get me to this point in my coaching career. Upon moving to Edmonton in 2012, I didn't have any job prospects and was starting a coaching career from scratch.  If it wasn't for the cycling community/clubs in Edmonton who helped with the creation of AVRA, and the coaching opportunities with the ABA and Cycling Canada, I would not have had the opportunities to develop professionally to a level required for this position."

Jennings added: "I am excited and looking forward to getting this program up and running, and to be working closely with both Craig Griffin and Denise Kelly as we develop the next group of girls who have been inspired by the success of Cycling Canada's current Women's Track Endurance Team."

The NextGen Women's track endurance program will reach its full momentum in the fall of 2015, once programming on the track resumes following the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. Until then, Jennings will be fine-tuning the NextGen Women's program and scouting more talented athletes that can fill the ranks of this soon to be highly reputed program.