August 14/15 10:48 am - 16 Canadians to Race CrossVegas World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 08/14/15
 

Sixteen Canadian athletes will be on the start line for the opening round of the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 16th.

This represents Canada's maximum quota of eight elite women and eight elite men allowed under UCI rules.

The start positions were allocated as follows:

Elite women
Maghalie Rochette
Natasha Elliot
Anna Schappert
Ashley Barson
Sidney McGill
Siobhan Kelly
Mical Dyck
Catharine Pendrel

Elite men
Geoff Kabush
Michael Van Den Ham
Aaron Schooler
Evan McNeely
Craig Richey
Jeremy Martin
Mark McConnell
Derek Zandstra

This event is not a national team project: as allowed in the UCI rules, athletes will compete in their team clothing.

Cycling Canada's Cyclo-Cross working group, anticipating high demand for these start positions, developed an application process and selection criteria to determine how to allocate them. Athletes had until July 27th to apply for a start position, and were then ranked according to the criteria.

While the selection criteria and process were followed to the letter, the Cyclo-cross working group did note some shortcomings in the process:

• the timeline to submit applications was very tight;
• the criteria were not communicated quickly or broadly enough.

These shortcomings will be addressed for future World Cup selections. In order to improve communications among members of the Cyclo-cross community, the cyclo-cross working group is building a mailing list of people interested in receiving news and updates on the Canadian Cyclo-cross program. Anybody interested in receiving information via email can sign up to the mailing list using the form here: http://eepurl.com/bvzT-r.

About the Canadian Cyclo-Cross Working Group:

The Canadian-Cyclo-Cross Working Group is made up of various stakeholders from the Canadian Cyclo-cross community. The objective of this new initiative is to improve communications and planning around the Canadian Cyclo-cross program. The working group has been tasked with developing a sustainable cyclo-cross program, exploring funding opportunities and identifying and engaging leaders in the Canadian Cyclo-cross community to help drive these initiatives.

Working Group members:

• Program Manager: Scott Kelly
• NSO Rep: Kris Westwood
• PSO Rep: Jayson Gillespie
• Elite Female Rep: Mical Dyck
• Elite Male Rep: Aaron Schooler
• Industry Rep: Craig Richey