December 18/01 7:33 am - Bessette, 2003 Worlds, Road Nationals, Montreal, 7Up Team

Posted by Editor on 12/18/01
 

Bessette and the 'Cross Worlds

Lyne Bessette has announced her interest in representing Canada at the Cyclo-cross World Championships, however, a snag has developed: the CCA will not register her since she did not attend the Canadian 'Cross Nationals.

For some years now, the High Performance Committee of the CCA has had a policy that athletes must attend the national championships within a discipline in order to be eligible to attend world championships. The only exceptions are injury or if the athlete is on a program previously agreed to that conflicts (for example, when Alison Sydor was at the Tour Feminin rather than the mountain bike nationals in 1999).

The reason is to maintain the prestige and desirability of the nationals, according to CCA Director of National Racing Programs Pierre Hutsebaut.

"The Committee decided that it is important for the value of the nationals. If we want to attract sponsors and organizers, we need to be able to show that the best athletes will be there. All the athletes are there, so there can be no complaints of favourit(ism)."

Hutsebaut said that Bessette has formally requested for permission to represent Canada at the 'Cross Worlds (in Zolder, Belgium), and that he has forwarded the request to the VP of High Performance (Yvan Waddell). The Committee will consider Bessette's request and get back to her. The decision needs to be made 3 weeks before the Worlds (February 2-3, 2002).


2003 Worlds Update

A UCI delegation visited Hamilton late last week to review developments for the 2003 road World Championships. According to Pierre Hutsebaut, CCA Director of National Racing Programs, the delegation was very pleased with the technical progess.

"They were happy with the courses, the fact that all media and technical facilities will be in one place indoors (the Hamilton Convention Centre, rather then tents which are often used), and that the events were taking place downtown in a major city."

Unfortunately, from the marketing perspective things are not going as well. While the federal government and the local regional government have both committed funds, the Ontario provincial government refuses to make a commitment. Thus, the Board of Directors are limited in their ability to move forward without knowing what level of funding the province will provide.

The governing Ontario Progressive Conservatives have a bit of a reputation for being difficult to pin down, and probably plan on using increasing anxiety to negotiate the best (ie, cheapest) deal possible. They are also embarking upon a leadership race, so providing money for an event in 2003 is far down their list of priorities.


Road Nationals Update

The CCA is still waiting on a UCI decision regarding MTB World Cup date shifts. If a date does open at the end of June, that will be the first choice for the nationals. However, if it does not (or if there is no organizer willing to take the nationals on that date), the fallback is August, after the Commonwealth Games. The UCI is apparently going to announce a decision on the World Cup calendar sometime this week.


Award to Montreal World Cup

Montréal, December,18th 2001 - the International Cycling Union has recognized the merit of the efforts of the Montreal Women's Road Cycling Organizing committee by awarding them the trophy of best organization of the Women's Road World Cup for 2001.

To emphasis the prestige of this award, it is important to realize that the Montreal organization was in competition with all of the major organizations of international cycling; the Societe du Tour de France, Giro de Italia and many other well established events.

The Montreal organization has make its marks by the quality of its work, the dynamism of its team members, the importance attached to the press coverage and the efforts made to promote womens cycling.

This international event was first started by Daniel Manibal in 1998, and has taken place every year since on Mont Royal, on the same course that was used in 1974 for the UCI World Championships and thin 1976 for the Olympic Games. This event is well on its way to gaining the title of a 'classic' race in the cycling world, and is also the only one of this stature on the North American continent.

At the National and Provincial levels, the organization has also received the title of Best Road Cycling Event of the year (all categories included) from the respective federations.

Thanks to all the team members, volunteers, sponsors, media, and the Quebec government that helped us to make this a unique event in North America, that is well appreciated by the participants and fans alike.


7 UP/Nutra Fig 2002

(12/17/01) Podium Sports Management's Team 7 UP has landed Cannondale and Nutra Fig as major new sponsors for 2002, and the team has announced its roster of riders for the coming season. Cannondale will be the official bicycle and apparel supplier to the powerful U.S. men's road team, while long time cycling supporter Nutra Fig will join 7 UP in the title sponsor slot. Also on board for 2002 is real estate leader THF Realty.

7 UP/Nutra Fig has re-signed its core group of athletes from 2001, including team leaders John Lieswyn and Clark Sheehan as well as Kevin Monahan, Doug Ziewacz, brothers Oscar and Juan Carlos Pineda, and Canadian Charles Dionne. New additions for 2002 include New Zealanders Graeme Miller and Greg Henderson, along with Colorado Sprinter Dan Schmatz.

Regarding the 2002 7 UP/Nutra Fig roster, Team General Manager Scott McAfee stated: "Next year's team is very heavy in the speed department. Dan, Graeme and Greg are all really fast finishers and when you combine them with Kevin and Charles, it makes for quite a formidable line-up."

2002 7 UP/Nutra Fig Roster

Jeff Corbett - Rider/Manager
Chuck Coyle, USA
Charles Dionne, Canada
Greg Henderson, NZ
John Lieswyn, USA
Graeme Miller, NZ
Kevin Monahan, USA
Juan Carlos Pineda, USA
Oscar Pineda, USA
Dan Schmatz, USA
Clark Sheehan, USA
Doug Ziewacz, USA