January 30/04 7:42 am - B.C. Youth Series, Tour Speaks On Doping

Posted by Editor on 01/30/04
 

Cycling BC to Launch Youth Road Race Series

Cyclists under the age of 19 looking to get into road racing take note! Cycling BC's U19 Road Series is set to launch! The ten event Championship Series, open to all racers under the age of 19 (as of December 31/04) starts next month, with the dEVo's Spring Series, March 20th and 28th. The Series, catering to both male and female racers, runs throughout the spring and summer, and includes many of BC's hottest races!


MARCH 20 dEVo Spring Series Road Race
(604) 888-5779
info@escapevelocity.bc.ca
www.escapevelocity.bc.ca

March 28 dEVo Spring Series Criterium
(604) 888-5779
info@escapevelocity.bc.ca
www.escapevelocity.bc.ca

April 11 SISU BC Cup - Harris Roubaix Classic
(604) 328-7370
info@trekvwracing.com
www.trekvwracing.com

April 17 Race the Ridge Time Trial & Criterium
(604) 467-8577
racetheridge@hotmail.com
www.crosstrailsadventures.com

May 18 Escape Velocity Tuesday Nighter (UBC)
(604) 888-5779
info@escapevelocity.bc.ca
www.escapevelocity.bc.ca

July 4 Comox Cycling Club Race
(250) 338-1653
edschum@shaw.ca
mars.ark.com/~cvcc/

July 10 Mt. Seymour Hill Climb - (modified lengths)
(604) 983-2765
zimich@shaw.ca
www.zimichcoaching.com

August 1 Comox Cycling Club Race
(250) 338-1653
edschum@shaw.ca
mars.ark.com/~cvcc/

August 14 *Provincial Time Trial Championships
(604) 222.4644
info@escapevelocity.bc.ca
www.escapevelocity.bc.ca

August 22 *Provincial Criterium Championships
(604) 983-2765
zimich@shaw.ca
www.zimichcoaching.com

*Athletes taking part in any Provincial Championship Event must hold a full race licence.

Championship categories for both men and women include U19, U17 and U15. Racers earn points toward an overall Championship. Points are collected on a "best of eight" format, allowing racers that contest all Series events to drop two finishes. Points will be distributed in the following manner:

Finishing Position Championship PoInts Collected
1st 12 points
2nd 10
3rd 8
4th 7
5th 6
6th 5
7th 4
8th 3
9th 2
10th to all finishers 1 point

Riders that do not have a valid race licence must be members of an affiliated Cycling BC club, and be able to display a valid associate club membership card, or become paid members of the U19 Race Series Club (for details, please contact Allan Prazsky (road@cycling.bc.ca).

Please Note - In order to take part in any Provincial Championship event, a rider must hold a valid Cycling BC race licence (Domestic/International).Racers that do not hold a race licence will not be eligible for any BC Team projects, selection events or upgrading.

Gear restrictions apply! Please make sure your bike meets the gear restrictions imposed by the U19 Race Series! In the event that a gear is too large, a racer's gear must be blocked out to reflect the imposed gear restrictions. Bikes failing to meet the required roll-out distance will not be eligible to compete. Neither race officials nor Junior Committee members will assist in blocking gear limits.

REQUIRED GEAR RESTRICTIONS FOR ALL AGE CATEGORIES:

Maximum Roll Out Distance - 7.93 meters * (For guidance purposes only: 52 x 14)

The following gear restrictions, imposed by the Canadian Cycling Association for U17 (Cadet) and U15 (Minime) racers are recommended, though NOT REQUIRED:

U17 (Cadet) - 6.86 meters** (** For guidance purposes only: 45 x 14)

U15 (Mimime) - 5.98 meters*** (*** For guidance purposes only: 42 x 15)

For more information about the U19 Road Race Championship, please contact Allan Prazsky (road@cycling.bc.ca) or Junior Committee Chair, Peter Bant (pbant@shaw.ca).


CCES News

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports collates stories on doping and cheating, which we reprint if of interest to the cycling world.

Tour De France Bosses Call for Heavier Drugs Bans - Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - Tour de France organizers have called on cycling's world governing body to impose tougher doping bans in the wake of the Cofidis scandal.

"We must put our trust in the code of the World Anti-Doping agency (WADA),'' Patrice Clerc, president of Amaury Sport Organization, the Tour owner, told sports daily L'Equipe.

"We must stop arguing that a two-year ban would be too harsh a sanction. I'm publicly and officially asking the UCI (International Cycling Union) president Hein Verbruggen to agree to a two-year ban.

"I'm sure that the majority of the riders are not cheating but we have to get rid of those who are.''

French police raided the Cofidis team headquarters and the office of one of their doctors on January 12 as part of a doping inquiry.

Last week, a team assistant and two riders, Cedric Vasseur and Philippe Gaumont, were detained for questioning about the alleged trafficking of banned substances.

Gaumont was released but is under official investigation. He admitted on French television this week that he had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs and suggested that 90 percent of riders might not be "clean.''

Vasseur, who led the 1997 Tour de France for five days, was freed without charge.

Clerc said the Cofidis affair was proof that doping would "not be stamped out in one or two years as if by magic.''

"It will be an inch-by-inch, long-term fight,'' he added. "We all have to unite, riders, sponsors, federations, political authorities, justice, police.''

The affair has been branded as the biggest judicial investigation into cycling since the Festina scandal erupted during the 1998 Tour de France, when a large assortment of drugs were found in a team car.