February 20/04 10:32 am - Alex Stieda Injured, CCA Track Camp

Posted by Editor on 02/20/04
 

Alex Stieda Injured

We heard about Alex's injury a while ago, but wanted to wait to say anything until we had a chance to get hold of Alex himself. It was very serious, from what Alex says below, and we are glad to hear that he is making a good recovery. Post your messages to Alex in the Forums.


Well, 2 weeks ago I was checked in the chest during a no-hit hockey game - of course I didn't expect to be hit and when I did, the increased pressure collapsed my lung. Turns out that I had a defect or bleb and blew out. No broken ribs.

Of course, stubborn me, I kept trying to play which didn't feel good, then got home myself, slept on it, went to work and finally went to the doc who
got x-rays taken and immediately drove me to the hospital himself, not telling me the seriousness of it (tension pneumo thorax) until I had the pressure released from the chest cavity - just like the war movies!

Then had a chest tube put in to re-inflate the lung, removed after a couple days but it didn't stay up. Put the tube back in (ouch!), CT scan and have surgery ordered. That was done last Sunday the 15th and now I'm at home recovering...slowly!

Anyway, that's the long and short of it. I'll keep you updated on my recovery.

Regards,

Alex Stieda


CCA Track Camp in Florida
Courtesy CCA

February 20, 2004 ˆ The CCA will be holding a "Training and Evaluation Camp" at the Brian Picoolo Park Velodrome in Cooper City, Florida from February 22nd to March 9th.  The camp will be run by National Track Cycling Coach Eric Van Den Eynde and Erin Hartwell, six-time Olympic and World Championship medalist.

The purpose of the camp is to pre-select the most competitive team for the 2004 UCI World Cups in Mexico and possibly Manchester. The UCI World Cup in Mexico will be the next opportunity for our Canadian men to earn qualifying points for the Track World Championships in May in both the Team Pursuit and Team Sprint events. Our National Team's number one priority on the season is to qualify for the Track World Championships to be held in Australia in May. There is also an added incentive to perform well at the World Championships as they hold a greater significance in qualifying for the upcoming Olympics in Athens.

The first opportunity to establish time standards will be on February 23rd.  Objectivity in the qualifying process is required in this initial selection race and athletes will earn their place in the camp based mainly on individual-event performances. A "Training and Evaluation Camp" will follow the February 23rd qualifier in an effort to narrow the athlete pool. Selected athletes will remain in Florida for continued evaluation, culminating in a final subjective athlete selection sometime in the beginning of March.