March 6/04 1:15 am - Hardwood-Twenty4 Sports Update, Olympic Criteria Published, Murcia

Posted by Editor on 03/6/04
 

Hardwood - Twenty4 Sports Update

After Trilife Inc. went bankrupt last December a new company with the same principals bought the assets (called Twenty4 Sports. The majority of 24 hour events organized by the company (under the 24 Hours of Adrenalin banner) will continue, however, the largest event, held at Hardwood Hills near Barrie, Ontario has become a subject of controversey and, now, a lawsuit.

Hardwood declined to host the event, citing legal opinion that the contract essentially died with the cessation of operations by Trilife. They subsequently agreed to host an event organized by Chico Racing, however, Chico Racing decided later not to produce the event because of the ongoing situation.

Twenty4 Sports believes that they have purchased all assets of Trilife, and have a legal opinion that says this includes the contract (which was scheduled to run through 2004, with a non-competition clause for 2005). They have been advertising through their website (and in the Toronto Bike Show program) that the event is on, and they have been accepting registrations (through their website and at the Toronto show this weekend).

We spoke with Glen Meeuwisse of Hardwood Hills on Friday, who reiterated the Hardwood Hills position that there is no contract, and that they will not host the event on their property this year.

Yesterday afternoon, Twenty4 Sports posted a lengthy announcement on a bulletin board in front of their booth, explaining their position (we have been promised a copy when they are back in the office on Monday). Essentially, it states that the company intends to run the event, and feels that it has been forced into the lawsuit by Hardwood Hills.

We spoke with Twenty4 Sports principal Stuart Dorland about the situation, and he stated that his company has managed to reach an agreement with all of their other partners except Hardwood Hills, and that they have a legal opinion that they have an enforcable contract.

At this point, all monies collected by Twenty4 Sports for Hardwood Hills are being deposited into a separate account, so if for any reason the event does not happen (ie, the situation is not settled early enough to produce an event should they win their suit, or they lose their suit), then funds can be reimbursed to participants. Dorland could not give a "drop dead" date after which the event would not take place, even if they were successful in their suit.


Canadian Olympic Criteria

The Canadian Olympic Association (COA) has released the Schedule A qualifying standards for cycling. To be eligible to be nominated to the Olympic team, athletes must meet Schedule A and Schedule C criteria. Schedule A is set by the CCA (and has to be approved by the COA), while Schedule C is set by the UCI.

We previously published the Schedule C criteria in Daily News (December 16/03 12:30 pm EST). The full Schedule A criteria for Road and Mountain / Track can be downloaded by clicking on these links.

Briefly, the criteria are as follows:

Mountain Bike

Between July 1, 2002 and July 11, 2004, athletes achieving the following results twice will be eligible for selection to the Olympic Team (subject to Schedules 'B' (actual nomination) and 'C').

* Cross Country Men Top-12 at World Cups or the 2002 World Championships
* Cross Country Women Top-10 at World Cups or the 2002 World Championships

At the 2003 Worlds:
Cross Country Men Top-12
Cross Country Women Top-12

Track

Between July 1, 2002 and July 11, 2004, athletes achieving the following absolute results twice will be eligible for selection to the Olympic Team (subject to Schedules 'B' (actual nomination) and 'C').

* Points Race Men Top-10 & Top-1/2 at World Cups or the 2003 World Championships
* Points Race Women Top-10 & Top-1/2 at World Cups or the 2003 World Championships
* Keirin Men Top-10 & Top-1/2 at World Cups or the 2003 World Championships

Between July 1, 2002 and July 11, 2004, athletes achieving the following times twice in any round of competition at World Cups, the 2003 Canadian Championships or the 2003 World Championships will be eligible for selection to the Olympic Team (subject to Schedules 'B' (actual nomination) and 'C'). (Note: Results from any round of competition may be used, to a maximum of one result per event per competition.)

* Sprint Men 10.500
* Sprint Women 11.800
* 1km Time Trial Men 1:05.300
* 500m Time Trial Women 35.955
* Pursuit Men 4:30.300
* Pursuit Women 3:44.600

* Team Pursuit, Madison, Olympic Sprint: The Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) is eligible to nominate athletes to the COC provided that the CCA qualifies for entry in the Olympic Games according to the UCI Qualification System (see Schedule 'C'). If the CCA does not qualify for entry according to the UCI Olympic qualification system, but is subsequently invited to participate in the Games due to the withdrawal of athletes who had qualified according to UCI, or for any other reason, the nomination of Canadian athletes by the CCA will be accepted if the invitation is awarded prior to the COC's nomination deadline. If the UCI invitation is awarded by the UCI after the COC's nomination deadline, the nomination of athletes by the CCA will be subject to review and approval by the Team Selection Committee, which review will seek to determine the competitiveness of the Canadian entry.

2004 Track Worlds
* Points Race Men Top-12
* Points Race Women Top-8
* Keirin Men Top-12
* Sprint Men Top-12
* Sprint Women Top-8
* 1km Time Trial Men Top-12
* 500m Time Trial Women Top-8
* Pursuit Men Top-12
* Pursuit Women Top-8

Road

Between July 1, 2002 and July 11, 2004, athletes achieving the following absolute results in an event at an International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned competition, will be eligible for selection to the Olympic Team (subject to Schedules 'B' (actual nomination) and 'C').

Road Race Men (must all be achieved in the same event)

Top-10 overall or equal time three (3) times in races with a category of 1.3 or 2.3 or better (1 point each time).

OR

Top-10 overall or equal time six (6) times in races with a category of 1.5 or 2.5 or better (0.5 points each time).

OR

Any combination of points earned above equal to or better than a minimum total of three (3) points.

Road Race Women (must all be achieved in the same event)

Top-8 overall or equal time three (3) times in World Cups and races with a category of 1.9.1 or 2.9.1 or better

Athletes achieving the following rankings at the 2003 World Road Championships, modified to Olympic entry regulations, will be eligible for selection to the Olympic Team (subject to Schedules 'B' (actual nomination) and 'C').

* Road Race Men Top-12 or equal time
* Road Race Women Top-12 or equal time


Vuelta a Murcia - Spain

Stage 4 - Totana to Alto Collado Bermejo 169 km

1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco 4:25:34
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Com.Valenciana-Kelme
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile
4 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir all s.t.
5 Miguel A M.Perdiguero (Esp) Saunier Duval-Prodir at 0:51
6 Jose Miguel Elias (Esp) Relax-Bodysol 0:52
7 Jose Angel Gomez (Esp) Costa Almeria-Paternina
8 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Esp) Illes Balears-Banesto
9 Ruben Plaza (Esp) Com.Valenciana-Kelme
10 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Saeco

13 Daniel Rincon (Col) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor all s.t.
16 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile 3:06
27 Michael Barry (Can) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 5:12
36 Lance Armstrong (USA) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 6:12
37 Iban Mayo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi s.t.
44 Jose Luis Rubiera (Esp) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 10:31
51 Manuel Beltran (Esp) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 15:55
57 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile
62 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor
65 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor
67 Jurgen V.Den Broeck (Bel) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor all s.t.

GC

1 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Com.Valenciana-Kelme 12:45:15
2 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Esp) Illes Balears-Banesto at 0:05
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 0:09
4 Ruben Plaza (Esp) Com.Valenciana-Kelme 0:40
5 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Saeco 0:57
6 Antonio Colom (Esp) Illes Balears-Banesto 1:23
7 David Canada (Esp) Saunier Duval-Prodir 1:33
8 Javier Rodriguez (Esp) Com.Valenciana-Kelme 1:39
9 Jose Miguel Elias (Esp) Relax-Bodysol 2:00
10 Miguel A M.Perdiguero (Esp) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2:01

12 Daniel Rincon (Col) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 2:14
19 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile 4:21
22 Michael Barry (Can) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 5:15
24 Lance Armstrong (USA) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 5:54
25 Iban Mayo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6:13
36 Jose Luis Rubiera (Esp) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 10:57
45 Jurgen V.Den Broeck (Bel) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 16:37
48 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 16:54
49 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 17:03
52 Manuel Beltran (Esp) U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor 17:22
72 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile 24:18