March 19/05 11:37 am - B.C. Announcement for Canada Summer Games

Posted by Editor on 03/19/05
 

B.C. Canada Summer Games Announcement
Courtesy Cycling BC

Since 1967, the Canada Games have provided an important and exciting competitive environment for young athletes from provinces and territories across Canada. The 2005 Games, held in Regina, Saskatchewan, will be the 20th Canada Games and, like the first Games in 1967 which celebrated Canada's centennial, will be a celebration marking Saskatchewan's 100th anniversary. The City of Regina will partner with surrounding communities in the hosting of the Games.

Sixteen sports will be on the program for the 2005 Canada Summer Games, with more than 4,500 athletes, coaches, managers and officials from 10 provinces and 3 territories taking part. It is expected the Games will attract 200 media, over 750 VIPs and approximately 12,000 visitors, tourists and families. More than 5,000 volunteers will be involved in staging the event.

A specially selected team of 6 Male cyclists (between 17 and 20 years of age) and 6 female cyclists (between 17 and 22 years of age) will compete in 4 events; Time Trial, Criterium, Road Race and Cross-Country mountain bike.

Having met the Canada Summer Games funding requirements (Phase 1) by selecting a long list of athletes that benefited in physical and mental preparation, Cycling BC is happy to announce Phase 2 of the selection process - Performance Standards. Interested athletes that fit the age parameters (listed below) are requested to forward results from the identified selection events immediately after each event.

In order to be kept up to date with the latest Canada Games news, athletes that have not expressed an interest in the Games on a prior occasion are asked to contact a member of the coaching staff as soon as possible.

Selection is open to all athletes that are Games Eligible

Support Staff

Coaches:
Judy Latoski (jalatoski@shaw.ca)
Allan Prazsky (Road@cycling.bc.ca)

Manager: Alison Gibb (Alison@cycling.bc.ca)

COMPETITION DATES: Saturday August 6th through to Saturday August 20th, 2005

CYCLING EVENTS:
* Individual Time Trial
* Criterium
* Road Race
* Cross Country

TEAM: Twelve (12) athletes total: Six (6) females (under 22 and over 16 years) and six (6) males (under 20 and over 16 years) as of December 31st, 2004.

EXPENSES: All travel, accommodation and uniform costs are covered.

TEAM OBJECTIVES: To select a BC Team that will maximize athlete development and medal results!

For complete Games information: www.canadagames.ca, www.teambc.org

Selection Criteria Preamble

The athletes selected to this team will be performing at an elite national level. In order to evaluate athletes directly and fairly we will require athletes to compete against one another in the highest categories. It is the coaching staff's view that any athlete not competitive in the Category 1/2 field for Road and Elite/Pro field for MTB will not be competitive at the Canada Summer Games. As a consequence, there is a very real possibility that very few athletes of Junior age will be competitive enough to make the BC Team. Nevertheless, the selection criteria are designed to have enough flexibility to select exceptional Juniors to the CSG Team (please see note below regarding juniors).

The athletes selected for the BC Team will reflect the weighting towards road events where three of the six athletes for each gender will be selected primarily for their road skill and one will be selected primarily for their MTB skill. The remaining two spots will consider both demonstrated MTB and road skills for selection.

Note regarding Juniors (racing age 18 and under):

Some Canada Summer Games selection events overlap with important Junior specific events such as qualification for the Tour de l'Abitibi Team and National Championships. In these events, it is expected that juniors will race in either a separate Junior field, or in a mixed field of lower category, Category 3 on road for example. For road events, this overlap includes the Harris Roubaix and Bastion Square Criterium events. For MTB this includes MTB Nationals in Quebec. Results from these Junior events, while not directly comparable to results of CSG candidates racing in the elite categories, will be given significant weight by coaches and High Performance Committee in selections for the CSG Team. Remember that two spots on the team, or one third of the team, will be made by HP Committee selection. Also, there are ample opportunities to compete head to head with older CSG candidates in other selection events.

Selection will follow the same general rules for both men and women. For each of men and women, three athletes will be selected on qualification points through road events and one athlete for MTB through MTB events. Separate selection points for MTB and road selection events will be maintained. A ranked list of athletes will be recommended by the coaches to the Cycling BC High Performance Committee (HPC) for selection to the final two spots. In addition, the HPC will select two alternates for both men and women from the ranked list.

For road events, all male athletes must compete in Category 1/2. The only exception to this is for juniors who are competing for Tour de l'Abitibi Selection who will race in the appropriate Category 3 or Junior category. Upgrade letters will be provided by Cycling BC to athletes needing to upgrade to compete in Category 1/2.

For MTB events, all athletes must compete in the elite/pro category. The only exception to this will be at MTB Nationals where juniors will race in the junior category. Upgrade letters will be provided by Cycling BC to athletes needing to upgrade to compete in elite/pro categories.

Rules of Competition for Selection Events

An athlete may choose to compete in only MTB or Road events for qualification to the CSG Team. However, demonstrated aptitude in both MTB and Road events will be given significant weight in the coaches' ranking of athletes and subsequent final selections made by the HP Committee. For this reason it is strongly recommended that athletes compete and demonstrate strong performance in both MTB and Road qualification events.

**Riders must forward the best of four results (as described above) to the Games Coaches immediately after each event.**

Road
April 10 SISU BC Cup #1, Harris Roubaix Classic
May 1 Warp Speed TT
May 27 Bastion Square Criterium
June 12 SISU BC Cup #3, Atomic Road Race
June 26 SISU BC Cup #5, Norm Lowe Classic

Cross-Country
April 30 SISU BC Cup, On the Edge Rat Race
May 14 Cow Trail Classic, Merritt
June 4 SISU BC Cup, Hemlock MTB Festival, Hemlock Valley Resort
June 11 National MTB Championships, St. Anne, QC
June 25 SISU BC Cup, Mad Trapper, Panarama


Selection is open to all athletes that are Games Eligible. Points from selection events will be distributed by the following scale. The placings pertain to BC Team candidates only, not to the overall finishing order of all entrants.

1st - 12 points
2nd - 10 points
3rd - 8 points
4th - 6 points
5th - 5 points
6th - 4 points
7th - 3 points
8th - 2 points

Rider Selection:
Four of the six female and four of the six male athletes selected to the BC Team will be based on points earned from the identified selection events.

The remaining two female and two male athletes will be determined based on "High Performance Committee choice". Final Team selection will be performed by the High Performance Sub-Committee with input from Games staff.

Other Team Commitments
All CSG candidates will be required to fulfill periodic tasks by the CSG Team coaches and manager. Tasks may include completing forms, attending meetings or providing other information as required. In general, these tasks should be easy and of little burden.

These tasks will be posted on the Cycling BC's homepage. It is expected that all athletes and coaches check the Cycling BC web page regularly for updates. This will be in addition to email distribution of information. However, if the information is on the web site, not receiving an email is no excuse for being uninformed.

It is expected that CSG candidates will complete all required tasks promptly. The coaching staff reserves the right at all times to recommend to the HP Committee that an athlete be removed from consideration for the CSG Team, or from the Canada Summer Games Team itself, for any of the following:

1) Failure to complete required tasks; and/or; 2) Significant inappropriate behaviour to other athletes, officials, coaches or manager; and/or 3) Behaviour, including racing tactics, that are unsportsmanlike including presenting a danger, either intentional or unintentional, to other athletes.

The HP Committee will make the final decision on removing an athlete from consideration or from the selected CSG Team itself. Upon removal, an athlete will have 48 hours to make a written appeal to the HP Committee. This will be the only appeal allowed to the HP Committee and the final decision from the HP Committee will be made within seven days of receipt of the appeal.