It appears the pedals never stop churning on Island roads, trails or the Juan de Fuca Velodrome.
Eleven Island athletes, some who will be heard from on the roads, tracks and and trails to the 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics, will represent sa国际传媒 in the 2023 UCI world cycling championships beginning Thursday through Aug. 13 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Keira Murphy of Nanaimo will compete in junior women’s BMX; Emilly Johnston of Comox in women’s Under-23 mountain biking; Carter Woods of Cumberland in men’s U-23 mountain bike; Emmy Lan and Eva Leikermoser, both of Comox, in elite women’s mountain bike downhill; Mark Wallace of Duncan in elite men’s mountain bike downhill; Matthew Ney of Victoria in the junior men’s road race and individual time trial; Riley Pickrell in the men’s U-23 road race; Sarah Van Dam of Victoria in the elite women’s road race, team pursuit, individual pursuit, elimination race and madison; Erin Attwell of Victoria in the elite women’s track team pursuit, and Mel Pemble of Victoria in para-road cycling.
Woods and Johnston come from a strong mountain-biking tradition in the Comox Valley. It doesn’t hurt having Mount Washington nearby. They are following in the pedal straps of Geoff Kabush, the UVic mechanical engineering graduate from Courtenay who had two top-10 finishes among his three Olympic appearances at Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and Kiara Bisaro of Comox, 2004 Athens Olympian and bronze medallist at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
With three-time world champion and 1996 Atlanta Olympic silver medallist Alison Sydor of Victoria long retired and two-time world champion and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Catharine Pendrel, a UVic graduate who learned to ride on the Hartland trails, having concluded the final of her four Olympics at Tokyo 2020, the focus turns Woods and Johnston for Los Angeles 2028.
Woods goes into the UCI worlds next week having won two U-23 World Cup races and the Canadian men’s elite-division cross-country championship this month in Kentville, N.S.
“This is the first time where I’m feeling very confident and having some good training leading into [the UCI cycling world championships],” Woods said in a statement.
Back home for focus and then I’m hoping to finish out my U-23 year with a good worlds.”
Pickrell, meanwhile, is also at the U-23 level but already a pro on the roads of Europe with some experts predicting a potential future in the Giro and Tour de France.
Victoria track cyclists Attwell and Van Dam appear poised for Paris next year after winning bronze with the Canadian team at the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup in April. Attwell also won silver at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games.
Attwell and Van Dam are the latest elite racers out of the 1994 Commonwealth Games velodrome in Colwood, which was spared demolition only after the Island cycling community rallied to save it.
It has produced Attwell, Van Dam, 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist Gillian Carleton, 2020 Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jay Lamoureux and 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games gold medallist Evan Carey.
“The Juan de Fuca velodrome has been incredibly important to me and is the reason I am in track cycling,” Attwell has said.
“It was the only safe place to race bikes as a youth. It was our training and hang-out place.”
Van Dam has said: “The Juan de Fuca velodrome stoked my passion for track cycling. I learned everything about track racing there. I race on the road as well. They complement each other when done right. It keeps it interesting. I live in the moment.”
The next moment comes in Glasgow for Van Dam and company. The Canadian team to the 2023 UCI worlds also includes Tokyo 2020 medallists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest for track and Keely Shaw and Kate O’Brien for para-track cycling.
Going in as defending world champions with the rainbow jerseys are Dylan Bibic in the men’s scratch race, Carson Mattern in the junior men’s individual pursuit and omnium, Jackson Gladstone in junior mountain biking downhill and Victoria’s Pemble in the women’s para C3 omnium and scratch races.
Isabella Holmgren, who will riding in the cyclo-cross national championships this fall at Layritz Park, will be looking to add road and mountain biking championships to her resume after becoming Canadian and world junior cyclo-cross champion. Paula Findlay, an Olympian in triathlon, will be making her world championship debut in cycling.
