Janna Gillick, riding for Mid Island Velo Association won the women's 30-39 event at the National Cyclo-Cross Championships, held on November 17th. in Surrey BC and is our NATIONAL CHAMPION.  Janna was never seriously challenged and was almost half a minute ahead of second place.

In the men's 40 -49 event, Ian Smith, in his first season at cyclo-cross finished seventh out of a large field of 56 riders. This was a hard fought race with Ian only twenty-six seconds behind the leader.

In the men's fifty plus category, Bill McMillan came sixth, just over two minutes behind first place.

For a new club that has only been in existence for a couple of years, these are fantastic results and show the strength of our programme.

Full results of the cyclo-cross championships here.

For Vancouver Island CX junkies ( and visitors from the mainland)  with the COTR  Championships fast approaching, it's time to hone those essential skills that will save  precious seconds every lap. A major source of lost time is poor dismount and remount technique.  Here is an excellent video explaining the basics of getting off and back on your bike quickly. The video concentrates on dismounting and remounting at an artificial barrier, but this technique can be used wherever riders have to get off their bikes during a race. Watch and then practise, practise, practise!

The National Cyclo-cross Championships are taking place on November 17th. in Surrey. There is a youth introduction to CX skills and an opportunity for participants to ride on part of the championship course BUT there are no under 17, under 15 or under 13 categories in the championships, neither is there a junior women category!  In a province where there is a strong emphasis on youth development, with many riders in these age groups already demonstrating a considerable level of expertise, this is a lamentable oversight. Cycling Canada (formerly the CCA) will tell all that there are no UCI categories for these age groups. However, the UCI also gives national federations the right to set categorisation that fits in with each countries particular needs. Britain, Australia and the Netherlands are just three of the countries that do have youth categories in all their championships.

Mid Island Velo Association has as a priority, the development of youth road, track and cyclo-cross and the club sees as a priority the inclusion of youth categories in all BC provincial and national championships. All who feel that this makes eminent sense, please take a few minutes to email both your provincial and national associations to make your views known.

Cycling BC contact here

Cycling Canada contact here

Brodie Hay at Bowen Park CX

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Mid Island Velo Association is pleased to announce that it has been granted the right to host next year's provincial road championships. This is a real coup for MIVA , which is only in its second year of operation. The proposed course will be a fifteen kilometre circuit on the Nanoose peninsula, just north of Nanaimo.  This challenging route has constant short, sharp rises and a two kilometre climb, and should produce worthy champions in the various categories. For the first time, there will be youth races for riders as young as eleven years, and of course there will be the usual events for under eighteen juniors, espoirs, elites and the two provincial master categories. The proposed date for the championships is May twenty-eighth, a couple of weeks before the national road championships in Quebec. This is so that the provincial races can be used as a final selection venue for selection of BC riders. MIVA president, Peter McCaffery is delighted that BC Cycling has seen fit to allow the fledgling club to organise such an important event but commented that MIVA has already proved itself worthy of the task, having already hosted a COTR cyclo-cross championship as well as over a hundred local races in its short existence.

This Saturday, November 10th. there will be an afternoon work party to hone the course for the COTR Championships on November 24th. MIVA members meet at 1pm at the BMX course in Beban Park, wear old clothes, work gloves, and bring a rake, trimmer, shears, scythe, sickle, or whatever implement you can lay your hands on.