October 07, 2015 (Milton, ON) – The Team Sprint and Team Pursuit events, as well as the Para-cycling time trial competitions, took place on Oct. 7 to kick off the 2015 Canadian Track Cycling Championships at the Mattamy National Cycling Center velodrome in Milton, Ont. A record 222 athletes are competing at these championships from Oct. 7-11.

Alberta’s Monique Sullivan and Kate O’Brien, who won Team Sprint gold at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, successfully defended their 2014 women’s title posting a time of 34.858 in the finals. The pair completed the two-lap race faster than their closest rivals, Lizanne Wilmont, and Jamie Gilgen who were 2.516s behind. Sullivan and O’Brien will represent Canada at the upcoming UCI World Cup series, hoping to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games next summer.

In the men’s Sprint, the Composite Team 3 comprised of Evan Carey, Joe Veloce, and Hugo Barrette easily took the gold medal. The trio, who also won the Pan-American Games gold medal, posted a time of 45.034, to capture the title. Taking the silver was Composite Team 2 with Chris Singleton, Joel Archambault, and Misha Partridge, who crossed the finish line just under four seconds after the Pan-Am gold medallists.

In the Women’s Team Pursuit competition, Team West Coast, featuring National Team members Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda, Jasmin Glaesser and ski-cross convert Georgia Simmerling, coasted to victory in the women’s race.

In the gold medal ride, the four-woman team had more than a 5-second margin over Team Quebec, which included Kirsti Lay, Ariane Bonhomme, Catherine Dessureault, and Catherine Ouellette.

The men’s Team Pursuit winners saw Ontario’s, Ed Veal, Ryan Roth, Sean MacKinnon, and Aidan Caves ride for the gold medal with a time of 4:12.446. In second place came Team NBA, comprised of Adam Jamieson, Jack Burke, Jay Lamoureux, and Alexander Cowan. Quebec’s Remi Pelletier-Roy, Marc-Antoine Soucy, Emile Jean, Elliott Doyle and Marc-Antoine Noel were third.

For Canada’s national team members, this event marks the launch of the 2016 season which is highlighted by the Rio2016 Olympic Games in August 5-17 and Paralympics Sep 7-18. The team will compete in four UCI World Cup events and the 2016 Track World Championships throughout the winter.

In Para-cycling action, the time trial races featured a host of inspiring athletes at these championships marking the highest number of registrations in the category.

Daniel Chalifour and pilot Jean-Michel Lachance took the gold medal in combined tandem racing, reaching 96.64% of the National Team Standard for the gold medal. Alexandre Carrier and pilot Arrousen Laflamme took the second place and the silver medal with 95.73% while Lowell Taylor pilot Mark McDonald placed third.

In the C class, Marie-Claude Molnar went on to take the top spot in the Women’s 500m race with a time of 43.553, averaging speeds of 41km/h. Jaye Milley raced to 94.35% of the standard, earning the title in the men’s competition. In second place was newcomer, Tristen Chernove, while Braydon McDougall earned the bronze medal with 92.77%.

Thursday, the 2015 Canadian Track Championships will be a full day of racing starting at 8:00 am. The master racers will make their debut with the Sprint events. The elite athletes will also tackle their individual sprint events. The Omnium begins with the presentation of the first three races for elite riders, and the para-cyclists will race the individual pursuit competitions.

Complete schedule and event details can be found here.