October 23, 2015 (Ottawa, ON) – Cycling Canada is please to announce that the 2016 domestic calendar for all cycling sports has been released for Track, Road, Mountain Bike, BMX and Cyclo-cross events taking place across Canada next year.
Track
Junior and Cadet age categories will start off an exciting track season, with Canadian Cadet/Junior Track Championships taking place April 1-3 at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton. The Track calendar will also see the return of the Milton International Challenge. The inaugural event hosted in 2015 only days after the Mattamy National Cycling Centre opened, served as a test event of the Pan-Am Games and welcomed some of the world’s top competitors. The Canadian Track Championships for the Elite, Para-cycling and Master categories will take place in the fall with final dates to be announced.
Two new national sanction events will appear on the track calendar, with the Eastern Track Challenge in Milton on February 13th and Western Track Challenge to take place in Burnaby, BC (date TBC). The events, geared towards the U15, Cadet and Junior age groups, will provide a competitive platform for up and comers preparing for Canadian Track Championships.
Road
The Global Relay Canadian Championship will take place in partnering cities Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec for the Elite, Junior and Para-cyclists. The 2016 edition of the event, running from June 25-29, will see a revamped schedule introduced. The Masters will have a separate Canadian Championships, scheduled mid-June, with more details to come in the following weeks.
Internationally, Gatineau will once again this year host the women’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau and the Chrono Gatineau in early June. The third edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay and the Tour de Beauce will once again be hosted on back-to-back weeks, allowing teams to compete in both events in a cost-effective way.
The Tour of Alberta is scheduled to return for a fourth consecutive year. Sanctioned as UCI 2.1 race, Canada’s biggest stage race will once again bring the best North American cyclists and some of the World’s best to Western Canada. The UCI World Tour Grand Prix Cyclistes, the only North American World Tour races, are slowly becoming classic races on the World Tour calendar, year after year attracting the best of the best to Canadian soil.
Para-cyclists can look forward to another exciting weekend of competition with the return of the Défi Sportif AlterGo in Montréal, QC.
Mountain Bike
The Canadian MTB XCO Championships will take place, as previously announced, in Baie-Saint-Paul, a staple venue in the Canadian Mountain Biking scene. The resort, located in the majestic Charlevoix region, has hosted Canada Cup and Coupe du Québec events for the last 17 years, and will host for the first time the Canadian Championships.
Bear Mountain, a partner of Cycling Canada, will be hosting for the first time a Canada Cup Mountain Bike event, slated for an early-season March 5th debut. The resort, which is the training base for the Canadian Mountain Bike Team, has developed brand new trails to host the event, which are getting rave reviews with early users. The 2016 Canada Cup MTB Series begins in March, and will run through August. The cross-country series will visit Victoria, Mont-Tremblant, Horseshoe Valley, Hardwood Ski and Bike and St-Félicien. Whistler, during the Crankworx Festival, will once again host the Series finals for the XCO and DH disciplines.
Downhillers will see the addition of the East Coast Open Canada Cup, set to take place at Blue Mountain Resort in Ontario, making its debut in the national series. The series will feature a total of four races for the adrenaline seekers: Mont-Tremblant, Blue Mountain, Panorama and Whistler. The Canadian MTB DH Championships will once again take place at Sun Peaks Resort, promising riders an exciting battle for the coveted Maple Leaf jersey.
Mont-Sainte-Anne remains a classic UCI World Cup race on the international calendar. The Velirium races will take place just before the Olympic Games, allowing athletes to get final training prior to the pinnacle international event in 2016.
BMX
Calgary BMX, host of the 2015 Canada Cup BMX Finals, will be hosting the Canadian BMX Championships for the next two years and will also host the final round of the Canada Cup BMX Series for 2016.
The Canada Cup returns with seven events on the calendar in Abbotsford, Drummondville, Toronto and Calgary. The opening Canada Cup BMX events will be hosted in May in Abbotsford, aligning with the Olympic Qualification window, while Toronto’s Centennial Park Pan Am BMX Centre and BMX Drummond will return for an exciting second and third round of competition.
Cyclo-cross
The marquee event of the season will be the 2016 Canadian Cyclocross Championships, scheduled for October 22nd. Cycling Canada is pleased to announce Sherbrooke, Quebec as the host city of the 2016 & 2017 Canadian Cyclocross Championships. The city has hosted Provincial championships in the past few years, and organizers from the Club Cycliste de Sherbrooke are ready to welcome Canada’s best in this fast-growing cycling sport.
Chief organizer, Stéphane Vallières adds: “We are very excited that Club Cycliste de Sherbrooke has been chosen to host the 2016 & 2017 Canadian Cyclocross Championships. We will work hard to ensure these championships are a success. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City of Sherbrooke, Destination Sherbrooke and the Siboire microbrewery for their support in the preparation of the bid.”
The full schedule, including all domestic events for all cycling sports and disciplines, has been posted on www.cyclingcanada.ca.