February 6, 2008 (Dieppe, NB) – Here is the latest news from National Cycling Centre Atlantic Canada courtesy of head coach, Luc Arsenau. Items include a preview of the Winter Cross Championships to be held in Dieppe on February 9 and an announcement for the 2008 Giant Elite Program.

Winter Cross Championships
For the 3rd year, the City of Dieppe will be hosting the most fun event on the cycling calendar, the winter cross championships! This event, organized by the National Cycling Centre and the Mike’s Bike Shop Cycling Club, takes place in the Friendship Winter Carnival environment.

With the incredible amount of received this winter, this year’s edition promises to be one to remember. We have to do a lot of work on the course. Thanks to the city staff, we are using the snowmobiles and the cross country ski trail groomers to make sure cyclists can enjoy a fun 45 minutes on the bike.

The event will take place Saturday, February 9th, beginning at 2 pm. Registration (free of charge) will be taken in site at the Atlantic Cycling Centre. Everyone’s welcome to this fun event (mountain bikes are also accepted). Click here for some photos of last year’s event from Don Ricker Photography.

2008 Giant Elite Program
For the Centre, this event marks the official start of the 2008 cycling season as many Giant elite riders are now heading south to train for the coming season. “Some riders had to change their plans this winter. The incredible amount of snow received in the past weeks makes the roads pretty much impossible to ride. Usually, we can use the roads in this region, but it’s a no go this winter” mentions the Centre’s head coach, Luc Arseneau.

The Centre will once again count on a talented group of riders for the 2008 season. Although limited in number of licensed riders, the Atlantic riders keep on going against all odds and pack up the good results. Here are this year’s riders:

Gold A
– Christian Meier, New Brunswick, Symmetrics Cycling

Gold B
– Dustin MacBurnie, Nova Scotia, Team R.A.C.E.
– Zach Garland, Newfoundland, Team Kona Adobe
– Ryan Belliveau, New Brunswick, Équipe Kuota Apogée
– Phil Cortes, New Brunswick, Team Amore e Vita MacDonalds
– Matt Hadley, New Brunswick, Xprezo Mountain Bike Team
– Ian MacAvity, New Brunswick, Bikes and Beans
– Jamie Lamb, Nova Scotia, Cyclesmith
– Garrett MacLeod, Nova Scotia, Équipe Kuota Apogée

Silver
– Sacha LeBlanc, New Brunswick, Mike’s Bike Shop Cycling Club
– Tim Clarke, Newfoundland, TBA
– Alain Goguen, New Brunswick, Mike’s Bike Shop Cycling Club
– Geoff O’Toole, Nova Scotia, Équipe Kuota Apogée
– Ryan Taylor, PEI, TBA

Bronze
– Ami Raviv, Israel, Isreal National Team (Paracycling)
– Mélanie Bordage, New Brunswick, Mike’s Bike Shop Cycling Club

The positive impact of the Cycling Centre located in our region opened not only the eyes of the cycling community, but of the complete sport community. A recent document was prepared to evaluate the success of such Centre in its initial years. Click here to view the document.

2008 will also see the arrival of the Provincial Tier. Newly named assistant coach, Andrew Feenstra, will now be working directly with the respective provincial coaches and team members to help them progress into the developmental stages. For this 1st year, we are pleased to announce a roster of 19 riders who will be the pioneers of this program:

Provincial Tier (NB)
– Stuart Wight
– Jessica Dahn
– Julia Cormier
– Jean-Richard Cormier
– Charlie Evans
– Ian Forbes
РJ̩r̩mie H̩bert

Provincial Tier (NF)
– Sheldon Smith
– Kim Manual
– Landon Fraser
– Jordan Hodder

Provincial Tier (NS)
– Andrew Lesperance
– Paul Slaunwhite

Provincial Tier (PEI)
– Mike Christie
– Dereck Hughes
– Kyle Kneabone
– Willam MacKenzie
– Duncun Sturtz
– Aaron Whiteway