October 14, 2018 (Ottawa, Ont.) – The annual Cycling Canada Conference took place this past weekend Oct. 12-14 at the Alt Hotel in Ottawa with all PSOs (provincial sport organizations) on hand to review and assess policies, programs, finances, events and future plans.
While the association has seen unprecedented national team performance success with 30+ medals it also faced disruptive and difficult times with a $400,000 deficit and the loss of both its CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and CTO (Chief Technical Officer).
“Over the past year our athletes continued to showcase cycling and deliver world class performances while organizationally Cycling Canada has had a challenging year. Challenging as we incurred significant organizational leadership changes and we have also continued to struggle with fiscal stability and discretionary resource allocation internally,” wrote outgoing President John Tolkamp in his annual report. Following 10 productive years Tolkamp is stepping down in the new year.
The association re-structured its senior management team to meet these challenges and projects a surplus next year of over $100,000. In tandem with these changes, Cycling Canada has launched a high performance review process led by Peter Keen, one of the architects of British Cycling’s resurgence in the 1990s.
According to Tolkamp, “The outcome of this review will help lay the foundation for sustainable high performance success in alignment with the overall health and growth of cycling in Canada for years to come.”
On the marketing side Cycling Canada announced in May that Lexus will continue as the official vehicle of the National Cycling Team as well as a number of high profile domestic and international events across the country each year and include support for three provincial partners (Cycling BC, Alberta Bicycle and FQSC). Mattamy Homes renewed its Tier 1 financial support for track programs as well as the Milton UCI Track World Cup. Lululemon and Clif Bar also extended their national team support.
Cycling Canada reported 19% overall growth in private source revenues and an increase in followers and engagement across all social media platforms.
Discussions also included alignment towards a national database along with raising licensing fees and ways to increase membership both provincially and nationally via grass roots programs, schools and recreational cycling events pointing to cross-country skiing’s Jackrabbit program and Cycling B.C.’s iRide program as possible models.
Earlier in Sept. three new Directors-at-Large were elected to the association’s Board of Directors including Greg Cote, Paul DeVries and Scott Kelly each for a two-year term. Long-time Board member Bill Kinash was re-elected as well for a one-year term. Stepping down are Deb Intas, Dennis Kim and Hannah Parrish. Committee election results were as follows:
High Performance Committee
Chair – Kirsten Frattini acclaimed
Development Program Representative – Jon Burgess
Events Committee
Chair – Andrew Paradowski acclaimed
Road & Track Representative – Andy Holmwood acclaimed
Officials Committee
International Road & Track – Wayne Pomario acclaimed
International BMX – Loyal Ma acclaimed
Cycling Canada annual report here.