January 16, 2008 (Burnaby BC) – We got a chance to catch up with a few of the winners of Pedal’s 2007 Cycling Awards at the recent 2008 Burnaby 6 Day, both during and after the competition, to get some of their reflections on the awards, the past season, and their goals for the year to come.

Svein Tuft (BC) – Best Overall, Best Senior/U23 Male, and Best Road Cyclist.
It really started here last year, at the Six Day, with that race and the track focus over the winter. Track just gives you more tools that you can use that I hadn’t had before, and we went down to Cuba with good form because of it. After Cuba, things just started to snowball, even though I started to crack a bit after Beauce. I took some time off in August, but got sick before Venezuela, and never really got back on top of it and slowly faded until Worlds. It still ended up being a great season though, my best season ever.

An award like this, I really have to stress that it’s an award for the whole team. The organization that we have makes it all possible. If you look at the UCI America’s Tour, you can’t even think of chasing after it without a great team, and I can’t say enough about how the guys worked for me this year. For me it’s all about the team, and being part of an organization that is doing something as a team that Canadian athletes haven’t had the chance to do before.

Zach Bell (Yukon) Best Track Cyclist
It almost means more to win a second year (Bell also won in 2006) since you have to keep meeting rising expectations, and it’s great to get that sort of recognition. The training is working, and the results show that some of the decisions I’ve made about my direction and racing have been the right ones. To race something like this in Burnaby is a great opportunity, and you can really see the level rising across all of the categories, not just the elite, but for everyone.

Monique Sullivan (Alberta) Best Overall Junior Female Cyclist
The Junior Worlds was a very big experience for me as it was the first time I ever felt competitive at a world event. It’s really nice to be recognized in Canadian cycling, I do believe that the sport is growing as we are getting some very promising results. I am getting very excited about the LA Track World Cup (yes it is my first one). I am an underdog again, and I just want to learn as much as possible.

My goal for the summer is to race – as many times and against as many people as possible. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to attend the LA Track World Cup. I think its really important for me to see everyone at their “Olympic year best” but I need a lot more race experience in order to be properly competitive at these events.

Cody Campbell (BC) – Best Overall Junior Male Cyclist
This award definitely means a lot because it’s voted by people throughout Canada. It was a really good group of riders that won because they all had some outstanding performances this year, so needless to say I’m pretty happy!

My big goals in 2008 are going to be Nationals, Albitibi and Junior Worlds for both road and track. As for riding with Symmetrics in 2008, it’s going to be an awesome opportunity to learn a lot from some of the best riders in Canada and around the world. It’s really going to help my development through this season and beyond.

The Burnaby 6-Day was awesome this year. Just having five more teams makes a lot of difference in the speed, and when you consider the calibre of the riders there, it was a huge difference and made for six very hard days of racing. Mark and I and the US National team had a good battle going on for 5th but they really came on to form in the last few days and they stuck it to everybody. Nonetheless, we totally exceeded our expectations and were really happy with the week. I’ve always really liked the Madison and I am hoping to get over to Europe next year for some U25 sixes, but I am also excited to see the Burnaby Six Day continue to grow over the coming years.