October 28, 2012 (Toronto, ON) – The Cycling Canada AGM held on Sunday morning concluded the weekend activities and the overall picture for the association is positive with another surplus, strong high performance results over the quadrennial, and major events giving Canada a high profile with Sport Canada.

But there are challenges going forward including how to increase participation of women in coaching and administration, doping issues, securing funding beyond Sport Canada, and supporting development programs at the provincial level for future stars and Olympians.

In 2012 the association successfully established a new identity, Cycling Canada Cyclisme, from the former Canadian Cycling Association (CCA), to modernize and strengthen the brand. In addition four strategic imperatives for the sport were identified this past year – including Resourcing, Development, High-Performance and Profile – following surveys and direct input from the public, license holders, committee members and the Provincial/Territorial affiliates.

Given the current global state of affairs regarding doping and Michael Barry’s admission the association will soon address his national results among other issues including expanding the Race Clean program. Cycling Canada will continue to work with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the UCI in the fight against doping and will unveil more plans shortly.

Over the quadrennial from Beijing to London Cycling Canada’s budget jumped from $3.2 million to $5.7 million, a significant increase, and the association has been able to keep expenditures in line resulting in five consecutive surplus years and an accumulated surplus of $335,895 in reserve at the close of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

But Funding Diversification remains a necessary priority as 75% of the association’s money comes from Sport Canada with limitations on how those funds are spent – primarily for high performance programs not development where dollars are needed. Efforts continue to procure sponsorship support despite difficult times in the sport and a tough economic environment, along with private donations and fundraising efforts via the Vision 2020 program.

While the Women’s Team Pursuit Olympic bronze medal showed great promise, still fewer medals than hoped for were achieved at the London 2012 Games. Other highlights this past year included Ryder Hesjedal’s Giro d’Italia grand tour victory; Hugo Houle’s 4th place at the U23 Road Worlds; 36 Paracycling World Cup podiums; and two Paralympic medals – gold in the women’s tandem road race (visually impaired) courtesy of Robbi Weldon and pilot Lyne Bessette, and Marie-Claude Molnar’s bronze medal in the women’s C4 road race.

With a focus on the upcoming TO2015 Pan Am Games, the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Games on the horizon the High Performance program begins the task of transitioning to development and identifying new talent. In this regard the new Milton Velodrome and Abbotsford’s BMX track are seen as important components in the formula of athlete development.

New events like the Tour of Alberta and the existing Tour de Delta both achieving UCI-level status increase Canada’s stature with Sport Canada where as a nation we have a higher ranking with respect to international events which translates into more funding.

Next year’s AGM has three candidate cities including Ottawa (ON), St. Johns (NFLD) and Saint-Georges de Beauce (QC) under review with a decision pending.

Audited financial statements HERE.
Full AGM report HERE.

Three awards that were not presented at the Cycling Celebration on Friday evening include:

Torchy Peden Award
– Atlantic Provinces were honoured collectively

Builder of the Year
– Martin Demers for his 20 years of service and as MTB Nationals organizer in St. Felicien, QC.

25-Year Pin
– Louise Lalonde

Elections were also held for the following positions

Board of Directors
Director at Large
– Bill Kinash – elected 2 years
– Kevin Baldwin – elected 2 years
– Hannah Parish – elected 2 years
– Stéphane LeBeau – elected 1 year

Program Committee Chairs
Chair High Performance – 2 years
– Guy Vincent – acclaimed

High Performance Committee Members
Development Team Program Representative – 2 years
– Andrew Iler – acclaimed

Officials Committee Members
Road & Track Representative – 2 years
– Wayne Pomario – acclaimed

BMX Representative – 2 years    
– Jason Howard – acclaimed

Chair Events Committee – 2 years    
– Kevin MacCuish – elected
– Andrew Paradowski

Events Committee Members
Road & Track Representative –    2 years
– Andrew Paradowski – elected
– Rémi Bérubé