February, 10, 2012 (Los Angeles, USA) – The 2012 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships continued on Friday at the Home Depot Centre velodrome in Los Angeles, California, and Canada continued to meet its objective of scoring important Paralympic qualification UCI points.

Eric Van Den Eynde, head coach of the Canadian Para-cycling team, was pleased with the efforts of the team today, despite winning any medals. “At this event in Los Angeles, we are here firstly to score some very important UCI points. The team members accomplished what was asked of them, and we are proud of the efforts. This is a World Championships for track cycling, and there are an increasing number of athletes taking part in para-cycling, world-wide.”

“In Para-cycling, every event brings many surprises. We saw here in LA some athletes competing for the first time on the international scene, and coming out with World titles. We certainly have a very different model than the able-body system, where talent can be tracked from a very early time.”

The women’s tandem of Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, ON and Lyne Bessette of Knowlton, QC were competing today in the Women’s 1-km Time Trial race, after finishing ninth in yesterday’s individual pursuit. The Weldon/Bessette tandem posted the tenth fastest time (1:15.618) of the race, and reached their primary objective of scoring important UCI points for the Paralympic Games competition. The tandem is competing in only its fourth track competition ever since joining forces two seasons ago.

The 2012 medal-winning tandem of Daniel Chalifour of Mont-Laurier, in Québec, and Alexandre Cloutier of St-Antoine de Tilly, in Québec, came in eighth of the gruelling and intense 1-Kilometre Time Trial race, posting a time of 1:05.404. For its part, the tandem of Brian Cowie of Burnaby, BC and Ed Veal of Toronto, ON, posted the 16th fastest time (1:08.209) of the same race.

In the 3-kilometre C1 Individual Pursuit, Calgary’s Brayden McDougall posted the fifth fastest time of the group (4:20.231), and narrowly missed his qualification for the medal races. Teammate Jaye Milley, also of Calgary, came in ninth position with a time of 4:31.934. In the individual pursuit, the Top 4 of the qualification moves on to the final rounds, racing for medals.

Matthieu Parent of Bromont, QC and racing in the Men’s C2 Individual Pursuit, finished 13th with a time of 4:22.167. Eric Bourgault of Orford, QC, in the C4 Individual Pursuit, posted the 14th fastest time of the day at 5:20.846.