December 02, 2012 (Abbotsford, BC) – All the turmoil that Cycling BC has faced in the past few weeks seemed to ignite the passion of the membership at Sunday’s Annual General Meeting in Abbotsford, BC. A record attendance saw almost a complete new Board of Directors elected as members showed their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs at Cycling BC and voted unanimously for change.

The full slate of four candidates proposed by the group The Future Of Cycling In British Columbia were all elected to the board. Matt Klymson was elected uncontested for the position of VP Cyclo Cross, Tony Martin, Jeff Clarke and Tim Abercrombie beat out their respective incumbents.

With the surprise resignation earlier in the week of Peter Lawless the board has a completely new look as the four newly elected candidates join existing board members (who were not up for election) Alex Pope, Galen Kehler and President Wayne Pomario. Pomario started the meeting by restating this would be his last year in the office of President of Cycling BC, it remains to be seen whether he will see out his full term.

The meeting was generally a civilized affair with questions surrounding the rumoured $250k deficit, Richard Wooles termination, CEO Keith Ryan’s absence being unanswered. One item that was also noticeably absent from any of the Board Members reports was the flashy announcement on November 8th in which Cycling BC proudly announced its intention to partner with Field Hockey BC for a Multi Sport Event Center which would include a 250-meter Velodrome. Many members left the meeting scratching their heads as to why this exciting announcement was not addressed or presented.

The group even gained the attention of the famed parody twitter of Pat McQuaid @UCI_Overlord with over 11,000 followers providing mostly satirical but occasionally serious commentary on the behind-the-scenes politics of our sport. It tweeted “Thank you @FOCIBC for providing a roadmap. An executable plan that had success. We want to change UCI? here’s a way  followed by “@FOCIBC You folks are a model of how change can happen locally, nationally, and internationally. Well done.”

Another interested attendee at the AGM on Sunday was Cycling BC Member Axel Merckx who had worked closely with Richard Wooles on his highly successful and popular Axel Merckx Youth Development Foundation.

The new board will have much work to do as it moves forward but everyone is excited for the change for Cycling in BC that is about to happen.