December 14, 2012 (Toronto, ON) – The Ontario Cycling Association (OCA) is pleased to announce the inclusion of Road Cycling into the 2014 Ontario Summer Games. After a lengthy bid process, the Ontario Summer Games Committee has approved the application put forward by OCA staff.

“We were extremely happy to get the news last week and can’t wait for the next phase in the planning process, couldn’t have asked for a better way to end a great 2012 season” says Greg Rawson, OCA Sport Coordinator and staff lead on the bid.

The format of the games is still being developed, however, at this point it looks like aspects of the current Ontario Youth Series Cup structure such as the road race and time trial will be included. It is likely that a Sprint Challenge will also be included.

After the success with Mountain Biking at OSG over the past few years, the OCA staff realized that it would be a missed opportunity to not have Road Cycling included in the games seeing the growth of the sport in Ontario over the past decade.

“This is a very exciting step forward for cycling in Ontario” says Ontario High Performance Coach Brendan Arnold. “It is great to see such a large increase in athletes in the Learn to Train and Train to Train stages of LTAD. When the Youth series was created in 2007, the vision was to grow the sport of Road cycling so there could be a larger pool of talented athletes. Having Road cycling in OSG again is credit to the hard work of so many to make Ontario a leader in the sport.”

The Ontario Summer Games began in 1970 as a showcase for amateur sport and has now become Ontario’s largest multi-sport event, including both team and individual sports. It is open to Ontario Youth who will be between the ages of 13-16 as of December 31st of the year of the games. This past summer, 2500 athletes and 30 different sports participate in the four day event.

Road Cycling has not been a part of the games since 1998.

For further information, including where the games will be held, along with eligibility into the games please check back on the OCA website in the new year.

To get an idea of just how amazing the last Ontario Summer Games was please click HERE.