July 15, 2005 – Several days ago, we posted our Tim Hortons 2005 National Road Championships Report and our coverage of the National Criterium Championships indicated that the distances had been shortened to 20km for the women and 36km for the men. The report also included some reactions to the controversy surrounding the shortening of the distances. Mike Shea, the UCI International Commissair at the Tim Hortons 2005 Road Nationals, contacted us to say there was an inaccuracy in our report, as the women’s race was 30 laps, or 27km, not 20km as our report indicated.

We contacted Shea asking for further clarification as there was no distance indicated on the results sheets. Our reporter, Matt Hansen, had talked to several women that raced and heard varying reports with conflicting information. Winner, Mandy Poitras’ (Symmetrics) final time was 28:06:03 (on the results sheet), but at a distance of 27km her average speed would have been almost 60km/hr.

Shea responded saying from his recollection the women’s race was around 35 minutes, and correctly presumed that our reference to the winner’s 28-minute finishing time was on the results sheet. He indicated that the women were doing 1:12 lap times, some faster, some slower. He stated that an amended schedule and communiqué had listed the women’s race at 30 laps and to his knowledge this was the case, and that he announced this amendment at the start. He said that if indeed the race was any shorter he did not hear any comments from the riders, managers or see any reason for that to be the case. He added that the elite men started about two minutes late to allow for the completion of women’s awards.

Shea continued to say that he had no comment about a rumoured strike against the crit by officials stating, “…we were there to do our job with not a word of protest. We did not entertain any thought of protest. You might wish to ask the officials committee chairman for his comments. I personally was there to officiate a criterium within the regular context of that race. Nothing more.” He added that all decisions and actions were in the context of safety, scheduling and recovery for the riders racing the next day only. “The decision to shorten the race was out of concern for the finish time of the elite men’s race and the ambient light still available. Lights were available for the photo finish only and the safety of the riders was a concern.”

He said there was also concern for the other categories racing the next day and recovery for them, and that an earlier start time might have allowed the greater distance. Shea also said that he did not take issue with the other comments in our report adding, “…you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I am just concerned about the accuracy as I see it. All categories were shortened 10 laps, not cut in half. The race communiqués and the communication to the managers at the meeting were all consistent with what I am saying. To my knowledge and from my watch the races all were 30 laps except for the elite men’s which was 40. That is 27 kms and 36 kms.”

We thanked Shea for clarifying the official distances, but the final time recorded in the women’s race did not appear correct and asked for further clarification.

Shea responded saying the times were listed from the Finish Lynx system and were transferred to the organizers spreadsheet directly. He said, “I would not hold too much trust that the photo finish operator started the race at the same time we did. He was there to provide photo finish only and not any timing. This data should not have been fed to the results as we were using the regular stopwatches in the hands of the officials. I can see where there were a lot of false clues as to the length of the women’s race. It was a lot closer to 35-36 minutes than 28. Like I said, we issued a communiqué #2 on Wednesday night at the managers’ meeting that stated the start times and distances for junior men, masters, open women at 30 laps each on a .9 km circuit, and elite men at 40 laps on the same .9 km course. The elite women started exactly on time at 6:45 pm and ended very soon after 7:20 pm. Their podium presentation was at 7:27 pm until 7:31 pm when I started the elite men. I was very conscious of time as I wanted all events to start exactly on time – junior men at 5:00 pm and masters at 5:50 pm. We gave the women another five minutes because 6:45 pm looked better than 6:40 pm. This was posted Wednesday evening without comment from anyone regarding the distance. All provincial coaches were there and a few team managers too. The race was shortened because the original schedule had the men starting at around 8:45 pm. The concern about racing in such low ambient light was a large part of our concern.”

“In the open women’s race both the juniors and masters had a race the next day as did the masters and junior men. Only the elite men and women had a day off but the women were racing open with all other women. Had there been some hew and cry we may have considered a longer distance but frankly the race was as fast as it gets with very little soft pedaling and while it might not be the race some would wish for I am sure that since it has now become a Canadian Championship the characteristic of the race will change accordingly. I am pretty sure that if the races were 50 or so laps for all but the men we would have had fewer riders participating, and had lower speeds. I don’t know about the effect the elite men might have felt as they had a day to recover. I am not trying to take issue with the opinions of your readers regarding the appropriateness of the [women’s ] distance only that it was not nearly as short as Matt’s [Hansen] report.”

We thanked Shea for his additional comments and for his clarification as to the official ‘s hortened’ Criterium distances being 27km for the women (30 laps) and 36km for the men (40 laps), thus verifying this correction to our report.

Shea said he would look into the final time discrepancy and get back to us. Stay tuned for more.