Canadian track championships open with 13 titles awarded

Racing continues at the Milton Velodrome throughout the weekend

Philippe Tremblay September 25, 2016

The winning men's team pursuit squad composed of Adam Jamieson, Evan Burtnik, Derek Gee and Bayley Simpson — The winning men’s team pursuit squad composed of Adam Jamieson, Evan Burtnik, Derek Gee and Bayley Simpson

At the state of the the art Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ont., masters, elite and para cyclists opened up the weekend of events that will see Canadian national champions crowned. Athletes from across Canada were on hand to contest the masters point races and time trials, the para time trial, the team pursuit and the team sprint on Saturday, September 24.

National team sprint champions Kate O'Brien and Laura Brown line-up for the final race at the Milton Velodrome — National team sprint champions Kate O’Brien and Laura Brown line-up for the final race at the Milton Velodrome

Kate O’Brien and Laura Brown won the women’s title in the team sprint in a final against Canadian road champion Annie Foreman-Mackey and Stephanie Roorda. The Quebec team of Olympian Hugo Barrette, Joel Archambault and Patrice St Louis Pivin took the men’s elite team sprint title.

The men’s team pursuit was won by a young composite team of Adam Jamieson, Evan Burtnik, Derek Gee and Bayley Simpson. Three of the riders; Burtnik, Jamieson and Simpson are part of the Team RaceClean and spent the summer racing on the road in some of North America and Europe’s biggest under-23 races. They beat veteran Ed Veal, Canadian road time trial champion Ryan Roth, and two Team RaceClean teammates Aidan Caves and Jay Lamoureux by 0.193 seconds.

Can you spot the two Olympic bronze medalists?

In the women’s team pursuit, two Olympic bronze medalists from the women’s team pursuit squad from Rio faced off head-to-head. Bronze medalist Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda, Jamie Gilgen and Brenna Pauly took the victory by 0.125 s ahead of bronze medalist Kirsti Lay, Rio team pursuit alternate and Canadian road champion Annie Foreman-Mackey, national criterium champion Kinley Gibson and U23 road champion Ariane Bonhomme.

In the mixed para kilo time trial, Carla Shibley won the title ahead of Martin Croteau Daigle. Eight other national title we awarded in the masters categories in the time trial and points race.

Racing continued on Sunday with the elite omnium getting underway and the sprint titles also being contested. Follow the action at cyclingcanada.ca