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Fast field of Canadians headed to Really Rad Pan Am champs

Continental titles to be decided Friday, Nov. 4 in Falmouth, Mass.

Photo by: Nick Iwanyshyn

Pan American cyclocross continental championships are happening Friday, Nov. 4 and, with the event relocated to Falmouth, Mass., there is a huge contingent of Canadians headed south for the event.

With Pan Am’s tacking on to the front end of the existing Really Rad CX schedule, there are three high-level UCI races in three days. That makes it a huge opportunity for Canadians hunting for UCI points close to home. As a result, there are riders from all corners of Canada, B.C. to N.B. on the start list.

Junior and under-23 Canadians

Ava and Isabella Holmgren are back in North America and, after finishing in the top 10 of the elite women’s X2O Trofee at Koppenberg, looking fast as ever. Last year, the pair went 1-3 at Pan Ams in Garland, Texas and Ava will likely want to keep her title again this year. Sophie Bradbury, Mia de Martin and Amanda Samuelson are all on the start list for Canada.

In the junior men’s race, it’s Ian Ackert leading the Canadians but he’ll be joined by mountain biker Maxime St.-Onge among the 10 Canucks looking to reign in U.S. cyclocross powerhouse Miles Mattern.

Another eight Canadians are signed on for the under-23 men’s race from B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. With plenty of experience, Cody Scott, Alexander Woodford, Owen Clark, Hugo Brisebois, Ben Sweet, Luke Valenti, Ryan MacDonald and Eric Berg will take on the likes of Jules van Kempen and Jack Spranger.

In the u23 women’s field, Jenaya Francis, Sarah Hamel, Kiara Lylyk, and Vanessa Thompson (representing Alberta, Que., Ont. and N.B., respectively) will race Keira Bond and Mia Aseltine among the 14-rider field.

Elite men and women

In the elite women’s race, all eyes will be on Maghalie Rochette as she makes her return to racing. The former Pan Am champ has sat out much of the season, though, so her exact form remains unknown. Edmonton, Alta.’s Sydney McGill has raced the USCX series with much success. She’ll be joined by Victoria, B.C.’s Holly Henry, and Collingwood, Ont.’s Katelyn Walcroft in the elite women’s race.

Raylyn Nuss, though, is the defending Pan Am champ and also sits second overall in the USCX standings. With series leader, Caroline Mani not able to challenge for the Pan Am title, Nuss will be focused on defending her jersey Friday.

In the elite men’s field, Curtis White and Eric Brunner are in a season-long duel with Belgian Vincent Baestaens. With the Belgian out of the running on Friday, they’ll be fighting for the title head-to-head.

Canada’s Michael van den Ham is fourth in the USCX series and will be looking to take Baestaens’ place at the front of the race. Van den Ham’s finished ahead of both U.S. riders at least once this year, so he could be chasing his first Pan Am title on Friday. Tyler Clark is sixth in the series, just a couple spots back overall, and could be poised for a big result. Gunnar Holmgren’s also back on the start list of a cross race, and never to be counted out. Trevor O’Donnell, Brody Sanderson and Alexandre Vialle round out the Canadian entries.

Schedule: Really Rad Pan Am continental cyclocross championships

Relly Rad CX is three days of racing. Pan Am’s kicks the weekend off on Friday Nov. 4. On Saturday Nov. 5, there is a UCI C1 race. On Sunday, riders get one more chance to race for points in a UCI C2 event. It’s also the last round of USCX racing, crowning series champs as well as the Pan Am continental champions.

Here’s the schedule for Friday’s Pan Am championship events. Really Rad CX has a full weekend schedule for all events.

GCN is broadcasting all USCX races, though it’s not clear if that includes Friday’s late-addition Pan Am event.

Pan Am continental cyclocross championships – Friday, Nov 4, 2022

Junior Men – 8:50 a.m. (ET)
Under-23 Men – 11:05 a.m. (ET)
Junior Women / Under-23 Women – 12:10 p.m. (ET)
Elite Women – 1:15 p.m. (ET)
Men Elite – 2:30 p.m. (ET)