Cycling Canada announces 2016 Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame inductees
Inductees will be honoured at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ont., on Oct. 2
Cycling Canada has announced 2016’s round of inductees for the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame, all representing different high points in the history of the sport in this country and internationally. Past Olympic performances, particularly, are a major theme in 2016—fitting for an Olympic year like this.
Like the past year’s inductees, those honoured will be enshrined at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ont.
Top of the list is the 1908 Men’s Team Pursuit squad, which included turn-of-the-century athletes William Anderson, Walter Andrews, Frederick McCarthy and Willie Morton, each of whom represented Canada in the 4,000-m team pursuit at the 1908 London Olympics. The roster of riders athletes was among the 91 competitors Canada sent overseas for that year’s Games—16 of whom returned with medals.
Gord Fraser, too, is another Olympic rider whose achievements are celebrated by his inclusion in this year’s Hall of Fame. Over the course of three Olympiads and five Commonwealth Games and many North American races, Fraser logged a career total of more than 200 individual race and stage victories. With three wins at the Tour de Langkawai in 2000, 2001 and 2004, wins at the Grand Prix du Midi Libre, Criterium International and Grand Prix Rennes, and a silver medal at the 1999 Pan Am Games—among other highlights—Fraser is considered one of North America’s most powerful, and indeed most successful, professional sprinters.
Though her work was primarily done out of the spotlight, Louise LaLonde is recognized at the Hall of Fame thanks to her duties as an international commissaire in disciplines such as road, track and paracycling. She also contributed as an officiant in mountain biking, cyclocross and BMX. Lalonde also broke ground in the sport, as the first person certified by the UCI to train commissaires in paracycling, and as the author of the discipline’s first curriculum.
Observers of the cross country scene between 2003 and 2009 will no doubt recognize the name Marie-Helene Premont, who claimed that discipline’s national championship on each of those years. In addition to 2008 that saw her take a podium standing in all of that year’s World Cups, Premont—a two-time Olympian throughout her career—took silver at the 2004 Olympics, second overall in 2007’s World Cup standings and fourth overall in the same in 2011. The Commonwealth Games of 2006, meanwhile, saw her win gold, following up on the same achievement at the Pan American Championships in 2000 and 2001.
In 1986, Alex Stieda not only made Canadian history, but North American history, too, when he became the first rider from this continent to wear the yellow jersey on the second day of that year’s Tour de France. He also took the polka dot jersey as the best climber, white for best rookie, red for intermediate points, and the combination. Though he lost the maillot jaune, Stieda held on to the king of the mountain jersey through some of the Tour’s high-elevation stages in northern France, wearing the polka dots jersey on his back for five consecutive days.
Brian Walton, finally, chalked up several powerful performances during the ’90s, winning silver at the track points race of the 1996 Olympics. He also won gold in the road race and points race and individual pursuit bronze at the 1995 Pan American Games. Those stellar achievements weren’t the only highlights of his career, through. During the span of his 12 years in a professional saddle, Walton came out on top at several international races, including the 1989 Milk Race.
The official induction of this year’s Hall of Fame legends happens Oct. 2 in Milton, Ont., at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, when the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame luncheon takes place. Before that, though, fans and supporters will be able to join Hall of Fame inductees—and several National Team athletes—for the first-ever Legends Ride event, a fully-supported VIP road trek through the picturesque Halton Hills region in and around Milton.
Tickets and other event details will be available soon online at cyclingcanada.ca.
