Up-and-coming B.C. track cyclist heading to junior national championships in Quebec

Sixteen-year-old John Wilcox from Saanich, British Columbia is a proving himself a contender in the ranks of Canadian junior track cycling. A fresh addition to the national junior track cycling team, for which he qualified in April, Wilcox heads to the Junior National Championships in Thetford Mines, Que. for the first time this year — but judging by the testament of his coach, likely not the last.

“Wilcox is an athlete first and foremost,” coach Jeff Ain told the Saanich News. “He’s quite talented at picking up movements quickly. You can see it in the gym, or if he runs . “Without pumping [his] tires too much, he’s an exceptional athlete, and you can definitely see it on the bike.”

Ain, of course, would know. A coach with the CyclingNextGen program at the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence, Ain is well known to Canadian cycling as having trained some of the country’s top under-23 riders — particularly Adam de Vos from Oak Bay, B.C. Wilcox, who worked with Ain during the school year, has certainly benefited from Ain’s proven expertise.

But with his upcoming trip to the Nationals this July, as well as his selection to the Canadian junior team competing this August at the UCI Juniors World Track Championships in Kazakhstan, talent clearly plays its part, too.

So far, one impressive performance after another, in both track and road, has demonstrated that. His selection to the national junior track cycling team followed a qualifying ride at the velodrome in Burnaby, B.C.: three kilometres, which Wilcox finished in three minutes and 30.92 seconds. The next highlight followed in June, when Wilcox pulled off a win in Cat. 3 of the Legislature Grand Prix, part of the Robert Cameron Law Cycling Series in Victoria, British Columbia.

“What Wilcox has shown is that he’s progressing quickly,” Ain told the Saanich News.

“The next step is the national men’s track endurance program, which he has access to as a member of the national team.”