Hot on the heels of the success of last year’s event, North Bay is once again the host venue for the Ontario Cycling Provincial Championships.
Billed as a ‘triple header” the August long weekend events kicked off Friday with the Individual Time Trial Championships, followed by Saturday’s Provincial Criterium Race at Nipissing University and Canadore College.
It all wraps up with a big finish Sunday, with the Provincial Road Race taking place in East Ferris.
Over 300 participants have registered for the weekend, ranging in age from 15 to 65.
One of those participants, Richard Dagenais of Timmins, made it to the top of the podium Saturday after winning the Provincial Criterium for Master C.
It has been 10 years since the cyclist last participated in a provincial championship.
“It was a very challenging route. Normally the Criterium is a faster, flatter course with technical turns, but this one is a little bit hillier. It has a lot more elevation per lap, so it is quite fatiguing. Doing the hill every lap really zaps a lot out of your energy,” explained Dagenais.
It meant changing strategy on the fly.
“You’ve got to make sure that you’re not going to go really hard right from the get-go on every hill. You try to be in the lead pack, but not waste, in cycling it is called matches, if you waste too many matches, then your match book is empty by the end.”
Dagenais, a former track and field athlete, says this is his first provincial championship win in cycling.
“It was fun,” said a beaming Dagenais.
“For once I didn’t have to travel eight hours to a race and my sister lives in North Bay so it was quite nice to be here. It is not necessarily a local race for me, but it is as close as it gets. The facilities and the riding here in North Bay are very good.”
The champion credited Ontario Cycling with putting on a “well-run” event.
“They always put on a really quality event and it is always fun.”
Also having fun watching from the sidelines early Saturday morning, was North Bay’s own Kevin McKenna, winner of his class at Friday’s individual time trial, finishing with a time of 34:17.
“I was hoping to be under 30 but I was close,” grinned McKenna
The time trials took place on the Corbeil-Astorville Road starting at the Cenotaph.
“It is a real test of your abilities. The para class course that I did was 13.6 km. It was a challenging course. There were a lot of hills on it. The hills are challenging for a hand bike, but it was fun.”
The hills weren’t the only challenges McKenna faced.
“It was a little stressful going into it. I was having some issues the night before with my bike, but I was able to get there on time and get a warmup in and I had a good race. I had a bit of a mechanical on the course as well. I was hoping to get in a little bit earlier than I did, but I was able to stay consistent and stay solid and I had some good numbers at the end of the race, so I was happy with that.”
Back to defend his title, McKenna appreciated the fan support.
“I saw some familiar faces on the side of the road. Yesterday at the end of the course I was climbing my last hill and I saw a familiar face, and I heard them yelling and that just pushed me up over the rest of the hill.”
McKenna brought lessons learned from competing at the Nationals in Edmonton back in June to his run at the provincials.
He is not done with the provincials just yet.
“I will definitely be back next year as long as I’m fit and able to ride,” McKenna grinned.
Organizers appreciate the support of the participants, as well as various organizations and volunteers.
“The fact that we are able to host a triple header is a big deal because you are dealing with three very different types of racing,” said Jackie Chan, Event Operations and Officials Manager, Ontario Cycling.
“It has been easy for us to run this event here because all the pieces just come together. It has just been great to have everybody come together to help us have a successful event.”
