Drummondville, QC (July 1, 2023) – Nearly 700 athletes celebrated Canada Day by contesting the Canadian BMX Racing Championships on July 1, 2023, in Drummondville, QC.

In the Elite category, Ryan Tougas (ODI, Fly Racing, Chase BMX) from Pitt Meadows, BC, stayed cool and collected to win all of his races, reclaiming the men’s Championship title that he held in 2021. His counterpart Molly Simpson (Daylight Cycles) led a combined field which included U23 and Junior athletes on her way to collecting a third consecutive women’s Championship and eighth national title overall.

“I’ve been travelling around the world so racing on home soil, I appreciate it so much,” said Simpson, who currently sits sixth in the UCI BMX Women Elite Ranking. “The atmosphere is electric, racing this race is one of my favourites. [The Canadian BMX community] all support each other so much. We’re just here to ride bikes and have fun, and everybody’s happy for everybody no matter the results. It’s definitely motivating.”

The U23 Men category was a fierce battleground for 2022 Junior Champion Max Ganakovsky (Maximal Advantage, Meybo, WLM Design) and Thomas Jodoin (Équipe du Québec), who traded first- and second-place finishes across three motos before Jodoin ultimately secured the win.

“It’s my first-ever national title so it just feels incredible,” commented Jodoin. “I didn’t really expect much going into this weekend and it all worked out. It was really nice to race in front of the home crowd. It was awesome just being at the gate and when they said my name, everybody started cheering.”

Mathilde Brisebois (Équipe du Québec) topped the U23 Women category, building on her bronze finish as a Junior in 2022.

Nanaimo BC’s Keira Murphy (Cycling BC) came away with her second consecutive title in the Junior Women category, while Carson Kowaski (Rift/Tangent Canada) became a first-time champion for the Junior Men. He reflected, “When I got to the finish line, it was pretty emotional. A wave of relief hit me, that I actually got a good lap done so it was a really good feeling. I felt like I had a horrible semi, I almost didn’t make it. In the main, I just got myself completely in the zone as much as I could, told myself what I had to do and executed what I could.”

In addition to the Championship classes, medals were awarded in Challenge classes for age group racing from as young as 5 years old, including Cycling BC BMX team members, Ryley Cofield from Nanaimo, who finished 2nd in the 16-year-old boys category and Dallen Brereton-Stiles from Coquitlam who finished in 1st place amongst the 14-year-old boys field.

Source: Cycling Canada