Sundays racing for the 2016 Jr. Canadian Track Championships kicked off with the 500m TT. U17 riders Sarah Van dam and Riley Pickrell took the gold, with Riley breaking another Canadian record.
In the Junior Women’s category Erin Attwell broke also broke the Canadian record and took the gold with Maggie Coles-Lyster on the second step taking the silver. In the Jr. Men’s Kilo, Cam Fitzmaurice took the silver medal.
The last event of the morning was the scratch race. Again U17 rider, Sarah Van Dam took the gold in the women’s category, Riley Pickrell also added another gold to his collection along with Maggie Coles Lyster in the Junior women , and Cam Fitzmaurice in the Junior Men, with John Willcox taking the bronze.
Riley had a terrific ride, coming from behind in the second lap, and narrowly missing the silver and the gold, capturing the bronze.
Had I jumped about a half lap earlier I think I likely would have nabbed another step up on the podium.
-Riley Pickrell
The afternoon session started with the Keirins, with Maggie and Holly Simonson going into the final round in the junior women’s event. An eventful race indeed, with Maggie grabbing yet another gold medal and maple leaf jersey and Holly taking 6th. In the Junior men’s race, John strategically grabbed the National Sprint Champions wheel, and going into the last lap accelerated with John Willcox following through picking his way into the top 3 across the line adding another bronze medal to his collection for this weekend.
In the final event of the weekend, the elimination race, Sarah Van Dam added a final gold medal to her collection. Eric Inkster stepped onto the podium with third place in the U17 elimination race. Unfortuantely, Riley Pickrell was crashed out in the first lap and was unable to complete the race. In the Junior women’s race, Maggie Coles-Lyster also added another gold medal to her collection, Erin Attwell came in 6th place and Holly Simonson in 8th. In the Junior men’s race, Cam Fitzmaurice had an incredible race, with a strong finish breaking away with a lap to go adding another gold medal to his collection from this record breaking weekend.
A big congratulations to all the riders, team, families, friends and supporters who helped make this Track Nationals an event to remember.
