April 19, 2012 (Ottawa, ON) – Thanks to the successes of the Canadian Track Cycling team, a whole new generation of cyclists is hitting the tracks in velodromes across the country, and many up and coming cyclists are increasing their participation in track cycling.
As a result of this increase in popularity, Canada now is in a position to enter a highly competitive team to the 2012 Junior Pan-American Championships, filling the maximum quota of 16 riders for the event, which takes place in Guatemala, April 23-29.
“Eleven of the 16 riders are first year Juniors or Cadets. This is a development project that will be very competitive at these Championships,” said Jeff Ain, a Junior team coach attending the project. “We expect many of these athletes will be on future development projects if they continue to improve. Canada is developing a lot of depth in the Under 19 category, with an eye to the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, as well as for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
17-year-old Aiden Caves of Vancouver, British Columbia is returning to the Junior Pan Am team for his second year. “Last year I missed out on three medals, finishing just off the podium in fourth place. This will not be happening in 2012. My training and the training of the entire team has been far better than last year and the Camps through the winter have better prepared me for the task at hand, win medals.”
The team spent one week at a training camp in Los Angeles, and will be flying to Guatamala on Friday.