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THANK YOU TO ALL MY PROUD SPONSORS	2007 Pan Am Championships Track Trials Update by Chris Reid May 13, 2007 (Burnaby, BC) – While there has yet to be any official announcement from the CCA, we have been following the 2007 Pan Ams Championships track trials, May 9-11, at the Burnaby Velodrome. It appears that a team sprint squad has been added to the 2007 Canadian Pan Am roster following the Burnaby trials. Yannick Morin, Cam Mackinnon and Laurence Leroux all made the selection times for the event and as a result it looks like the CCA has decided to field a team. This is a surprising turnaround from the association’s decision earlier this year to cut the team sprint program until after Beijing, as it was not seen as a strong avenue for Olympic selection. That decision resulted from the CCA’s ultimatum to the team of Morin, Travis Smith and Mackinnon, to finish in the top 8 at the LA Track World Cup in January 2007, not being met. What makes the addition of the team even more unexpected is that the program’s lynch-pin, Travis Smith, is out for an extended period due to an injury from a crash at the 2007 Track Worlds in late March. It seems unlikely that any combination of riders that does not include Smith will be faster than the previous team. The trials were not without controversy as both Matt Chater and Matt Barlee also made the qualifying times, and at a pace faster than Leroux’s. However Leroux, possibly because of the fact that he is far younger than either of the other two cyclists, was given a re-ride. In his re-ride Leroux posted a faster time than Chater and Barlee, however those riders were only given one opportunity at the standard, leading to a fair bit of controversy and heated discussion. In other events, automatic qualifiers Gina Grain and Zach Bell dispelled any doubts over their inclusion by riding the trials and meeting the set standards (Bell needed two attempts to meet the mark, while Grain narrowly made the standard in her first attempt). There had been some speculation that an additional female rider would be added to assist Grain in the bunch racing as she will face a cohesive U.S. pairing in Becky Quinn and Sarah Hammer, who have worked well together over the past two seasons at track World Cups. Laura Mackenzie (Webcor) and Jenny Trew (Giant Canada) had been the two likely candidates, however Mackenzie was not in attendance and Trew failed to make the 500m standard of the flying 500m into flying 2km trial. The Madison pairing of Ryan Mackenzie and Martin Gilbert, who were given a controversial automatic spot for the Madison, did not attend the trials, and are the only track athletes attending the 2007 Pan Am Championships who were not present. However no other riders attempted to challenge their position at the trials. Junior standout Monique Sullivan also rode the trials, posting times considerably faster than her Burnaby 6 Day times, but failed to make the standards in her campaign to receive permission to compete at the Pan Ams despite still being a junior. The nature of the time requirements at the trials raised some speculation that they were not entirely equitable across the events. While this was not seen as intentional, it raised the question as to why there is not a consistent annual timed selection process, that can evolve year to year, to establish standardized times for different events and genders. Some observers pointed to the fact that this situation was also evident at the December 2004 Burnaby trials where Zach Bell and Travis Smith were able to make the “A” time standards, while Lori-Ann Muenzer (who did not ride the trials) was expected to beat her own track record - this in a year in which Muenzer was Canada’s sole representative on the track at the 2004 Olympic Games where she won gold.

2007 Pan Am Championships Track Trials Update

by Chris Reid

May 13, 2007 (Burnaby, BC) – While there has yet to be any official announcement from the CCA, we have been following the 2007 Pan Ams Championships track trials, May 9-11, at the Burnaby Velodrome. It appears that a team sprint squad has been added to the 2007 Canadian Pan Am roster following the Burnaby trials.
Yannick Morin, Cam Mackinnon and Laurence Leroux all made the selection times for the event and as a result it looks like the CCA has decided to field a team. This is a surprising turnaround from the association’s decision earlier this year to cut the team sprint program until after Beijing, as it was not seen as a strong avenue for Olympic selection.
That decision resulted from the CCA’s ultimatum to the team of Morin, Travis Smith and Mackinnon, to finish in the top 8 at the LA Track World Cup in January 2007, not being met. What makes the addition of the team even more unexpected is that the program’s lynch-pin, Travis Smith, is out for an extended period due to an injury from a crash at the 2007 Track Worlds in late March. It seems unlikely that any combination of riders that does not include Smith will be faster than the previous team.
The trials were not without controversy as both Matt Chater and Matt Barlee also made the qualifying times, and at a pace faster than Leroux’s. However Leroux, possibly because of the fact that he is far younger than either of the other two cyclists, was given a re-ride. In his re-ride Leroux posted a faster time than Chater and Barlee, however those riders were only given one opportunity at the standard, leading to a fair bit of controversy and heated discussion.
In other events, automatic qualifiers Gina Grain and Zach Bell dispelled any doubts over their inclusion by riding the trials and meeting the set standards (Bell needed two attempts to meet the mark, while Grain narrowly made the standard in her first attempt). There had been some speculation that an additional female rider would be added to assist Grain in the bunch racing as she will face a cohesive U.S. pairing in Becky Quinn and Sarah Hammer, who have worked well together over the past two seasons at track World Cups. Laura Mackenzie (Webcor) and Jenny Trew (Giant Canada) had been the two likely candidates, however Mackenzie was not in attendance and Trew failed to make the 500m standard of the flying 500m into flying 2km trial.
The Madison pairing of Ryan Mackenzie and Martin Gilbert, who were given a controversial automatic spot for the Madison, did not attend the trials, and are the only track athletes attending the 2007 Pan Am Championships who were not present. However no other riders attempted to challenge their position at the trials.
Junior standout Monique Sullivan also rode the trials, posting times considerably faster than her Burnaby 6 Day times, but failed to make the standards in her campaign to receive permission to compete at the Pan Ams despite still being a junior.
The nature of the time requirements at the trials raised some speculation that they were not entirely equitable across the events. While this was not seen as intentional, it raised the question as to why there is not a consistent annual timed selection process, that can evolve year to year, to establish standardized times for different events and genders.
Some observers pointed to the fact that this situation was also evident at the December 2004 Burnaby trials where Zach Bell and Travis Smith were able to make the “A” time standards, while Lori-Ann Muenzer (who did not ride the trials) was expected to beat her own track record - this in a year in which Muenzer was Canada’s sole representative on the track at the 2004 Olympic Games where she won gold.