Why do we devalue our own events?

The Importance of Nationals                       

So this blog idea has been ruminating in my mind for a few years now, but at its crux it’s about the intersection of development, opportunities and our own domestic evens- specifically Nationals.

A few years ago when there was the potential for a Men’s National Pursuit program the powers that be began entering composite national teams in the team pursuit at nationals.  Now the event was never super deep to begin with in Canada, often struggling to put together 4-5 teams, but this move effectively killed the event.  This is too bad because for a lot of racers it was pretty much their only chance to be exposed to team pursuit, and it is doubly true for juniors.  I thought it was an odd choice at the time, and it didn’t exactly sit easy with me, but I also figured at the time I was too close to the subject matter to be effective as I was still quasi-racing.

Flash forwards a year or so and I am reading in a number of mainstream news articles about how Heather Moyse, a very successful Canadian rugby player is going to try and make her third national team.  This was quickly followed by Moyse complaining bitterly to the media about how she wasn’t given a chance to race World Cups.  She did eventually get to go to Pan-Ams where in all fairness to Moyse she rode commendably well given her lack of experience.  She commented; “I had never raced head-to-head with someone else on a track before, something that requires handling skills and strategy.”

More time was spend on photo ops than racing.

Her entitlement grated me, as did the fact Moyse instantly was given opportunities other cyclists (actual cyclists not sliders looking for a novelty to add to their resume) would never be given.  For example Moyse appeared to do all of her track racing on a CCA* Look.  Not a bad starter machine.  Especially given that at the same time Moyse was gripping about not getting to ride World Cups for Canada she was proudly posting video blogs of how she was grappling the challenge of riding rollers.  Logic might dictate that if you don’t have the skill to warm up for the event you maybe shouldn’t do the event…

 But to Moyse it was a tragedy that she wasn’t allowed to represent her country at track cycling’s highest stage, especially after she conquered those whirling steel drums of death. 

Not a bad starter bike. In all fairness I'm sure IO's are tough on the rollers.

It was safe to say that at this point I was not a Moyse fan.  She came across as entitled, self-important and she was speaking ill of a federation that had done her nothing but favours.  Flash forwards to the fall.  Moyse has ridden in the Pan American Championships and Canadian Nationals are in Dieppe.  Moyse is MIA.  I am sure she was focusing on bobsleigh- which is fine, except for the point where she had now wasted CCA resources for nothing.

And this is where we get to the core of my argument.  If you want to do national team projects- ESPECIALLY development projects participation at Nationals should be an absolute given.  Non-negotiable.  Proven World Cup performers are a slightly different ball of yarn but even then their participation (and I am not saying they have to be on peak form) should be heavily encouraged unless there are extenuating circumstances.

In not showing up Moyse not only underlined her lack of commitment to pursuing cycling as anything other than an ego boost.  It meant that the time and probably money that went into her training at LA and competing at Pan-Ams had ZERO multiplier effect.  Had she gone to nationals she would have helped increase the depth of the sprint tournament and keirin – helping to create a deeper event that every other female racer riding sprint events in Canada would have benefited from.  Instead she dinned on international competition and left the CCA to pick up the cheque.

Part of why these young women rip is becasue their skills were honed at the state level

 long before they went to an international competition.

  That and they are super colour coordinated.

And while I have used Moyse as an example I will point out that she is not the only offender in this category- several juniors who competed in the Junior Pan-American Championships failed to attend nationals last year – for no valid reason to the best of my knowledge.  In my mind participation at nationals should be the bare minimum commitment level for juniors that then want to represent their country in international competition.  If a kid goes to Pan-Ams and Worlds and then skips Nationals there is no way they should be considered for the pool the next year. Bottom line, bike racing is a sport that demands commitment and these kids need to show it.

Nationals are one of the few chances that coaches get to see developing athletes in direct competition, and one of very few domestic racing opportunities for development.  As I’ve said before if the miss-and-out is our Country’s collective Achilles heel then we can’t put enough emphasis on the quality racing opportunities these kids get.  We don’t need the Carletons or the Pelletier-Roys to be on top form at nationals, but having them there adds a value to every developing racer at the event.

Collectively as a cycling country we need to be working to ensure that nationals are as deep an event as possible since we have so few opportunities for our track racers to compete in deep and quality events.

British kids fighting for a shot.

In the next week a team will race the women’s Team Pursuit at Pan-Ams.  Of these one is a speedskater who has never competed in a track race let alone at nationals.  It is impossible to say if she is actually quicker than the tier of women who went to nationals last year.  What is clear is that she is being afforded opportunities that are not available to most Canadian track racers.  And in giving her the opportunity the CCA risks eroding what transparency they have build up in the track program over the last few years (though why they continue to refuse to publish trials times in what should be an imperial selection is a mystery to me).

I know nothing about this rider/skater, I’m just hoping that for track in Canada’s sake, she’s not another Heather Moyse.

*CC – how terribly this rebrand has been handled is a topic for a whole other blog post