PCC coached athletes Micaiah Besler and Caleb Bender competed in the Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current, Saskatchewan from August 9 – 18 and came away with some notable podium performances.

With six provinces and territories participating including Nunavut, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan, there was stiff competition in the cycling races which consisted of a time trial, road race and a mountain bike race.

With both Micaiah and Caleb coming from Saskatchewan they wanted to do well and they didn’t disappoint. Micaiah placed third in the TT and Caleb second. “I had an amazing TT, with good legs and an even better mindset. I started out way harder than I intended but was able to maintain that power and speed throughout and pushed myself further than I ever had in a TT to get a silver,” Caleb said.

Caleb then took another silver in the road race. Micaiah had a great road race also placing second, but it had its frustrating moments she recalls. “The race ended up being quite slow preventing any sort of reasonable pace from being set, but there were however, plenty of attacks throughout the whole 80km. I was quite often in a small group of riders off the front trying to break away. Eventually at about 15km to go there were a series of attacks one after each other that kept the pace quite high which led to the field being spread out. I was in the group of riders behind the winner of the race and I managed to win the bunch sprint from the front to take second place.”

The cross-country mountain bike race the next day was rained out but a short course was set up by the officials as a substitute. “The race was short and hard, but this being my first time ever mountain biking and feeling under the weather, I was very pleased to stay up right the whole time and to come 11^th,” said Micaiah. Caleb had a fun experience in the MTB race: “Despite being way out of my wheelhouse on a mountain bike, I had a large enough buffer from the road events to hold onto a silver medal in the GC,” he said.

Both riders enjoyed the experience and competition in the games. “I enjoyed being able to represent Saskatchewan and I was proud to be able to earn the province some medals. Overall, I had a blast at the games and enjoyed being able to meet new people. I am happy to be a part of one of the most successful Saskatchewan cycling teams ever to participate in any Western Canada Summer Games. Of course, none of this would have been possible without my amazing coach Houshang Amiri and the continued support of the Pacific Cycling Center as well as my parents,” Micaiah said.

“It was awesome to represent Saskatchewan well at the event and have some good results to show for it. The games were a great opportunity to test my skills against the best up and coming riders from other provinces, a good learning experience, and a really good motivator for me heading into my upcoming training and races. A huge thanks goes out to Houshang Amiri and Pacific Cycling Centre for the coaching and support. Houshang’s coaching has and will continue to be a huge part of my development as an athlete and a person, and the support of PCC has been vital to my performance and huge improvement this season,” added Caleb.

“We were happy to see Micaiah and Caleb performing well at the WCSG and representing their province,” said Coach Houshang Amiri. “Both relocated to Victoria in 2018 to optimize their training with us at the Pacific Cycling Centre.”

Zoe Saccio (right) on the podium. Photo by Laura Saccio

PCC coached athlete Zoe Saccio competed in the 2019 USA Track Nationals last week in California and won a bronze medal in the individual pursuit. This was a remarkable result for the Vancouver-based young American as she has only been racing for two years. “I had no expectations of myself to do anything other than learn,” she said.

The three-day event started with a 10k scratch race then the Omnium on day two. “With the help of Coach Houshang I made the decision to be an instigator [in the Omnium scratch race] rather than just following moves. I attacked to keep the pace high, but by the time the sprint came, we were going so fast that I was unable to give it the finishing kick I needed to place.”

The tempo race followed, and points were hard to come by and although Zoe rode well in the elimination race, it didn’t go as planned. “Houshang told me that my strategy in the points race would be to lap the field. After a full day of hard, fast racing, I was not sure I was going to be able to do it, but I had nothing really to lose and everything to gain.”

Zoe waited for the right moment, separated from the pack and picked up two sprints on her way to lapping the field. “Once I got there, the job was to stay in and finish the race. At the end of the race, one rider was off the front and would win the final sprint, but the pack slowed so I took the opportunity to jump with 400m to go and was second in the final sprint for a second-place finish.” This resulted in an eight-place finish in the omnium at her first Nationals.

The final race was the individual pursuit. “I had never done a pursuit in my life but figured I would sign up because you have to start somewhere!” She rode well in the heat and then had to wait to see if she had made the finals. “I ended up qualifying third, which meant I had to come back and race for a bronze medal.”

She decided to aim for faster splits riding almost seven seconds faster than the morning with a time very comparable to the gold medal rider. “The best feeling in the world has to be when you get to the point in a pursuit that you can see the other rider in front of you but still have more in the tank, that and hearing the announcer compliment your cadence over the loud speaker! When I finished, I was so exhausted and happy that I cried, then I sat on the rollers drinking chocolate milk and wishing everyday was pursuit day.”

Aeden and Caleb on the podium. Picture by J. Fellman

PCC riders achieved podium performances in the Russ Hays Grand Prix on Sunday, the final day of the Robert W. Cameron Law Cycling Series.

In Cat 3 Aeden Crocker (17) and Caleb Bender (18) finished first and second with Colin Fowlow in fourth. It was an exciting race with the TaG team mates, Aeden and Caleb supporting themselves but it became a four-person race with Kevin Park and Colin also in contention. The four maintained a three-quarter of a one-kilometre lap lead until one lap to go with Aeden taking the lead at the finish line. Caleb and Aeden were also on the podium in Friday’s time trial.

In other results in U17 Boys Parker Swanstrom (16) finished third, in cat 4 Dave Jackson finished fourth.

Chris Macleod rode in the Cat 1-2, and although missed the podium he assisted his Trek Red Truck Racing teammate Riley Pickrell to first place.

In the women’s cat 1-2 Holly Simonson, Micaiah Besler and Brenna Pauly all competed. The winner Sarah Van Dam attributed her victory to Trek Red Truck team mates Holly and Brenna.

It’s going to be a busy summer for Holly as she heads to the junior nationals in Quebec in two weeks, then off to the world track juniors in Germany and then back home for B.C. Super Week.

Brenna (middle) and Holly (right) on the podium. Photo by PCC.

This past weekend PCC riders were busy competing in the 2019 Cycling BC Elite and Master’s Road and Time Trial Championships in Langley, as well as the Junior and U17 Championships in Penticton.

It was a golden moment for Brenna Pauly, taking the elite woman’s provincial title in the road race, while Holly Simonson won the U23 championship. The previous day in pouring rain Holly finished third and Brenna fourth in the time trial.

In the men’s elite road race, only half the field completed but due to great team work on the Glotman•Simpson Cycling team, Jackson Bocksnick and Amiel Flett-Brown came second and third. Alex Amiri came fourth in the men’s elite time trial on the Saturday.

In the Junior Championships in Penticton Aedan Crocker (U19) and Parker Swanstrom U17, also competed, however as they were placed in sub categories no BC Championship was awarded.

“As a coach I was very pleased to see the a great improvement in all PCC riders. This is good preparation for the National Championships in Quebec,” said PCC head coach Houshang Amiri.