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Australia-bound |
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Written by TED CLARKE
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008 |
Although this is only her third season of racing BMX bikes, eight-year-old Alyssa Goulet is already making an impact on the national stage. She finished fourth at the Canadian championships last month in Abbotsford, qualifying her for next year’s world championships. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
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DUCHESS PARK
Eight-year-old Alyssa Goulet and her cousins Derrick and Tyler Pierce made those travel plans necessary when they qualified for the Union Cyclist International BMX world championships two weeks ago in Abbotsford.
The three Supertrak BMX Club riders will sport the red and white of Team Canada as top-16 qualifiers in their respective classes for the world event, July 23-26 in Adelaide, Australia.
Alyssa, now in her third season, just started racing with the boys in the eight-year-old intermediate class. In her first attempt at competing in the national championships, despite getting off to a late start to the season due to the unseasonable long winter in Prince George, she pulled off a fourth-place finish, which made her eligible for the world event.
"I'm excited about going to Australia," said Alyssa. "I think I'll do good there. I think what made me fast is being a sponsored rider on the team. I just pedal faster because of that."
At least one of the girls who finished ahead of her at the Canadian championships -- Zoe Nygaard of Vernon -- is a world-ranked rider and Alyssa figures if she can stay close to her, there's a good chance she'll find success on the world course Down Under.
Alyssa has won seven of 10 local races this season at the Supertrak Club facility at Carrie Jane Gray Park and she also competed internationally when she made the trek to Oregon to race in April. She attributes her rapid climb up the national ladder to one thing -- sponsorship. Alyssa is one of 15 local riders who receive deals on bike parts and riding equipment from BMX Hex, a Medford, Ore., bike store which helps Canadian riders compete internationally.
The two families will spend two weeks in Australia, one week racing and one week sightseeing.That means a lot of fundraising through bottle drives for the three riders between now and then.
Derrick, 12, finished seventh in the 13-year-old national finals in Abbotsford and knows what competition at the world level is all about. He was in Victoria along his 17-year-old brother to compete in the 2008 UCI world championships. For Derrick, it was a humbling experience.
"It's going to be really hard," said Derrick, who attends Edgewood elementary school. "Those kids were so fast in Victoria, I didn't even make it out of the first round."
Tyler, 17, finished second-overall in the cruiser class in Abbotsford and he'll be up against some stiff competition racing in the 17-29-year-old expert class in Adelaide. Only the pro class riders will be faster.
"It's going to be exciting, not many people get a chance to race in Australia so I'm pretty stoked on it," said Tyler, a graduating Duchess Park student. "I trained through the whole winter for (nationals) and so did Derrick, doing weights and doing street sprints.
"My class is the biggest class besides pro. There's going to 16 riders from Canada, 16 from every other country, and 32 from the host country. It's really special to be going somewhere like that to represent your country.
Like Derrick, Tyler has broken his arm numerous times on the track. But he keeps coming back.
"I do crash a lot but that's OK, it's my favourite thing to do, I'm always on my bike," he said.
Tyler has been racing since he was nine, and he's always had older riders in the club to inspire him.
"Guys like Justin Soles and Ward Pateman, who's been racing for 12 years, have taught me pretty much everything I know about BMX," said Tyler. "There's always one person faster who I have to try to beat."
Supertrak races will be held Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays until the end of June, when the schedule switches to Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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