Finally, 8 of our Juventus youth were ready to head to Milton, Ontario for the 2018 Junior and U17 Canadian Track Championships! Annie Scott U17-1, Ngaire Barraclough U17-2, Mikael Goh U17-2, Lukas Bonkowsky U17-1, Abbey McGill Jr-2, Alex Webb Jr-2, Mat Meurer Jr-1, and Chris Heinemann Jr-1 packed bikes, rollers, helmets, shoes, wheels, and gears. Together with a team of dedicated parents, and team equipment manager Adam Todd, the group flew to Toronto, loaded the rental van, and drove to mythic Milton (unfortunately, Alex arrived sick and had to return home).
As you can imagine, Juventus youth represented our club and province with humble tenacity. Juventus raced the entire gambit: Match sprints, Keirins, bunch races, Madison, Team Sprint, and Team Pursuit. They learned every race, adjusting to the smooth, wind-free, 250 m wooden track.
Abbey proved to be a tactical bunch racer, Annie figured out which wheels were safe to follow, Ngaire learned how to take advantage of her sprinting ability, Mikael found out a thing or two about the track compared to roller riding, Lukas realized he really liked to race -and that the neutral lap can be critical in an elimination. Mat and Chris had the opportunity to experience junior national level of competition - and managed to work and get comfortable. They worked VERY hard. All of our youth came away inspired - and a whole lot smarter.
Performances also yielded our latest U17 National Track Champion: Ngaire Barraclough won the Points Race! She also raced to silver in the 500 TT, and bronze in the IP, Keirin, and Match Sprint. Ngaire also teamed with Annie Scott and Quebec for a Team Pursuit, and Annie for Team Sprint.