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Provincial Criterium Championships not for the faint of heart

Crash "all part of the game"

Races were won and lost, but sportsmanship, enthusiasm and respect were evident as cyclists took to the pavement for the 2022 Provincial Criterium Championships held in North Bay Sunday.

Considered the showcase event of the weekend, it as well as the other Ontario Cycling events held in North Bay this  August long weekend is being hosted by Cycling North Bay.

A Criterium race is all about time, with racers competing on a closed course in a “bunch race.”

Racers did laps along VooDoo Crescent with each lap roughly 1.1 kilometres long.

“So it’s actually not too bad the corners are tight enough to make it exciting. They have so many laps that they have to do. It is the fastest time lap and the number of laps depends on the age groups,” explained Pam Julian, President and CEO of Ontario Cycling.

The U-19 group completed roughly 40 laps.

The winner of the Junior Men’s U-19 group is Coldwater resident  Ben Sweet.

This was his second Criterium and first win on the road.

“We do a lot of laps for a set amount of time and there is a countdown as we go based on how fast we are doing the laps. So they tell us how many laps we have left as we’re going and we just have to calculate how fast we’re going to go from there. We rode 47 kilometres so probably about 47 laps,” explained Sweet.

It is a very technical race, and unfortunately, there was a crash on the course.

Sweet explained that in the last lap he and another rider were coming into the second last corner, a downhill right-hand turn when it happened.

“I was leaning into it and the racer behind me went to make a last lap move trying to get in front of me. He sprinted past me right before the corner and just came in a little too hot and a little too far inside. I watched him and he just slid out. I missed him and kind of went into the ditch beside him riding it out. We had enough of a gap, the two of us had been off the front for the last 10 laps. So we had enough of a gap that I had enough time to get out of the ditch and still ride into the finish quite comfortably.”

Thankfully the injuries were minor.

“It’s all part of the game,” said Sweet who said he would likely return to North Bay if the event were to return.

“It is a good venue, and the course is good. It has been fun.”

Sweet has aspirations of turning pro.

“I would love to, for sure. This is only my sixth time racing on the road but I’m really liking it so I’m definitely going to dabble into it a bit more next year. I would love to see where I could take it in the future.”

The President and CEO of Cycling Ontario had nothing but positive things to say about the host community.

“It has been going amazing. We couldn’t have asked for better locations. The Youth Hill Climb yesterday was so exciting, they had so much fun. And the Skills and Drills went over really well too. The location was awesome at the College,” said Julian.

She also found the location for the Criterium ideal.

“This has been wonderful being able to have the Crit (Criterium) in a contained area that is safe and wide, and we’re not worrying about street lights and boulevards and parking metres and all those things that would be in a downtown Crit. And we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The weather is gorgeous.”

The final event of the weekend is the 2022 Provincial Road Championships.

Riders will compete on a 15-kilometre circuit that starts at the Corbeil Park Hall, following Corbeil Road to Derland Road and loops back to the Corbeil Park Hall via Highway 94.

Again, the number of laps depends on the category.