While most of the other Canadian athletes readying for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which begin next week, are already amidst the sun, surf and sand of Gold Coast, Australia, the mountain bikers remain on dampish Bear Mountain.
But they are used to waiting.
Mountain biking was held on the last day of both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and isn’t scheduled until the ninth day — April 12 — of the 12-day Commonwealth Games. The Games run April 4-15 in Gold Coast.
So Games-bound Emily Batty, Haley Smith and Léandre Bouchard will make good use of their last preparatory time, before heading to Gold Coast on Monday, by joining 11 of their Canadian national teammates as Bear Mountain hosts the third-annual PowerAde Canada Cup today featuring top pro mountain bikers from the Americas and also elite junior and U-17 races. It’s part of the Bear Mountain Bike Festival, which includes Russ Hay’s XC short-track race and Kids Bike Day on Sunday.
“The Sunday is as important [as the elites racing today], because it provides the touch points where the kids riding can look up at our national team racers and say: ‘I want to be just like him or just like her,’ ” said event director Jon Watkin.
Batty, meanwhile, will be looking for big things in Gold Coast after winning silver at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games behind fellow-Canadian Catharine Pendrel, gold at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and placing fourth behind bronze-medallist Pendrel in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The Commonwealth and Pan Am Games are important as an environmental thing, where you get to be in an Athletes Village with other athletes, and in a multi-Games setting,” said Batty.
“It’s a rehearsal for the next Olympics and it gives you confidence going into your next Olympics.”
Smith, who is based at the national mountain biking centre on Bear Mountain, will be making her international Games debut and goes in touted as the next big thing in Canadian women’s mountain biking after Pendrel and Batty.
“I am going to learn as much as I can learn in Gold Coast and use it to gain experience about the feel of a multi-sport Games setting,” said Smith
Bouchard made his Games debut at the Olympics in Rio, which is like jumping into the deep end first.
“Rio was such a massive event . . . crazy and almost unrealistic,” said the native of Alma, Que.
“The Commonwealth Games should be much easier to handle.”
And at the Commonwealth level, he can target the podium, which does a lot for profile and confidence looking ahead to Tokyo 2020.
The defending 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games women’s champion Pendrel, who learned her riding skills on Island trails as a UVic student, is racing this weekend in the Canada Cup but giving Gold Coast a pass. The 37-year-old has also not committed to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s a year-to-year thing for me now,” said the 2007 Pan Am Games gold-medallist, and two-time world champion.
“I’ve gained what I can gain from Games experiences. It’s time to let someone else have an opportunity to build up confidence at a Commonwealth Games, which I believe helps you prepare for the biggest show of all [Olympics].”
Asked about Smith’s potential, Pendrel said: “It’s exciting to watch Haley develop as a rider. She is so dedicated. She is an awesome representative for the Canadian team.”
It’s part of the torch-passing that is integral to any sport. That’s what the Canada Cup this weekend is all about and what Gold Coast will be about over the next two weeks.
“It’s about building a legacy, where the older athletes pass on the team culture,” said Canadian head coach Dan Proulx of Victoria.
“You only get a small number of multi-sport Games in your career, so the Commonwealth and Pan Am Games are critical as dress rehearsals for the ensuing Olympics. Someone like Haley [Smith] can take it all in and understand the pressures.”
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
