Great Rides: Halifax Criterium Reborn!
Big-time criterium racing finally returns to Halifax August 2! Mark your calendar to check out Canada’s awesome east coast for some great summer riding and a chance to “camp” out with sport scientist Stephen Cheung…
If you’re itching for some beautiful ocean-riding this summer, it’s hard to top Nova Scotia (in the summer, anyway), which is on most publications’s top ten list of touring destinations in the world. Most of the province is covered with endless small roads with minimal car traffic. Instead of cars, you’ll find endless ocean-front roads with lighthouses or quaint fishing villages around each curve. Add to that wonderful hospitality and a deeply-ingrained history (did you know the earliest European settlement in North America is at Annapolis Royal, and that Nova Scotia was the scene of some of the biggest battles between the French and English in the 17th and 18th centuries?), and I consider myself very lucky to call Nova Scotia home.
In local racing, the biggest news is that, after a hiatus of 12 years, there will once again be a major downtown criterium in the heart of historic Halifax. The Halifax Criterium will take place on Saturday, August 2, during the major summer long weekend. The course is a flat and fast 1.5 km circuit around the Halifax Commons, right under the “Citadel” fortress (built by the British to repel a French invasion and one of Canada’s most visited national historic sites) towering high over the waterfront. The race was held during the long weekend from 1970-1990 and was hugely popular. Now thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, the Halifax Crit will rise again!
There will be a Women’s/Youth and also a Master’s/Senior 4 race, topped off with the Senior 1-3 60 km event. You can check out all the details and pre-register at https://www.halifaxcriterium.ns.ca/index.htm. To add further enticement to race junkies, the Provincial 40 k TT Champs will occur the following day in nearby East Hants.
Coupled with the Halifax Criterium, Sport Scientist Dr. Stephen Cheung will be organizing a mini-training camp the week prior for any interested Pez readers. We will cover some of the awesome local roads and have in-depth discussion of sport science and training, along with other activities to help Pez readers fine-tune their summer form. Contact Stephen for further information, and hope to see you at the latest incarnation of the Halifax Criterium!
About Stephen:
Stephen Cheung is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with a research specialty in the effects of thermal stress on human physiology and performance. He has been an avid roadie since beginning university in the mid-eighties, and still has non-indexed downtube shifters on his winter bike and wool jerseys hanging in his closet. He can be reached for advice or comments at [email protected]
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