It was my great honour to attend the Beijing to London Cycling Celebration Awards Presentation in Toronto this past weekend.

Over 150 people including Olympians, Paralympians, coaches, officials, families, friends and fans were on hand to celebrate  and pay tribute to Team Canada and our bronze medal winners from London 2012.

Clara Hughes, Tara Whitten, Catharine Pendrel, Emily Batty along with new Olympic medalists Jasmin Glaesser and Gillian Carleton, who captured a bronze medal with Whitten in the Women’s Team Pursuit at London were amongst the individuals being honoured.  In addition, several of Canada’s former superstars like Steve Bauer, Gord Fraser, Tanya Dubnicoff and Lyne Bessette were also present.

One of the highlights of the evening, and a proud Manitoba moment,  was  Tanya Dubnicoff honouring Clara Hughes. Neither of these athletes, despite training elsewhere in the country, have ever forgotten their Manitoba Roots.

Hughes was honoured with several speeches tracing her history and amazing career, but it was when she spoke about her pure joy of “loving to ride her bike” and the people she met and befriended over the course of her journey that she really inspired the audience.
She thanked everyone for the opportunity to race her bike for Canada again and looks forward to being a recreational rider and a mentor for the next wave of Canadian stars.

Do not miss the opportunity to meet Clara in person at the Inductee dinner in Winnipeg, on November 3rd.

Ticket and event information can be found at: http://www.sportmanitoba.ca/inductionceremonies

Please note that Steve Scoles has volunteered to organize a cycling table of 10 for the event. Should you be interested in joining this table please contact Steve direct at steve_scoles@hotmail.com for ticket information.