Congratulations to Eric Reid who was honoured this past Saturday (Nov 19th) at the Manitoba Cycling Association – Annual Awards Banquet.
Eric Reid joins the ranks of past recipients: Colin Ward, Joe Pope, and Erick Oland (Sr)
Eric was a long time supporter (~ 20 years) of competitive cycling in Manitoba until he moved out west in 1998. He returned to Manitoba after moving to teach a Road and Mountain Bike Level #1 Coaching course. During that time, he gave effortlessly of his time and knowledge, to a generation of cyclists who achieved National and World status across a variety of disciplines. As an active member of the community, he was instrumental in not only getting new athletes into competitive cycling, but also engaging the local community to work together towards the growth of cycling and providing a positive and enthusiastic environment. He was able to engage former cycling members back into supporting and helping the community. Eric was the Provincial Coach from 1992 to 1997. During this time he fielded a team to compete in Tour de l’Abitibi. Prior to becoming the Provincial Coach, he worked tirelessly in support of the local community:
o Actively mentored, offered advice and informally coached many successful cyclist, all achieving national status:
* Peter Suderman, Cdn National Sprint Champ
* Darryl Hansell, Silver Medalist Sprint
* Tony Ward, National Champ of Kilo
* Paul Sim, National Team member, including competing in the Pro level Milk Race (organized by Phil Ligget, now known as the Tour of Britian)
* Davey Hansell, Cdn National Junior Ommium Champ (overall on the Track)
* Louie Reil, National Team member and competed in Pan Am Games
* Eric Oland Jr, National Team member and participated in Worlds
* Cathy Zyglinski, National Team member, competed at Tour d France Feminine
Eric organized and led many local rides, where he actively coached riders. He competed for many years at the National Championships on both Velodrome and Road. He organized many Training Camps for the MCA and organized a good percentage of local races over a 20 year span, including weekly Handicap Races & Time Trials at BHP, weekly velodrome training where he was always welcoming and eager to local new riders. He committed to being at the Velodrome every week to open the track for this use.
In addition, Eric helped organize various MCA Banquets and Social Events for fund raising. He regularly provided used equipment to riders who could not afford their own and acted as support to the Provincial teams competing at Nationals . He was a long time competitor in local races, and supported all races on the calendar.
After leaving Manitoba in 1997, Eric continued to be actively involved in the Winnipeg community in the Riders Cycle on Life Annual fund raising event for the Riverview Centre Health Centre Foundation since its inception. In 2005, at the age of 52, he rode from Calgary to Winnipeg in 9 days to raise awareness for the event and to participate. At that time, this event had raised over $350,000 for the Foundation. Currently, this event has raised over $1,000,000.