October 22/02 9:59 am - PacificSport Gala, US Pro Cycling Wrap Up

Posted by Editor on 10/22/02
 

Celebration of PacificSport's Cycling Excellence Gala

Hosted by the PacificSport National Cycling Centre-Greater Victoria

You are invited to attend a "Celebration of PacificSport's Cycling Excellence"

Meet World Champion Roland Green, Canadian Champion Alison Sydor and the 2002 Gold Medal Relay Team!

Saturday, November 23, 2002
NOTC GunRoom-Building # 1367
Esquimalt Naval Base

Athlete Meet and Greet 5:00 p.m.
Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Awards 8:00 p.m.

This evening has been specially planned to celebrate with our National level athletes, meet those involved in the cycling community, share laughter and honour excellence.

Tickets are available through PacificSport National Sport Centre:

Suite 100-4636 Elk Lake Drive Victoria, BC V8Z 5M1
(250) 744-3583 Ex 33
Email: sdonovan@pacificsport.com

Please order your tickets by Friday November 8th.

Tickets are $35.00 per person

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there!

THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT SO PLEASE ORDER YOUR TICKETS EARLY!


2002 Pro Cycling Tour Wrap Up
Courtesy Threshold Sports

NORRISTOWN, PA - The Pro Cycling Tour (PCT), owned and operated by Philadelphia-based Threshold Sports, announced today the final $50,000 PCT 2002 Point Standings. Mercury's Henk Vogels (AUS) finished atop the men's individual points and his team won the men's team point standings. Laura Van Gilder of Trek Plus (USA) took the women's top honor while the Saturn women captured first in the final team points classification.

Featuring ten professional races and over $400,000 in combined prize money, the PCT highlights world-class cyclists in major U.S. markets. The 2002 season held events in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco and Miami with LIVE local and national television. There were six pro men's and four pro women's races in the 2002 PCT Points season.

"I am very happy to be the PCT Champion for 2002. It is a something I have worked hard to achieve since the Tour began," said Van Gilder. "I feel the PCT is an excellent series which is both well organized and offers generous prize money to women racers. It is an honor to finally be on the top step of the Pro Cycling Tour."

The 2002 PCT, America's Best Professional Cycling Events, saw over 1.3 million spectators on-site and an estimated television audience of over 800,000 homes. The season began in June with the 18th annual First Union Cycling Series drawing approximately 700,000 area enthusiasts. The First Union USPRO Championship on June 9th was won by Canadian Mark Walters of Navigators and American Chann McRae of US Postal Service was crowned the men's USPRO National Champion. The week-long series included races in Lancaster, Pa. (First Union Invitational-June 4th) won by David Clinger of USPS; Trenton, N.J. (First Union Classic-June 6th) captured by Gord Fraser of Mercury and the women's First Union Liberty Classic in Philadelphia, which Petra Rossner of Saturn won for the sixth time. The June 9th races, which were televised by WPVI-TV ABC and reached a peak rating of 4.7, also featured a Junior PCT Grand Prix and GlaxoSmithKline Fun Ride.

The inaugural New York City Cycling Championship presented by BMC Software on August 4th brought Lance Armstrong and the USPS team to NYC just six days after Armstrong's fourth consecutive Tour de France win. A star-studded field and audience complete with comedian Jerry Seinfield, baseball great Keith Hernandez, cycling Olympian Nelson Vails and 100,000 fans watched Saturn's Ivan Dominguez win the 100-kilometer race through Lower Manhattan. It marked the first major event in the area since September 11, 2001. The race was broadcast LIVE nationally on OLN and locally on WABC-TV New York with a 3.1 peak rating. The event, which featured Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as its official charity, included an amateur team, women's pro, celebrity charity and corporate charity races.

On September 15th, the second annual San Francisco Grand Prix presented by BMC Software was co-produced by Threshold Sports and Tailwind Sports. As the largest outdoor sporting event in San Francisco, the race drew over 500,000 fans to watch Armstrong and 2001 champ George Hincapie of USPS race elite teams such as Navigators, Saturn, Prime Alliance, Mercury, Aqua & Sapone, among others. Canadian Charles Dionne of 7Up-Nutra Fig outlasted all to win. It was broadcast LIVE on OLN nationally and KGO-TV ABC locally with a peak rating of 7.06. The corporate team challenge and celebrity chase with comedian Robin Williams and other Bay Area based celebs raised money for local charities. The women's component, the San Rafael Cycling Classic presented by BMC Software was held on September 14th. Laura Van Gilder of Trek Plus was victorious and took the lead in PCT Points.

The 2002 PCT season culminated at the Miami Cycling Classic presented by WPLG10 on September 29th with both a men's and women's pro race finale. Eric Wohlberg of Saturn and Tina Mayolo-Pic of Diet Rite went away winners.

Pro Cycling Tour Standings - Women

1st Laura Van Gilder Trek Plus USA 88 points
2nd Petra Rossner Saturn GER 80
3rd Tina Mayolo-Pic Diet Rite USA 60
4th Tania Duff-Miller Freddie FU NZL 54
5th Sarah Uhl Dansko/IF USA 45

Women's TEAM Standings*

1st Saturn
2nd Diet Rite
3rd Freddie Fu

Pro Cycling Tour Standings - Men

1st Henk Vogels Mercury AUS 105 points
2nd Mark Walters Navigators CAN 88
3rd Gord Fraser Mercury CAN 80
4th Chris Wherry Mercury USA 65
5th Oleg Grishkine Navigators RUS 63

Men's TEAM Standings*

1st Mercury
2nd Navigators
3rd US Postal Service

*Team standings based on combined points of top 3 riders in individual PCT Points.

For more detailed event results and PCT Points standings visit www.procyclingtour.com.