December 4/02 9:12 am - Team Program, Memorial Ride, CCA BMX, CCES, Birthdays

Posted by Editor on 12/4/02
 

Team Uniforms Program

We are pleased to announce that Canadian Cyclist will be working with Gita to bring their team uniform program to Canada. Canadian clubs and teams will now have the opportunity to order the same high quality Giordana clothing as used by the U.S. Postal squad, ONCE and other top pro teams, in their own designs. This clothing is identical in quality to the stuff used by the pros.

Within the next few days, a custom quote form will be launched, and teams/clubs will be able to put together an order online. After submitting the order, a free quote will be provided, and the team/club can place the order for delivery within 90 days after payment of a deposit and supplying design artwork (Gita will also provide design work, if required).


Memorial Ride for Bruno Van Hemelryck
Courtesy Mike Badyck

The South-western Ontario cycling community was greatly saddened by the passing of Bruno Van Hemelryck last week. The Woodstock Cycling Club wants to thank all of you who have emailed or called. It was great to have so many kind words come in from Bruno's friends. There were lots of ideas of how the club could celebrate Bruno's life and we have decided to proceed with combination of several suggestions. We feel that this is something that Bruno would really appreciate.

We will meet at the Pines at 6:30pm on Dec. 7th. We will ride a loop of the Pines and stop part way through and plant a small tree in Bruno's name. If you could bring a candle along it would be very special to take a moment, then, with our candles burning, to remember such a special guy. We will be there and we know Bruno will be with us too, in our hearts.

For directions to the Pines please go to www.woodstockcyclingclub.homestead.com/Pinesmap.html

P.S. Even if you don't ride with us come out anyway and we will have someone work as a guide to take you to our memorial area at the Pines on the 7th.


CCA BMX Racing 2003

Look out BMXer's, racing in Canada is back on track and the 2003 season will be one you won't want to miss out on... Here's what to know:

June 7 & 8 - Red Deer, AB Canada Cup #1, #2
June 28 - Ridge Meadows, BC Canada Cup #3
June 29 - Ridge Meadows, BC Canadian Championships *
August 30 - Lethbridge, AB Canada Cup #4 (Indoor)
August 31 - Lethbridge, AB Canada Cup Final (Indoor)

What to expect:
1. New spectator friendly format
2. Products may replace some trophies and awards
3. Pro Purses announced before all events
4. Podium presentations at all events
5. New Team racing program

* Canadian Championship open to Canadian racers only. Formats, sponsors and prizing to be announced at a later date. You will be required to race out-of-province at least once during the series. Stay tuned

Kevin O'Brien
CCA BMX Race Director


CCES News

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports gathers news items from around the world, and occasionally we reprint one ones of interest to cyclists.

From Deutsche Presse-Agentur

November 29, 2002

Genetic doping a could be reality in five years
By Sebastian Fest

Madrid - When the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced that from the beginning of next year "genetic doping" would be added to their list of prohibited substances and methods, many questioned the decision.

Could genetic doping really be used by athletes? Did all this not belong to the realm of science fiction?

Doctor Peter Schjerling, a molecular biologist who is one of the leading world experts in the field, believes not only that the idea is not as far fetched as some people think but that it will put the problem of steroid abuse in the shade.

"Genetic doping does not yet exist, but it will arrive in a few years," Schjerling told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "It will be very efficient and practically undetectable. And perhaps even socially acceptable."

The Danish scientist says he is looking forward to a future where steroids and banned performance enhancers such as the synthetic hormone erythropoietin (EPO) administered exogenously, are obsolete and dispensable antiques.

"A white man could be the best sprinter or long distance runner like Kipketer (the Kenyan born athlete who runs for Denmark)," he says.

Schjerling explains that current development is not yet at this stage.

"Gene manipulation today is a lottery. We can introduce a gene into the human body, but we don't know what is going to happen, the gene is not controllable," he says.

"Today we could inject DNA into a muscle, and it (...) might work in one out of 10 cases, and perhaps five people would die."

Schjerling works together with Swedish scientist Bengt Saltin, another guru in muscular research and genetic doping, at the Centre of Molecular Research in Copenhagen.

The Danish facility is the world centre for the new discipline but research is also being carried out in Dallas at the Southwest Medical School, in Padua, Italy at the Schiaffino Institute and in London at UCL and in Montreal.

With so many scientists doing research in the area, does the danger not exist that someone somewhere might be experimenting with genes to create a "super athlete"?

"Of course it's possible that a crazy millionaire could hire a scientist. After all the German Democratic Republic did exist ... but the risk is enormous," Schjerling says in reference to the former East German government's sponsored doping of athletes.

The policy delivered a conveyor belt of champions for the former Communist state but also led to fatalities, mutations, and unwanted sex changes which have now led to compensation being paid to victims.

However, Schjerling agrees with U.S. magazine Scientific American's assertion that scientists will be able to know and control genes by 2008.

Once that happens, he says, genetic doping will be a reality and would be practically undetectable, since the proteins produced would be exactly the same as those already present in the human body.

The Dane gives an example.

"Let's say one injects the EPO gene into the body. Well, the only way to detect it would be to carry out a biopsy on the precise spot where the muscle was injected. Very difficult...And we would need the whole DNA sequence to detect the exogenous gene."

Although Schjerling says that WADA are right to add genetic doping to the list of banned substances and methods, the Danish scientist visualizes a future when genetic manipulation could be a positive contribution to sports.

"Today it would be a fraud. But in the future it could be socially acceptable if we are able to ensure it does not threaten the athlete's health."

For the world's sporting authorities it looks like genetic doping is a problem for which they have no detection methods and no solution and that it is it only a matter of time before the arrival of the first genetically modified champion.


Happy Birthday to...

Marc Sonntag, yesterday, and National Coach Jacques Landry, today.