Cycling Canada has appointed Chad Hendren of the Comox Valley to the national MTB coaching team for the 2022 season.
Along with Jeff Ain and Catharine Pendrel, Hendren will focus on providing targeted athletes with opportunities to progress on the international stage.
Hendren and his wife CJ own Gravity MTB, which offers clinics, camps and coaching programs for mountain bikers. With the national team appointment, he anticipates a couple of trips to Europe this season for some World Cup events, and the world championships at the end of August.
“Our Development Team training has been going really great,” Hendren said. “Two of our riders attended the world championships last year in Italy and their first World Cup in Switzerland. I anticipate they will be back again this year and hopefully attend a couple more international events to gain experience.”
Emmy Lan — who last season won the junior expert women’s division at the Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships, and the U21 race at the Enduro National Championships — will be racing overseas this year. Her focus will be mostly enduro, not downhill.
READ: Comox mountain biker wins pair of 2021 national championships
Patrick Laffey will also be racing some World Cup events this year, and will soon head to Scotland to race at the legendary Fort William World Cup.
Hendren expects Cole Stinson of Black Creek and Elijah Barron of Cobble Hill are also likely to head back to Europe, while Ivan Hanchard and Coen Skrypnek “also have excellent potential.”
Two new junior girls in the race program, Jade Blouin-Comeau and Eva Leikermoser, also have an excellent chance to compete overseas this season.
reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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