​On May 7 and 8, 2022, A and B level NCCH competitive athletes attended the Mansfield Outdoor Centre for a weekend of training with Peter Glassford.  Peter Glassford is a professional cycling coach and author of The Consummate Athlete.  After a full day of training the athletes were treated to a feast prepared by our devoted parents Kyle and Jeff.  The athletes then had an evening of team building before retiring for the night in the cabins provided at the Mansfield outdoor Centre.  The next morning coaches and parent helpers prepared a breakfast feast to fuel the riders for the day before they headed out with Peter Glassford for a second day of training.  The event was a great training and team building experience for our riders, coaches and parents.  NCCH engaged the services of Pro MTB Coach Peter Glassford, who shared his knowledge with our riders and coaches to help prepare for many races to come. As part of the NCCH Strategic Plan, we will continue to plan these types of activities.
 
Thanks to NCCH Lead Coaches, and volunteer coaches, along with parents who attended to support the Camp. Lastly, thanks to NCCH Competition Director Amy who planned and coordinated the event, along with NCCH staff. NCCH staff secured a grant from the OCA (Tony Osborne Funding) to offset some of the costs of the event.  

Mountain Bike O-Cup #2 took place May 15, 2022, at Hardwood Hills, Oro, ON.  NCCH was well represented with 26 riders competing in the event.  NCCH made a big statement with five riders claiming gold in their categories and two other riders finishing on the podium. In the Grade D Boys’ category, Logan B. took first place in a tight race that saw the top three riders finish within 10 seconds of each other.  This race also saw Charlie S. our youngest racer at age 7, make his O-Cup debut.  In the Grade D Girls category, Addison M. took the gold winning her second O-Cup race of the year.  Jaxson V. won his second O-Cup race this year taking first in the Grade C Boys category, with Jacob K and Ben G. both finishing in the top ten.  The Grade C Boys category was one of the largest categories with 33 riders.  Matthew P. took bronze in the Grade B Boys’ category with fellow riders Jordan M. and Matthew M. finishing 5th and 8th.  Vanessa M. took first place in the Junior Sport Women category with Maria M. finishing 5th.  Alex S., Jeff S. and Coach Kyle represented NCCH in the Master Sport Men categories.  Not even a crash could slow Coach Amy, who finished 4th in the Master A Expert Women category.  Mathis L. Antoine B. and River W. all finished in the top 10 in the Cadet Expert Boys category.  In another strong showing, Charles B. took first in the Junior Expert Men category, with Brady S. and Logan C. finishing in the top 10.  Sophie B. finished on the podium taking 3rd in Junior Expert Women category.  In the Master B Expert Men category Coach Cyril represented NCCH. A special mention goes out to Mark S., the father of Charlie S., and Paul C., the father of Logan C. who finished 2nd in the Master B Expert Men’s category. We may have to get them in NCCH colours in the future.
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Shout out to Peter Glassford, who coached several of our athletes at the recent Mansfield Training event, Peter finished 3rd in the Senior Elite Men category.  Congratulations to all the riders who competed, your hard work is paying off and everyone at NCCH is very proud of you all.  Thanks to all the Parents, NCCH Lead Coaches, Volunteer Coaches and helpers, parents, race organizers and officials who made the event a success.

​On May 15, 2022, a small but mighty group of eight (8) NCCH Level C Athletes led by Coach Colin and Coach Ken competed in the Tour of Kincardine Cross Classic where a total of 70 riders took part.
 
It was a good learning experience for Team NCCH-Level C and certainly will include this in our calendar again next year.
 
The course
The 10 km course that Sophie Gillis competed in was a good course for anyone wanting to have a fun learning experience. Small group of riders and less technical. She really enjoyed the experience.
Sophie Gills - second place in her first race event :)
 
The Long course was a mix of everything; Gravel trails, some road, some grass and a good amount of single track. The single track was pretty challenging in spots as they are mostly used for hiking so lots of tight corners and short challenging climbs. There isn't the flow you get from trails built for dedicated MTB.   Definitely more challenging than an O-cup race or P2A.
 
There were some challenges with the course markings and it was easy to miss turns which caught almost all of us out at one point or another.
 
U17 swept the podium (Rowan Kim 1st, Liam Cheers 2nd, Matti Pirhonen 3rd)
 
The organizers did the best they could with limited volunteers. Matti and Liam volunteered to thank the organizers.
 
Great job Team!
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On May 2, 2022, Hamilton Police Service officers Scott Hamilton and Scott Moore, aka "the Scott's" attended the road training session to educate our Athletes on road safety.  It was a great opportunity for our Athletes to interact one on one with local police officers and for our riders to show off the fruit of their hard work and some of the skills they have mastered during training to "the Scott's".  From the amount of laughs and smiles when the riders returned to the centre the event was a great success.  The Athletes also learned a valuable life lesson, you can't pick your own nickname.  Thanks to "the Scott's" for joining us and you are both welcome to ride with us anytime.

The Calabogie Classic was the host to the Road O-Cup #2, in Calabogie Ontario.  Our Athletes faced some strong competition but gave it their all and we ended up with some fantastic results.  Vanessa M. took first place in the Elite 3 Women's category, Joe F. took fourth place in the Elite 4 Men's category and Charles B. placed fifth in the Elite 3 Men's category.  Great job to all the riders that represented NCCH and thanks to Cyril the Lead Coach at this event.
 

​The 2022 mountain bike O-Cup season kicked off May 1, 2022 at Woodnewton, hosted by Superfly Racing.  The 2022 season saw a return to mass start racing and introduced ability based categories for our younger competitors and those new to racing.  The new categories A, B, C, D and E replace the previously used Minime and Peewee categories.  The use of ability based categories was a bit of a topic for debate but let's reserve judgement for a few races and see how it goes.  
 
The weekend started off with a pre-ride of the course on Saturday, follow-up by an impromptu team swim and dinner, highlighted by team waterslide bobsledding and an epic belly flop by Jacob K.  Thanks to Brett for booking the hotel, it turned into a great team building event for those that were able to attend.  
 
Sunday saw a return to racing with 25 NCCH youth riders in attendance, as well as Coach'/Parent's Fred, Dave, Alex and Jeff representing NCCH on the race course.  The weekend was a great success and we had lots of riders in the top 10 in their categories.  Jaxson V., Addison M, Sophie B, Logan B and Leighton U. all represented NCCH on the podium.  Congratulations to all our riders, keep up the hard work.  Thanks to all the coaches and parents who came out to support all our athletes.  Special shout out to Paul Cobham, Logan's dad who took first place in the Master B Expert Mens category.  Maybe the team can convince him to wear NCCH colours in the future as well.  
 
As always thanks to the event organizers, race officials and volunteers that made the event a success.