Juniors and Youth

Youth Programs

Programs for Youth are a key component of the Burnaby Velodrome Club.  The Velodrome offers an ideal venue for young athletes to level up their cycling skills and fitness.  With its year-round, all-weather availability and its 360 sightlines, the track is a safe learning environment away from cars and traffic.  Our friendly and supportive atmosphere offers youth a familiar and consistent ‘home base’ where community thrives.

Young athletes of all levels receive coached instruction and training opportunities at the BVC. From beginners who have never ridden a fixed-gear bicycle before, to advanced athletes preparing for National and International competition, to everything in between – the common denominator is fun! All youth athletes have no-charge access to the BVC’s rental fleet of Felt, Trek, Fuji, and Frog bicycles.  While athletes are encouraged to bring their own helmets if they have them, helmets are available to borrow at no extra charge.  All that is required is basic riding skills; a pair of runners; comfortable shorts or sweat pants; and a positive, can-do attitude.

Photography by Filip Funk

Diversity, Accessibility, & Inclusion

All of this fun flows through our desire to provide the most progressive & accessible youth track cycling program in Canada.  Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, BVC directors approved a policy formalizing the support for programming and funding to support Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) who are underrepresented in our cycling community. This policy required the BVC to actively pursue participation for youth that is representative of the communities we serve. As such, the BVC seeks to identify and remove barriers that limit the participation of racialized and marginalized communities. To this end, we provide no-cost programming to BIPOC youth. Our BIPOC Policy Statement can be found here.

2024 Fall Schedule

Beginner/Intermediate Youth:

Tuesdays 4:30 – 6:00
September 10 – December 10
Fridays 5:00 – 6:00
September 13 (tentative) or September 20 – December 6

These sessions are designed for young cyclists ranging from those who enjoy riding outside but have never ridden the track, to those who have ridden track for a while but are still working towards mastery of riding all sections of the track and are building the endurance necessary for sustained group efforts.

Coaches:
We are super stoked to welcome two talented young women to our coaching crew who will lead the Beginner/Intermediate sessions.

Ngaire Barraclough
Ngaire has successfully competed in multiple international track competitions as a member of Team Canada and brings a wealth of experience to our program.  She has experience coaching young track riders in Edmonton and has been coaching for the local Devo Road Program for the last 2 years. Welcome Ngaire!

Diane Snobelen
Diane is a familiar face at the Burnaby Velodrome as she has been tearing our legs off on Fridays for the past number of years.  Diane has successfully competed at the Elite National level and has a wealth of international track experience as well, having trained and competed in the Netherlands for the past year.  Her coaching background is in Youth Hockey, and she is keen to bring that experience over to the track.  Welcome Diane!

Both Diane and Ngaire have super calm and friendly personalities when they aren’t racing their bikes and will be very welcoming to new riders who might be nervous about trying the track.  They are also excellent ambassadors and role models for young women in sport, if you happen to know of any who might be interested in adding track cycling to their repertoire.  We are always trying to expand our program to make it more representative of our community-at-large.

Advanced Youth:

Wednesdays 5:00 – 6:30
September 11 – December 11

As before, Wednesdays are intended for riders who are skilled at riding in groups, including pacelines.  They have built the endurance necessary for sustained and repeated efforts.  They are typically participating in Friday Night Racing.

Coaches:

Hans Loeffelholz
Hans will be anchoring the Wednesday sessions, providing consistency and structure leading to target events.  Hans is a great asset as a Coach and Coach Developer and is a skilled communicator. Thanks Hans!

Tim Sherstobitoff
We’re also super grateful to have the one-and-only Tim Sherby returning as Performance Coach to work with Hans.  Tim is juggling track coaching with other demands in life but will work to fit as many Wednesday sessions into his schedule as possible. Thanks Tim!

Steph Roorda
Another stalwart of last season and veteran of international racing in track and road, Steph is eager to return to the Wednesday sessions as Coach in 2024/25.  Like Tim, Steph isn’t available for every Wednesday as she balances her coaching work with her career as a firefighter, but will step in as her work schedule allows. Thanks Steph!

Friday Night Racing (FNR)

Fridays 6:30 – 9:00

Our intention is to offer more dedicated youth races to the FNR program in 2024/25.  The Race Director may also combine Youth and Novice Adult categories depending on time and numbers, at their discretion.  More advanced Wednesday athletes may race in the Adult A-B-C categories at the Coach’s discretion.

Coaches:

Ngaire Barraclough (Starting September 27)
Will provide coaching support to U19 and younger athletes who are competing in FNR. While she will be competing herself, she will also be available to provide feedback from observing the races as well as offering tips, strategy, and guidance to youth in the program.  This is a great value-add to the youth membership, so be sure to take advantage of it! Ask questions and listen carefully to what Ngaire has to offer.

Photography by Filip Funk