Residents of the NWT could be competing in cycling sports at the Canada Games in the not too distant future.
If it happens, it will be due in large part to the efforts of Cycling NWT, a new not-for-profit that aims to elevate the sports of mountain biking and road cycling in the territory.
"We would like to send some athletes to the Canada Games in the future," said Thorsten Gohl, one five board members of the new organization. "We’re looking at how can we develop a team that can participate in future Canada Games."
Cycling sports — particularly mountain biking — have major potential in the NWT, according to Gohl.
"There’s so many bikes out there," he said. “It’s a great sport for the North. We have the beautiful landscapes to definitely make it happen."
Gohl and his colleagues hope to drive interest in the sport throughout the territory, and from there, begin training athletes to compete at the national level.
To make that happen, they will need coaches.
Rather than bring coaches up from the South, Gohl and his colleagues have recently been facilitating Cycling Canada-accredited coaching courses that will prepare participants to train athletes.
Their first round of courses, which were hosted in Yellowknife, Ndilo and Behchoko, had six participants.
Two of those participants — including Gohl — will continue on with their training to become competition-level coaches.
“I’ve learned a lot," Gohl said. "You need to have the basic skills, the basic techniques. You think ‘you sit on a bike, you go down a hill, and hopefully your brakes work.’ But it’s a little bit more than that.
“You need to understand all these things."
While Gohl hopes Cycling NWT will have a presence at future Canada Games events, that is not all he hopes the organization can accomplish.
Gohl also operates an organization called Physical Literacy NWT, which strives to increase activity levels and build community engagement among residents of the territory.
Promoting sports like mountain biking go hand-in-hand with Physical Literacy NWT's mission.
"The mandate is to get people active," he said. "For us, it's about looking into community development with cycling."
