Preston Street on TV at the Prescott, June 30th

click photo to check out CAM CAM's great Preston shots on Flikr

WORLD PREMIERE EVENT!

It's a go at the Prescott Hotel (Preston at Beech) for Thursday June 30 to watch the 2011 Preston Street Elite Men's race on Rogers Cable 22. Kris Westwood has completed the voice-over and assures us that the action caught by the eight cameras including two on bike handlebars was very exciting.

The room is downstairs and we'll have it to ourselves. There are about 6 TV screens. Pizza/snacks can be purchased and of course there's beer. 

The room is limited to 105 people. If there is overflow, the Prescott will tune other TVs on the main floor to Rogers 22.

Doors open at 6:30. Please arrive in time to finish eating by 7:30. At that time, we want to acknowledge all the key people who helped make the event a great success.

Showtime 8:00 pm.

Entry fee: donation to NCR Cycling Bursary (coordinated by Doug Corner, Kris Westwood and Ross Knight).

Preston results, pictures and videos

Results from Preston Street Criteriums 2011 are posted at the Ontario Cycling Assocition website.

Photos of the Masters 2-3 event by Kevin Nelson.

Peter in action. click to view Kevin's photos.

Preston Street 2011, by Brian S.

Racer's eye view of Preston Street Criterium, by Kris Westwood

Preston Street 2011 podiums

Today was a great day for bicycle racing in Ottawa. Check back for results, photos and other stuff.

Women's podium. click for bigger image.

Men's podium. click for bigger image.

2011 Preston St. bike race preview

Update on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 3:44PM by admin

Prime time!

News from Kris Westwood: Watch the Preston St. Criterium broadcast on Rogers 22 on Thursday, June 30, at 8 pm.  It might get re-broadcast later as well.

Preston picture contest

The Preston Street Crit is approaching fast and the big change this year will be the Rogers TV coverage of the men's Senior 1,2, Master 1 race at 3:00 pm. We encourage everybody to bring bells, flags, whistles etc and add to the show that the riders will provide. It would be great if the stretch from the last turn at Aberdeen to the finish line at Norman was filled with fans trying to give the cameras even more to see.

So here's a contest to get the spirit of the event going. The challenge is to identify these legs. Of course they are racing Preston and the second part is: who won the race that year?

We know that everybody is getting ready for the Thursday TT and Rideau Lakes so to give everybody time, we'll start taking responses at noon on Monday June 13 to info@bikeraceottawa.com. First correct answers will win. And sorry, but since the leg guys are more likely than anybody to know the details, we'll have to exclude you this time. All bribes will be welcomed and will be added to the prime list for the race. A real prize will be given to the winner of this contest along with the priceless recognition on ottawabikes.ca.

click for bigger version

Update on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 2:38PM by admin

Winner!

Andrew Lees was first in with the following:

The legs are Warren MacDonald and Aaron Fillion. The winner that year (2006) was Damian Kurzawinski. Derrick St. John was second. Damian crashed once and flatted once. It was an epic hot hot day.

Thanks to Warren and Aaron for lending us their legs and MyWeddingPhotographer.com for a great picture

Doug

Preston Street up next on June 19th 2011

Preston Street Bicycle Races is coming soon! Download the technical guide here (1.3mb, pdf).

photo by My Wedding Photographer. click to visit Preston St 2010 photoset

Preston Street news

click for bigger. photo by My Wedding PhotographerLooks like the Bikerace Ottawa team of Carlo Dal-Cin, David Bilenkey, Jon Gee and Doug Corner have kicked the 39th Annual Preston Street Bicycle Races up a notch.

Bikerace Ottawa is excited to announce that the premier event at the 2011 Preston Street Bicycle races, the Elite Men/Master 1 category, will be televised on Rogers Ottawa TV. Stationary and mobile cameras will capture all the excitement around the entire 1.0 km course in Ottawa' s Little Italy.

Racers will come to Ottawa from across Ontario and Quebec to compete for the first prize of $1000.There will be expert commentary plus pre and post race interviews of key racers. We'll catch all the sprint laps and the unique presentation of the winner getting his weight in Italian products. 

The Preston Street races are part of the Ottawa Little Italy Festival and the entire weekend of June 17, 18,and 19 will be full of activities. The Preston Street Criteriums are set for June 19, 2011,The street will be decorated for the Festival and all the restaurants will extend their patios to provide a welcoming atmosphere.

More details will be posted in the coming weeks.

Contact: info@bikeraceottawa.com

Preston Street 2010 pictures

click to see Preston 2010 picturesMy Wedding Photographer has recently posted over 900 fantastic photographs from all of the events from Preston Street 2010. If you ever need a professional photographer, make sure you talk to Kevin & Renee Pellerine.

ottawabikes would like to acknowledge and thank Kevin & Renee for their generous contributions to our site. We use Kevin's images for ottawabikes banner pictures. He has great eye for intriguing perspectives and there are a lot on display. Doug Corner from Bike Race Ottawa, organizer of Preston Street says that he particularly likes the reflections on the wet roads during the kids events.

Doug continues to say of the 2011 edition, "stay tuned for an announcement of something quite different for Preston Street this year. And no, it's not a guarantee of dry roads."

more details and photos from recent events

wheelers and cyclery riders do battle at preston st. photo by Gilles MonvoisinLoyal readers Brent and Gilles submitted two items about recent events.

The first from Brent is about a junior rider competing at the Pan Am Junior Track Championships:

Audrey Labrie is not from Ottawa but when your talking about the World Championships I think all Canadian ears should perk up. Audrey Placed second at the junior worlds in Mexico for the full story and pics visit http://www.piste.ca/joomla/.

Also, Gilles has posted links to all his Flikr pics from the Grande Visite Gatineau weekend and Preston Street crits:

• Grande Visite Gatineau men's and women's time trials
• Grande Visite Gatineau men's criterium
• Grand Prix Gatineau UCI Road Race
• Preston Street criteriums

Thanks guys for your contributions!

Preston Street Races- June 20, 2010, by Doug Corner

click for bigger. photo courtesy www.cyclingphotos.ca/There are so many stories that come out of a day of racing and we want to highlight a few.

We were required to place more volunteers and more barricades around the course this year. It took more time to get the numbers together but we received an excellent response from the cycling community. A big thank you to all those that helped between 9: 00 am and 5:00 pm. with the many tasks that have to be carried out, both around the course and at the Start/Finish area. This includes the announcers, prime coordinators, race timing/lap cards, marshals, street captains, food distribution etc.

This year, we were required to remove all cars from all locations around the circuit and this process took longer then we expected. It caused a delay of 30 minutes for the first race and this delay carried through to the rest of the races. Next year, we’ll start the process earlier.

photo courtesy Bernard DurandFor the third year in a row, wet roads created very difficult riding conditions in the Master 2,3 Men race, the Kids race, and the Womens’ race. We shortened the Master 2,3 race in an attempt to avoid the rain but the timing did not work out.

This year, with the help of Rob McClure of the Ottawa Bicycle Club we expanded the age categories of the Kids races. Total participation went from about 30 last year to about 60 this year. A great success. Osmond Bakker continued his great work with the kids aged 7 and under. All this took place during the worst of the rain but the kids handled the conditions very well. A credit to the skills they are being taught in the Learn To Race program.

Click to read more ...

Preston Street results

click for bigger. photo courtesy www.cyclingphotos.ca/Preston Street race results are in (PDF, 25kb) and we are waiting for a full report from Doug Corner and others.

In the meantime, check out Jon Safka's photos (cyclingphotos.ca) of the elite/master 1 men and elite women, senior 3 and master men. They're really great! Sharon and others have submitted some photos to our photo gallery.

The Ottawa Sun has a good feature on the event, Bike racers take over Little Italy. Check it out, there are some sweet pictures there too.

Preston Street race report, by Matteo Dal-cin

click for bigger. Andre Lattimore and Matteo on the attack with 30mins to go.OK, so I snagged this from Matteo Dal-Cin's blog with his permission. Thanks Matteo - great ride, making us proud. 

Today was the 38th annual running of the Preston St. Criterium, one of the most prestigious and well paying races in Ontario or Quebec. The Senior field of 70 or so riders took the start around 4:00 in the afternoon after some rain early in the afternoon and crashes in the women’s race delayed the start.

The race started out aggressively with La Bicicletta, Garneau, and Ride with Rendall attacking multiple times trying not to miss out on the early move which would leave them with the job of pulling the pack back up to the break. Between the incentive of the $1000 for the win and intermediate sprints along the way no one really got a gap worth mentioning.

Click to read more ...

Preston Street Criterium this weekend!

click to download technical guide

Tonight is the Bill Patterson Memorial Crit at the NRC. This event is organized by Doug Corner of BRO.

Preston Street Crit is coming up this weekend too! Should be a great event.

The Technical Guide for the June 20th 2010, or 38th running of the Preston Street Criterium is available for download here (PDF, 1.7mb)

Check out the BRO website for more details about Preston Street.

bike race ottawa updates

Doug Corner over at Bike Race Ottawa sends us some updates about the 2010 Preston Street Criterium and offers some feedback for the organizers of the Dandelion Grand Prix.

Preston Street Criterium

click to download the technical guideThe Technical Guide for the June 20th 2010, or 38th running of the Preston Street Criterium is available for download here (PDF, 1.7mb)

Dandelion Grand Prix

Results are up over at Canadian Cyclist. Here's what Doug had to say about the Dandelion. And consider this: these words are from one who also has the very difficult task of organizing and running races of his own, so you know it is high praise indeed:

The race was run very well and it was unusual to have a long circuit without car issues. This meant that the strong riders could use the crosswinds to their advantage and the "death line" at the edge of the road created the gaps that it was meant to do. The rough part of the road was exactly that but there were no potholes or ruts so speeds in the low 50's were common. Gotta love a tailwind.

Next year, the rough road will be smooth again so it will be even better.

The community was very welcoming and the BBQ on the grass under the trees gave everybody a chance to trade stories. The Bikerace Ottawa podium has been splashed with champagne once again and had I been stopped by police on the way home, I suspect the aroma would have required some extra explanation.

This event is a keeper and hopefully it will lead to an OCup race which has bypassed Eastern Ontario on the calendar.

Great job Ryan and your crew!