Local Racing Series

Take a look at the wide range of skinny tire racing on the road, track as well as a TT series!

Related Notes & Updates

Some timely notes of particular interest:

• Aug 2nd: BC Champs and 2024 Nat Champs for Track updated
• July 26th: Track dates updated, not Observatory HC likely changing dates
• June 2nd update: Track race dates added
• June 1st update: VCL schedule has changed a bit, BC Crit Champs added

Road Racing

The staple of Victoria’s road scene is the VCL (Victoria Cycling League), traditionally with a few dozen races from April thru July. There’s typically other feature races or mini series as well. Below is their draft schedule, keep an eye on their site for last minute changes we may miss here.

Also in July we can likely expect another edition of the Victoria Cycling Festival, last year the three-day event featured a short and technical TT in North Saanich, a hilly road race in Metchosin, and a crit around the Legislature (which was also the Provincial Crit Champs.) Rumour has it the weekend of July 15th, we’ll update this section when we have more details!

Below are the local race dates, note most are VCL unless otherwise marked.

March

Sun, Mar 19 – North Saanich Kermesse
Sun, Mar 26 – North Saanich Kermesse

April

Sun, Apr 2 – Willis Pt Hill Climb (Strava based)
Sun, Apr 9 – Cobble Hill Road Race
Sun, Apr 16 – Central Saanich Crit (new course!)
Wed, Apr 19 – Caleb Pike Road Race
Sun, Apr 23 – North Saanich Kermesse
Tue, Apr 25 – Sidney TT – cancelled
Wed, Apr 26 – Velodrome/Track
Sun, Apr 30 – Caleb Pike Road Race

May

Sun, May 7 – Neild Rd Hill Climb (Strava based)
Wed, May 10 – Caleb Pike Road Race
Sat, May 13 – Cherry Point Road Race – changed to Metchosin RR
Sun, May 14 – Windsor Park Crit – cancelled
Tue, May 16 – Sidney TT
Wed, May 17 – Newton Heights Hilly Road Race
Wed, May 24 – Velodrome/Track

June

Wed, Jun 7 – Central Saanich Seabrook Crit (new course!)
Sun, Jun 11 – PKOLS/Mt. Doug Hill Climb – updated: now Windsor Park Crit
Wed, Jun 14 – Newton Heights Hilly Road Race
Sun, Jun 18 – Windsor Park Crit – updated: now PKOLS / Mt. Doug Hill Climb (Strava-based)
Tue, Jun 20 – Sidney TT
Sun, Jun 25 – Metchosin Road Race – changed to Cherry Pt
Wed, Jun 28 – Caleb Pike Road Race

July

Mon, Jul 3 – Windsor Park Crit – appears cancelled
Wed, Jul 5 – Newton Heights Hilly Road Race
Sun, Jul 9 – UPDATED! Windsor Park Crit
Sun, Jul 16 – Maple Bay Road Race – confirmed: BC Crit Champs at the Legislature (non-VCL)
Tue, Jul 18 – Sidney TT
Wed, Jul 26 – North Saanich Kermesse
Sun, Jul 30 – Observatory Hill Climb (Strava-based, currently the final VCL event) NOTE: Observatory Rd closed on Sundays due to fire hazards, event like to be rescheduled or cancelled, watch this space for updates.

August

Sun, Aug 8 – Sidney TT (non-VCL)
Sun, Aug 22 – Sidney TT (non-VCL)

 

VCL Course Maps (Strava, for location reference):

Caleb Pike | Central Saanich Crit | Cherry Point RR | Cobble Hill | Neild Rd HC | Newton Height Hilly Crit
North Saanich Kermesse | Sidney TT Lap | Willis Pt HC | Windsor Park | Latoria (retired) | Western Speedway (retired)

Up-island in Nanaimo MIVA have regular TTs and crits, check out their busy calendar here!

On the mainland, coming up fast we have:

• The Spring Openers series starting March 5h by Local Ride and there are three more in the series, if you’re itching for racing and willing to travel!
• The Spring Series has two events, April 8th & 23rd, organized by Escape Velocity
• Also of note, the Delta road race is July 9th (website wasn’t working), July 12th the Gastown Grand Prix, and hopefully more for BC Superweek.

2023 BC Provincial Championships

• Prov. Road Champs – May 21st in Langley organized by the Thrashers
• Prov. TT Champs – May 22nd in Langley organized by the Thrashers
• Prov. Crit Champs – July 16th here in Victoria around the Legislature by Panache

2023 Canadian National Championships

• Nat. Road & TT Champs – Jun 23-26th, Elite, Jr, Para in Edmonton, AB, details here.
• Nat. Road & TT Champs – Jun 29 – July 2nd, Masters in St. Georges, PQ, details here.

Time Trials

The Sidney Velo TT series has been a Tuesday regular for decades, thank you to the Sidney Velo club for hosting this event so long! Here you can enjoy the past glory of results on their site.

For 2023 Jon Watkin is organizing the series through Panache Sports, there are several Tuesday dates (see the VCL schedule above!) Registration and details in the link.

Track Racing

The local velodrome, built for the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games, is a 333m outdoor track with 29 degree banking – it makes for fun, fast and safe racing! It’s at the Juan de Fuca Rec Centre, and typically operates from April thru September, with weekly training sessions, a few larger events like Trackfest and Provincial Champs, and possibly weekly racing. Check out the GVVA for more details. (PS – let me know if you’ve seen my Argon 18 race bike!!)

• Weekly racing: Friday nights thru end of August
• Track Fest 1: Jun 23-25
• Pacific GP: Jul 28-29 – currently being rescheduled, likely Aug 18-20
• Track Fest 2: Aug 18-20

2023 Provincial Championships

• In Burnaby, December 15-17, happy ho ho!

2023 National Championships

• Nat. Track Champs – March 31st – April 2nd, in Bromont, PQ, details here. 2024 Champs are Jan 5-7th.