Cycling club get multi-sport talent injection

Practicing twice weekly, the Sudbury Cycling Club (SCC) continues to attract a small but staunch group of ardent cyclists to the Delki Dozzi Track. Yet it is the introduction of more and more multi-sport athletes that might well be the key to the long-term viability of the SCC.

Twenty-year-old Devin Wittig fits that bill. Already an accomplished runner, Wittig finished third in his age classification at the Toronto Yonge Street 10 km race in April, posting an impressive time of 32:19. Now, the Timmins native is targeting a competitive future in both the duathlon and the triathlon.

He has moved to the area, increasing his training regimen with coach Buddy Green and the Northern Ontario Triathlon Squad. Having participated in the Subaru Muskoka 5051 Triathlon last month, Wittig was back in training mode this week, working diligently to bring his secondary sports on par with his outstanding running skills.

“My bike is about a year behind my run and my swim is about two and a half years behind,” Wittig said. “But I'm able to compete with the better guys in the world in my age group in the duathlon.”

With this in mind, the Lakehead University student is focusing heavily, at least for now, on the run and the bike.

“I need to be with a group like the cycling club,” he said. “Triathletes will never be as strong as pure cyclists. These guys push me. It's a well coached group here and a very safe track.”

Already, he has found the benefit of meeting up with fellow SCC members at the local track.

“Cycling, I have found, is a lot of learning how to pick your line and learning how to spin,” Wittig said. In preparation for the 2013 World U23 Duathlon Championships in Ottawa, he maintains a busy schedule, to say the least.

Wittig will sandwich a visit back home to Timmins on July 14th, taking part in the Heart of Gold Triathlon, between a pair of races in Huronia and Belwood.

Over time, he looks to tap into the extensive swim background of coach Green, an elite swimmer with the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club for more than a decade, in order to close the gap on the triathlon circuit.

In other news with the Triathlon Squad, Sault Ste Marie native Aron Mohammadi has moved a step closer to qualifying for the Canada Summer Games later this summer in Sherbrooke. Triathlon Ontario has named Mohammadi among a short-list of eight triathletes vying for a berth in the Games which run from Augsut 2nd to the 17th.