Kabush strives for a clean sport
Sports
Posted By Shawn Slaght
Posted 1 month ago
By Shawn Slaght
Canmore Leader
World-class cross-country mountain biker Geoff Kabush spoke to young racers Friday at the Canmore Nordic Centre about the Canadian Cycling Association's new initiative to promote riding without performance enhancing drugs, Race Clean: Own Your Victory.
Kabush, a native of Courtenay, B.C., has a long list of accomplishments starting with national titles as a junior. His first title came when he was 18-years-old in Nova Scotia in 1995. He now holds eight national titles.
"I played all the other sports and I try to encourage riders to try other things," Kabush said. "As long as you are building up endurance and having lots of fun you have time to figure out what you want to pursue."
He has competed in two Olympics, placing ninth at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 20th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Kabush broke the record for the most US National Series wins in 2009 and that same year he won his first World Cup event in Bromont, Que. He finished fifth in the 2009 World Championships.
Since then he has had nine World Cup podiums, holds the record for most US National Series short track cross-country championships and is tied for the most ever US National Series cross-country championships.
But starting in the mid-90s, Kabush said, doping was rampantly taking place in the world of mountain biking.
"Luckily I had some good role models, it was slowly developing and progressing in the sport," he said.
Although he had never directly been offered to use performance enhancing drugs, Kabush said there were teams that asked him to join because they "had doctors that could help me."
He said this initiative is out there to give young riders the confidence to strive for success while racing clean. For him, doping ruined the sport.
"I personally had motivation for a clean sport because it isn't all about winning for me and it ruined the whole reason why I was in the sport," he said.
On a positive note, though, Kabush feels that doping is part of the "older generation" of riders and the sport is slowly starting to become clean again.
He now carries that message every where he goes and carries it on his back as he wears the Race Clean: Own Your Victory slogan on his race bib.
One of the messages he wanted to spread to the junior racers was not to worry about where you finish, but go out on the course and have fun. He mentioned as well that it is a tough transition out of junior racing so just go out and have fun.
"Don't worry about the end results right now," Kabush said. "It is a long-term sport and you just want to make sure that you are having fun. Success certainly doesn't come over night."
The example he gave was going to the world championships in Germany in his final year as a junior rider. It was a sprint finish where he placed 99th. Now he is one of the top riders in Canada.
More information about Race Clean: Own Your Victory can be found at the Canadian Cycling Association's website at www.canadian-cycling.com.
shawn@canmoreleader.com
Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.
Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.
