The USA Cycling Development Foundation has announced the annual Centerof Excellence Awards, and dividing the $20,000 in cash awards areseveral familiar names, including the Arizona based Team Nova, theOrlando Road Club, Team Swift from Santa Rosa, California, Rad Racing out ofWashington State, Rocky Mountain Cycling Education Foundation, NorthernCalifornia High School Racing League and the Seattle based NorthwesternCycling Center. These outstanding local and regional athlete developmentprograms focus on junior and U23 riders with well-organized efforts thatconform to the Center of Excellence model.

Team Nova placed eight riders on the podium and won four NationalChampionships at the 2004 USA Cycling National Mountain BikeChampionships in Mammoth, California. A Foundation Center of Excellencewinner for the last three years, Team Nova had 17 young participants atthe race, and continues to grow as a development program for youngriders in the southwestern states. Nova supports close to 100 junior andU23 riders from a six-state region, and focuses much of their energy onpreparation for competition in NORBA National Mountain Bike Seriesevents.

In 2002 Team Nova began promoting the NOVA Desert Classic bike race atthe McDowell State Park northeast of Phoenix. This three-day mountainbike stage race is a key fundraiser for the Nova operation, and willactually be a stop on the NORBA national series in spring of 2005. TheDesert Classic also has a nice cash purse for the junior participants inthe overall omnium.

Orlando Road Club has also consistently produced results from agrass-roots effort of developing junior and U23 riders into nationallycompetitive bike racers. With an annual road omnium and Lance ArmstrongJunior Olympic Series (LAJORS) event hosted by the club, a progressivesystem for developing young riders through coaching, USA Cyclingdevelopment camps and a high level of race support nationally andinternationally, Orlando Road Club is one of the most organized roaddevelopment programs in the country. The "ORC" junior and U23 ridersmade the podium eight times this year at national championship andinternational events.

The Center of Excellence grants are awarded annually to teams whichfocus on development at the junior and U23 age group level and meetcertain strict criteria with respect to organization and mission.$60,000 in grants have been awarded since the program inception toclubteams in Florida, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, California,Washington, Georgia and Maryland. For more information on how to donateto this and other Foundation supported programs, please visitwww.usacdf.org.