'Athletes deserve better': 2 Cycling Canada board members resign in response to program cut

Just days after five national cycling team athletes launched an appeal against Cycling Canada to be reinstated for competition, two board members have now resigned from the national sport organization in response to the decision.

Both resignations are effective immediately. Becka Borody is one of the board members who stepped down.

"This was not a decision I made because of one situation. Ultimately, I believe athletes deserve better: greater transparency, better communication, and to feel heard and respected within the system that exists to support them," Borody wrote in a statement to CBC Sports.

"My focus moving forward will be on supporting athletes and the broader cycling community outside of Cycling Canada.

CBC Sports has also learned that Cycling Canada Athletes’ Council members, consisting of twelve athletes, have written a letter to the national sport organization with a number of calls to action.

The letter's main aim is to ask Cycling Canada for reform in the structure, strategy and framework of what the national sport organization calls "high performance," because the athletes feel it is historically and currently ineffective and directionless.

The athletes are also calling for the reinstatement of the women’s pursuit team in the letter.

This all comes in the wake of Cycling Canada’s decision not to send a women’s pursuit team to this year’s world championships, effectively ending their bid to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The men’s pursuit team is unaffected and is on track to compete.

“These athletes are not forlorn. Instead, filing the appeal, they are being even more motivated to train now. With this pressure, the support that they've garnered from the country, from people