Tristen Chernove, born and raised in Powell River, has become a world cycling champion.
At his first international competition, the 2016 Union Cycliste Internationale Para-cycling Track World Championships from March 17 to March 20 in Montichiari, Italy, Chernove won two gold medals in individual pursuit and kilo events. Aided by his performance, Canada’s para-cycling team is now ranked seventh in the world.
Chernove’s mother Malerie Meeker, who lives in Lund, was able to watch his first gold-medal race via streaming. “It was very exciting,” she said, adding jokingly, “I almost blew a gasket.”
Six years ago, Chernove was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, a disorder that affects the nervous system. The degenerative disease causes symptoms similar to muscular dystrophy. Chernove said he thinks his lifelong passion for sport and exercise has helped to slow the symptoms of CMT.
“I chose to take up cycling for a few reasons,” he said. “But mainly because when I realized the type of neuropathy I have would be degenerating my legs first and, most all, I thought I’d better get into a sport that’s going to make my legs as strong as possible and try to counteract the symptoms as much as I can.”
CMT is the most common hereditary neuropathy in the world. Chernove said he believes the science is almost there to find a cure and he continues to raise money for research, with a goal of $10,000.
Chernove might be a new arrival on the international para-cycling scene, but it is not his first time on the world podium. Before becoming a world-class cyclist, he competed in paddle sport, earning two world gold medals, one silver and two bronze. The 40-year old’s rise in competitive para-cycling and his performance at the world championships has been a positive blur, according to his personal coach, Guillaume Plourde.
“Ending up with not one, but two world champion titles wasn’t that much expected,” Plourde said.
Chernove agrees, to a point.
“I don’t tend to dabble in things much,” he said. “If I’m in, I’m all in and I want to go as far as I can in the direction my focus is on at the time.”
Chernove and his family live in Cranbrook, BC, but his ties to Powell River remain strong. His mother, stepfather, and sister’s family live in the region as do his wife Carrie’s parents, sister and her sister’s family. The couple and their two daughters also have a vacation house in Lund.
His favourite memories of growing up in Powell River, he said, were of the days taken off from school to go fishing with his dad, when connecting with nature and each other was needed more than another day in the classroom.
“Being from Powell River has everything to do with who and how I am in the world,” he said. “But it’s not due to the physical geography of the place, but the people in that place who were part of forming me. I am a reflection of the friends I grew up with and my family, who happen to be some of the best people and brightest spirits on earth.”
Chernove will now prepare for the best athletes in the world. In September, he will be racing for Canada at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a world champion para-cyclist, he receives an automatic selection to Rio and, he hopes, to the 2020 games in Tokyo, Japan.
“It’s the beginning of something huge for Tristen,” said Plourde. “He is still on a steep learning curve and we can only be optimistic that with more experience the results are going to be even better.”
