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Thank you very much to Orienteering Ottawa for presenting the Ottawa Sports Pages’ XC Week! Orienteering is like cross-country running, with a few extra exciting twists and turns. Find out about the adventure that awaits you here.
By Dan Plouffe
Carter de Veer was the top Grade 11 runner in the senior boys’ field at the national capital high school cross-country running championships on Oct. 23 at the Hornets Nest, but as the fifth-place finisher, he somewhat discreetly disguises the reality that he’s likely the best athlete of the bunch.
Make no mistake, de Veer is an excellent runner, but the Merivale High School student is an even better cyclist, and he recently signed with one of the best teams in the world.
After a season that included seven U17 national track cycling titles and a Canadian U17 road cycling crown, plus wins and standout performances in his first foray into European racing, de Veer was recruited to join the U19 development program for Team Bahrain Victorious.
The 16-year-old is still digesting the fact that he’ll soon be wearing the colours of the renowned UCI World Tour team, which is ranked within the top-10 in the world and competes in the sport’s biggest events such as the Tour de France.
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“It’s pretty amazing. It’s, like, honestly, really surprising. I’m super stoked,” smiles de Veer, who’s also got his eye on racing for the Canadian junior team at the 2026 World Championships in Montreal. “The best thing that could have happened to me this year was getting scouted by this team. I think it’ll open up a bunch of opportunities for next year. I’ll get to travel to Europe and do a bunch of races, and hopefully show the Canada colours.”
De Veer will join many other top young riders from around the globe at Bahrain Victorious’s home base in Belgium for two blocks of over two months in 2026 while racing all over Europe.
He’ll be overseas from March until May, then he’ll return home and finish his school year, and head back from July and August.
It’s a somewhat daunting endeavour for the teenager. He’ll be moving away from family, on his own for the first time in Europe, and there aren’t any other Canadian riders he knows on the team either.
But de Veer has shown good leadership and independence, and he’s renowned for his cooking abilities – a trait he inherited from his father Craig, who joined the Canadian group during its tour last summer as athletic therapist (or soigneur in cycling language).
Read More: Dad’s backing helps fuel Carter de Veer to multiple national cycling crowns
“It’s amazing getting to experience new cultures,” de Veer highlights. “And the cycling over there is way bigger, the community is way bigger. There’s just so many people watching and the environment is just really cool.”
With opportunities to race among the planet’s best young cyclists on the horizon, you might not expect to find de Veer competing in high school cross-country running. But the 2023 novice and 2024 junior boys’ city champion says it’s a compliment to his cycling pursuits, particularly for cyclocross races, which are held on primarily grass courses.
“In cyclocross, there’s a lot of running involved, especially if there’s sand or something, you have to run through the sand. So cross-country really helps with the running part, and also it helps with your aerobic capacity, and just being able to push through hard mental times,” indicates de Veer, who recently won an Eastern Ontario cyclocross series race over past senior national road cycling champion Matteo Dal-Cin, who he’s enjoyed getting to know through local Tuesday night criterium races as well.
“When you’re in your off-season, you don’t really want to be biking a lot,” de Veer adds. “You want to take a break from those muscles. So running kind of works those muscles that weren’t working during the road cycling season.
“It’s just a good time, and a good balance.”
Despite being sad that no fellow runners from Merivale will be racing with him at OFSAA on Nov. 1 in Brampton, de Veer was still very satisfied with his performance at the cross-country city finals and is excited to race at the XC provincials for a third year in a row.
“I didn’t have too much expectations (for city finals) because I was like eighth in the west conference,” de Veer reflects. “Legs were just good today and I paced it pretty well.
“I didn’t go out too, too hard, saving it mostly for the end. And then I gave it one good kick through the forest and a huge one at the end.”
De Veer covered the six-kilometre course in 20:01.4 to finish within 53 seconds of Hillcrest champion Charlie Mortimer, who won two dozen years after another Hillcrest Hawk won a gold medal on the same Hornets Nest site at OFSAA XC 2001. That runner was Mike Woods, who went on to have a storied cycling career, including stage wins at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, a world championships medal and three Olympic appearances.
De Veer, who finished 37th at OFSAA last year, is unlikely to match Woods’ accomplishments on feet, but his rising career on wheels will certainly be one worth following.
The Ottawa Sports Pages will be posting race-by-race recaps and photo galleries each weekday leading into the Nov. 1 OFSAA XC Championships. Find them all on our XC Week webpage, presented by Orienteering Ottawa.