Rusty Chain Projects call it a day

The management company behind Canadian Continental squad Symmetrics, Rusty Chain Projects Inc, has announced it will not run a squad in 2009. Symmetrics announced it would cease its sponsorship of the team at season's end, however Rusty Chain Projects' Mark and Kevin Cunningham have been unable to find a replacement sponsor, faced with a difficult economic climate in North America.

"We've been searching for a new title sponsor since Christmas," said Kevin. "We've had some positive discussions and some near misses. But at this time we do not have the right partner in place to move forward with the team in 2009.

"We are continuing to search for a new title sponsor in hopes of reactivating the team 2010 and beyond," he added. "We let our riders know during the Tour of Missouri that we wouldn't put the team on the road next year."

In the past five years the team won 12 Canadian National Championships (road and time trial) with a staggering 25 championship medals, won more than 180 races and has been ranked in the top three teams in the UCI America Tour for the past three seasons. This year the team achieved one of its long-term goals of building Olympians-sending Svein Tuft and Zach Bell to the Olympic Games where they each had remarkable seventh place finish.

"We could put the team on the road again next year," Kevin added. "But we wouldn't be moving towards our long-term goals. It's better for us to stop the team while we search for the elusive title sponsor who is the right strategic fit."