Annie Foreman-Mackey top Canadian in Commonwealth Games ITT
Canadian track athletes transition to road competitons on the Gold Coast
Annie Foreman-Mackey was Canada’s top finisher in the Commonwealth Games individual time trial on Australia’s Gold Coast as the cycling competition transitioned from the boards to the road. Last week, the former Canadian road national champion earned a bronze medal with the women’s team pursuit. All the Canadian cyclists competing against the clock also raced track.
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The women’s course was 25.5 km with two climbs on the course one of which had slopes of 10 per cent. The men raced for 38 km against the clock.
Australians won both gold medals with Katrin Garfoot and Cameron Meyer taking top honours on home soil. Foreman-Mackey sat in the hot seat before being bumped down to seventh after the 19 women had completed the time trial.
“I’m pretty happy with my ride,” said Foreman-Mackey. “It’s my first time trial of the year, and you have to see where you are at. I’m pleased with how I paced my ride; I was trying to ride controlled for the first 11 km leading into the climb,” Foreman-Mackey explained. “We’ve been training for a shorter effort, so it felt a little long today, but I’m pleased with this as a starting point that I can build on during the season.
“We had some wind and some rain, and you just had to keep your head up and be ready for everything. It was amazing on every climb; they were lined with people and they somehow knew my name! On the final straight it was pretty amazing to hear the crowds,” Foreman-Mackey said about the atmosphere out on course. “I even got to spend a little time in the hot seat, my first time doing that!”
Jay Lamoureux was the top Canadian in the men’s competition finishing 14th out of 56 starters.
“I think I was able to ride pretty consistently. I was going for riding a certain wattage, and I executed quite nicely. I had better legs than I thought I would after the four days of track racing. I had no expectations on a placing, so I’m overjoyed with 14th,” Lamoureux said then echoing Foreman-Mackey about the crowd out on course. “The crowds were great, yelling ‘Go Canada’, and a lot of people were even yelling ‘Go Jay’, which was really cool.”
Other Canadian results from the day included Derek Gee placing 18th and Adam Jamieson in 43rd in the men’s race. Ariane Bonhomme was 13th and Steph Roorda was 14th in the women’s competition.
