More Pan Am Track Medals
Canadians won two silver medals today in Mexico City at the Pan American Track Championships
Two more medals were added to the medal haul for the Canadian athletes racing at the 2010 Junior Pan-American Championships in Mexico City, Mexico.
In the Ladies Team Sprint, Allison Beveridge (Calgary, AB) and Florence Laplante-Lamarche (Ottawa, ON) sprinted to a silver medal performance, stopping the clock at 36.658 just 0.01 of a second behind the golden Mexican team.
Beveridge, Laplante-Lamarche and their teammate Audrey Labrie (Prévost, QC) took home Canada’s second silver medal of the day, this time in the Ladies Team Pursuit, posting a time of 3 minutes 52 seconds. The Mexican team dominated the event to win the gold with a time of 3 minutes 37.139 seconds.
“Despite the lack of practice, we managed to qualify for the finals in second place. We made some technical improvement for the final but in general, the feedback was positive,” said Laplante-Lamarche after the second day of competition. “The challenge was to stay together, especially since the time of the third person is the one that counts, that we managed to accomplish.
Alex Cataford (Ottawa, ON), who won a silver medal in Monday’s points race, finished fourth in the Men’s individual pursuit stopping the clock at 3 minutes 26.942 seconds in the bronze medal dual. Both he and his teammates Patrick McGinley (Oakville, ON) who finished 12th rode personal bests in the race, showing continuous improvement.
In the exciting Keirin race, which can look like a roller derby race, Scott Mulder (Vancouver, BC) dominated the first two rounds to make the finals, but was boxed in by the Mexican and Trinidad Tobago riders and attempted a pass. In the process, he clipped a wheel, forcing him to lose control and to fall hard on the track. As a result of this crash, Mulder will not be racing the 1 kilometer race today but will focus on the sprint competition. In the repechage round, Daniel Mackenzie-Picot (London, ON) missed his qualification to the finals by a mere two inches.
The 2010 Junior Pan-American Championships continue today in Mexico City with Labrie in the sprints, Beveridge and Laplante-Lamarche in the Scratch, and Kristofer Ovsenek (London, ON) and McKenzie-Picot in the kilometre time trial.
