Pan Am Track Racing
It was a podium-filled day for young Canadian track athletes on the first day of racing.
On the first day of racing at the 2010 Junior Pan-American Championships in Mexico City, the Canadian team placed three athletes on the podium.
Alex Cataford (Ottawa, ON) took home the silver medal in the 25 kilometer Points race, sprinting across the finish line with a total 38 points. In the Points race, there are sprints every 10 laps, where the first four riders to cross the finish line accumulate points. At the end of the 25 kilometers, the rider with the most points wins. Mexico’s Cristian Alejandro Medina won the event, scoring 50 points.
The silver medal performance by Cataford is in large part due to the dragging efforts of his teammate Patrick McGinley (Oakville, ON), who carried him all the way to the final sprint.
In the 2km Individual Pursuit Allison Beveridge (Calgary, AB) defeated her Chilean opponent by setting a time of 2 minutes 28.6 seconds to capture the bronze medal.
In the Team Sprint, the Canadians represented by Daniel McKenzie-Picot (London, ON), Scott Mulder (Vancouver, BC) and Kristofer Ovsenek (London, ON) qualified in fourth but came back strong to win the Bronze medal dual, defeating the older and more experienced Chilean team.
In the Women’s 500m Time Trial race Florence Laplante-Lamarche (Ottawa, ON) finished fifth with a time of 37.695 seconds, just ahead of her teammate Audrey Labrie (Prévost, QC) who came in sixth with a sprint of 37.945 seconds. Mexico’s Luz Daniela Gaxiola took home the gold by posting the fastest time of 36.024 seconds.
