April 17/11 15:50 pm - Canada Misses Omnium Gold at Junior Pan Am Championships

Posted by Editoress on 04/17/11
 

Team Manager Rob Good has sent the following update:

What a tough day of track racing for Team Canada at the Junior Pan American Championships in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Saturday.  We did win a Silver medal, however, the colour of the medal and the spot on the podium was not the position that we wanted.

In the women's competition, Allison Beveridge from Calgary won four of six events, including the final three events on Saturday.  This was not enough to over come a disastrous Elimination race from Friday night, and Allison had to suck it up and stand next to Ingrid Drexel (Mexico) on the podium. Allison said "this will not happen at Junior Worlds ... I'm going to win the Gold ... I'm really not happy at all."  The silver medal was little consolation.

On the men's side, Alex Cataford was a marked rider, as all the South American teams sat on his wheel and continued to attack him during the Scratch Race, which meant his eighth place finish sealed his fate in the Omnium.  Even with a third place finish in the last event (Kilo), Alex finished just off the podium in fourth.

Audrey Labrie (Montreal) competed in the Keirin and finished eighth.

Today [Sunday] the competition switches to the road and seven riders from Canada are entered in the 60 kilometre race for women and 120 kilometre race for the men.