July 11/09 9:04 am - Tour de Delta: Prologue

Posted by Editoress on 07/11/09
 

Brown, kicks off BC Superweek with a Tour de Delta Prologue win

Laura Brown barely missed winning last year's Tour de Delta Prologue, so she wasn't leaving any margin for error when BC Superweek kicked off on Friday night.

Riding for Local Ride Racing, Brown won the women's race at the MK Delta Prologue, finishing the three-kilometre time trial in 4:16, five seconds ahead of Portland's Robin Secrist (Veloforma), and Delta's own Kristine Brynjolfson (Westwood Cycle).

“Last year I lost by half a second to Ruth (Corset of New Zealand-based Jazz Apple Pro Team) so my goal this year was to win,” said Brown, a 22-year-old Calgary native who has been racing out of the West coast of British Columbia for the last four years, and will represent Canada at the Pan Am Championships in Chihuahua, Mexico next week.

Corset was a late scratch from the Tour de Delta after being called to Europe on an Australian National Team project. But Brown left little doubt about her place atop the podium, knocking seven seconds off Corset's winning time from last year's race. She also stayed ahead of one of Corset's new Jazz Apple teammates, Dotsie Bausch, a two-time US National Champion and Pan-Am Games gold medalist on the track.

“Seriously I heard `Dotsie Bausch' just before I went and I got a bit nervous because she's amazing,” Brown said of Bausch, who finished seventh, 12 seconds back.

In addition to making up for last year, the win gives Brown confidence heading to Mexico, especially since she'll represent Canada on the road, time trial and track.

“This is great because I've done a lot of longer time trials, like 20-km and just found out I'm doing track racing so doing 3-km and doing a fast time is great for the confidence,” said Brown, who was third in the time trial at the recent Canadian Nationals. “I was worried about the speed in my legs, 3-km is all about speed, but today was a good day.”