October 6/10 8:29 am - Commonwealth Games: Track Day 2, 2 bronze for Whitten - report and photos

Posted by Editoress on 10/6/10
 

Results and photos from the 2nd day of racing at the at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi India

Photos

Two bronze medals came from Canada’s women’s track cycling team today in Delhi, with Edmonton's reigning world champion, Tara Whitten, in on both of them.

Whitten won her first medal of the day in the 25km points race.

The points race is an endurance race where riders sprint every kilometre with points awarded to the top four riders to cross the finish line first. A rider who laps the others is awarded 20 points.

According to Coach Richard Wools of North Vancouver, BC, Whitten met her target when she won bronze here in Delhi.

“Tara showed what she is capable of and rode a good race,” said Wools.

Having recently come back from the World Road Championships, Whitten showed her stamina by then competing in the women’s team sprint event and winning another bronze with teammate Monique Sullivan (Calgary, AB). When asked her thoughts on the race, Sullivan chose to celebrate Whitten.

“First of all, I want to congratulate Tara,” said Sullivan following the medal presentations. “Two races in two hours is difficult, let alone when the team sprint was only 15 minutes after the 25km points race.”

The Women’s Team Sprint event is a new event to the Commonwealth Games. Canadians Whitten and Sullivan competed against India, Australia, and Scotland. After a false start against India, Canada recorded a time of 36.431, to move them to the bronze medal race against India. In the end, the pair posted a time of 37.094 to win the bronze medal.

Travis Smith (Calgary, AB) also competed at the velodrome for Canada, competing in the heat to determine the finalists for the Keirin final.

The Keirin is eight laps of the track with the top two riders going automatically to the final. Riders keep pace for the first few laps with a sprint induced by a break in the pack.

Smith came third in his heat and went to the repechage. He then finished second in the repechage, guaranteeing him a spot in the finals. Once the two final heat scores were calculated, Smith did not finish in the medals.

In the afternoon, Zach Bell (Watson Lake, YK), competed in the 160 lap men’s 40km points race final. Bell placed 15th.

Commonwealth Games Canada press release

Results will be updated as they become available