Canadian
National Team Member
12 time National Champion
Multiple World Cup Winner
World Championships Silver Medalist
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Thursday, May 12, 2005Silver for Poitras in Argentina
PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mar del Plata, Argentina
April 25-May 1, 2005
RESULTS
2nd Scratch Race
4th Individual Pursuit
5th 500m Time Trial
6th Points Race
9th Road Race
After 36 hours of travelling, I am finally home from Argentina where I was representing the Tim Hortons Canadian National Team at the Pan American Championships in Mar del Plata. My trip home included a bomb threat and full evacuation of the Buenos Aires airport, engine problems in Miami, a missed flight connection in Dallas and being locked out of my house once I finally made it there at 10pm (I had to be at work the next morning by 8am).
This year's Pan American Championships boasted the largest number of competitors in its history with athletes coming from all over North and South America to compete for valuable points towards the 2006 World Championships. Racing began on the first morning with the 3km Individual Pursuit qualifiers. I qualified 4th behind three Olympians and would ride for the bronze medal the next morning. My second race of the day was the 10km (40 lap) scratch race and with two competitors per country the team tactics were quite a challenge. With 4 laps to go one of the US riders attacked and quickly established a half lap lead. Heading into 2 laps to go it was evident that no one was really willing to risk the chase so I attacked with one of the Cuban riders following closely on my wheel. We came around the US rider with only 50m to go, but then unfortunately the Cuban rider pipped me at the line to take the victory. It was a good day for the Canadians though as we had 2 on the podium with Gina Grain taking 3rd.
The next morning was my bronze medal ride in the individual pursuit and my legs were definitely feeling the efforts of the previous day. The US rider I was up against is a world class pursuiter who has had a few World Cup victories in the individual pursuit over the last few years. I knew I had to go out hard to force her to ride my pace instead of settling into her own comfort zone. I was in the lead with 1km to go but then started to feel the lactic acid building and couldn't keep up the pace and finished in 4th place. I was happy with my efforts as I had put in two solid rides in an event I don't normally do at the international level. Three hours later I was warming up again, this time for the 25km (100 lap) points race. I knew it was going to be a tough race, as my legs were quite tired by this point but I gave it everything I had. Towards the end of the race I made a solo effort in an attempt to lap the field and gain 20 points. I was away for 14 laps and was caught only 3km from the finish. In the end, the US rider had accumulated the most points for the victory followed closely by two Cuban riders for 2nd and 3rd. I finished in 6th place with my team-mate Gina Grain taking 8th place overall.
The track racing culminated with the 500m Time Trial where I finished in 5th place which provided Canada with some points towards having a rider in this event at next year's World Championships.
My final event of the Championships was the road race. It was a rolling course with the wind being the greatest factor in the outcome of the race. Once it was evident that it was going to come down to a field sprint, we were hoping to put at least one Canadian on the podium as we had a strong contingent of Canadian sprinters in the field with Gina Grain, Laura Yoisten and myself. Unfortunately, with 400m to go there was a huge crash that took down 3 of my Canadian team-mates. Weaving my way through the crash, I rolled across the line in 9th place.
Upcoming races with Symmetrics Cycling/PowerBar include the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race in Washington, followed by the Provincial Road Race Championships in Sooke, BC and the Mt. Hood Stage Race in Oregon.
Many thanks to all of my sponsors: Rocky Mountain Bicycles, PowerBar, Tim Hortons, Shimano, Easton Sports, TUFO North America, Rudy Project, Symmetrics Cycling, Cypress Solutions, OpenRoad Communications, Adidas, Basic Sports Nutrition, AVIS Rent A Car, Race Face Headsets, GiroPoste, See You in Athens Fund, and Emer'gen-C.
Results
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Mandy Poitras has many companies and individuals who sponsor her. You can visit the sponsors by clicking on their logos
Shimano
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Easton
See you in Athens
GiroPoste
Emergen-C
Wavecrest Labs
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