September 07, 2013 (Bromont, QC) – Canadian national team members Gillian Carleton and Rémi Pelletier-Roy won the women’s and men’s omnium competitions at the inaugural Bromont International Track Challenge, Friday. The omnium is a six-race competition run over two days, with a mix of sprint and endurance events.
Both Carleton and Pelletier-Roy led the event after the first day of racing, which consisted of a flying 250 m time trial, a points race and an elimination race. The second day began with an individual pursuit, then a scratch race and a standing-start time trial over 500 m for the women and 1,000 m for the men.
Carleton won the pursuit, finished third in the scratch and won the 500m to lead a Team Canada sweep of the podium, with Jasmin Glaesser in second and Laura Brown in third.
“My goals for this race was to work on our 4-km women’s team pursuit but also it was a good opportunity for me to get the personal points I needed to qualify for the first world cup in Manchester,” said Carleton. “I managed to do that and also improve on my bunch racing skills from last week at nationals, so I’m pretty happy with it.”
Pelletier-Roy also won his pursuit but only finished fifth in the scratch race. He went into the kilometre time trial needing to finish better than fourth and did better than that with second place. Rounding out the podium were U.S. riders Zach Kovalcik and Jacob Duehring.
Also racing Friday were the sprinters.
After a straightforward progression to the finals, fellow U.S. national team members Madalyn Godby and Melissa Erickson faced off in the women’s sprint finals, with Godby winning in straight rides. Another U.S. rider, Alissa Maglaty, beat Canadian Candice Vermeulen for bronze.
The sprint men put on a thrilling show, with London Olympics fourth-place finsher Njisane Philllip of Trinidad and Tobago facing an international mix of challengers, including Canadian champion Hugo Barette.
Barette had a solid tournament until he met Phillip in the semifinals, where he lost in two rides thanks to the Trinidadan’s pure speed. Barette then faced South African Bernard Esterhuizen in the bronze medal race, where he lost narrowly to finish fourth. Phillip meanwhile dispatched U.S. rider Kevin Mansker to top the podium.
The Bromont International Track Challenge continues Saturday with the team pursuit and keirin competitions. For results, schedules and more information visit here.