October 13, 2010 (New Delhi, India) – After winning three bronze medals in the track cycling competition at the Commonwealth Games, Tara Whitten of Edmonton, AB, has crowned her competition here in Delhi with a gold medal. On a day when the temperature on the pavement was over 40 degrees, Whitten captured the gold medal in the final road event, the 29km individual time trial. For the time trial, riders race individually against the clock, starting at one-minute intervals.

On this hot day at her first major games, Whitten reserved enough energy to win the event against a competitive field. “I wondered about energy and the heat,” said Whitten, “All riders worked hard with ice towels, ice vests and ice chairs to keep our core temperatures down.”

When the competition began, Whitten started the race with ice on her back to help keep her cool. At the 10km mark of the 29km time trial, Whitten’s time was 11:20. At the 19km point, her time was 23:55 and she finished the race with a time of 38:59.30, five seconds faster than her closest competitor.

Whitten knew that after competing in five cycling events in Delhi, if she was going to give her all, today was the day.

“I was excited that it would be my last event,” said Whitten during media scrums following the race. “I wanted to give my all; this is the event I have been training the hardest for.”

Whitten won the gold medal with New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen capturing silver with a time of 39:04.15 and England’s Julia Shaw takes home the bronze with a time of 39:09.52.

Short video of Tara Whitten’s ride here.
Whitten accepts gold here.

Whitten’s average speed for the race was 44.628km/hr. Throughout the ITT, she said she felt good, but was not sure if her time was ahead of the others. “It was hard to tell because we don’t have radios anymore,” said the gold medallist. “Because they are phasing the radios out, it’s just you and the road.”

Also competing today in the time trial event was Erinne Willock (Victoria, BC) who placed 11th, and Julie Beveridge (Calgary, AB) who finished in 13th.

For the men, the individual time trial distance was 40km and both of Canada’s entries made the top ten with Zach Bell of Watson Lake YK placing 7th, and Ryan William Roth, of Kitchener, ON claiming 10th.

Whitten, the 2010 Track World Champion in the points race and the Omnium, amazingly only started racing competitively in cycling in 2007, and competes in road as well as track cycling.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games on the track Whitten won bronze in the 25km points race, the team sprint with partner Monique Sullivan, and the 3,000m individual pursuit, and won gold on the road in the individual time trial.

“It has been really busy and challenging her in Delhi,” said Whitten after completing her sixth race to win gold. “I guess I saved the best for last.

Results

Women

1. Tara Alice Whitten (Canada) 38:59.3
2. Linda Villumsen (New Zealand) 4.85
3. Julia Shaw (England) 10.22
4. Alexis Rhodes (Australia) 23.24
5. Melissa Holt (New Zealand) 23.66
6. Wendy Houvenaghel (Northern Ireland) 35.67
7. Victoria Whitelaw (Australia) 1:06.17
8. Emma Trott (England) 1:20.22
9. Emma Pooley (England) 1:25.92
10. Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 1:31.41
11. Erinne Willock (Canada) 2:17.16
12. Ruth Corset (Australia) 2:31.58
13. Julie Beveridge (Canada) 2:48.90
14. Aurelie Marie Halbwachs (Mauritius) 3:17.69
15. Heather Wilson (Northern Ireland) 3:49.47
16. Pippa Handley (Scotland) 4:29.38
17. Sunita Devi (India) 5:53.21
18. Shalini Zabaneh (Belize) 6:19.30
19. Ann Bowditch (Guernsey) 7:19.02
20. Pana Choudhary (India) 8:19.85
21. Helen Devi (India) 8:26.93
22. Lasanthi Gunathilaka (Sri Lanka) 8:38.96
23. Joyce Nyaruri (Kenya) 8:47.06
24. Claire Louise Fraser (Guyana) 9:57.87
25. Jane Wachuka Kamau (Kenya) 13:53.95
26. Hadijah Najjuko (Uganda) 14:19.89
27. Marion Ayebale (Uganda) 15:00.74
28. Sharon Wambui Kiragu (Kenya) 17:29.55

Men

1. David Millar (Scotland) 47:18.7
2. Alex Dowsett (England) 00:54.8
3. Luke Durbridge (Australia) 01:00.6
4. Michael Hutchinson (Northern Ireland) 02:14.2
5. Christopher Froome (England) 02:20.2
6. Rohan Dennis (Australia) 03:02.9
7. Zachary Bell (Canada) 03:16.8
8. Jack Bauer (New Zealand) 03:29.8
9. Jesse Sergent (New Zealand) 04:15.4
10. Ryan Roth (Canada) 04:50.9
11. Evan Oliphant (Scotland) 04:54.5
12. Andrew Roche (Isle of Man) 05:12.9
13. Gordy Mccauley (New Zealand) 05:13.9
14. Andy Fenn (Scotland) 05:29.6
15. Jay Robert Thomson (South Africa) 05:41.6
16. Yannick Lincoln (Mauritius) 06:59.0
17. James Mclaughlin (Guernsey) 07:36.5
18. Erik Hoffmann (Namibia) 07:52.3
19. Adrier Niynshuti (Rwanda) 08:08.4
20. Robin Alfred Ovenden (Jersey) 08:18.1
21. Graeme Hatcher (Isle of Man) 08:54.4
22. Sombir (India) 09:16.3
23. Christian Spence (Jersey) 09:44.0
24. Josh Gosselin (Guernsey) 09:58.2
25. Byron Pope (Belize) 10:32.3
26. Julian Bellido (Gibraltar) 10:42.6
27. Tobyn Horton (Guernsey) 10:45.1
28. Amandeep Singh (India) 11:10.8
29. Atul Kumar (India) 11:13.5
30. Tom Black (Isle of Man) 11:21.0
31. Richard Rene Tanguy (Jersey) 11:45.5
32. Christopher Walker (Gibraltar) 11:46.5
33. Marlon Williams (Guyana) 12:03.8
34. Pascal Ladaub (Mauritius) 12:07.8
35. Claude Richardson (Anguilla) 12:14.3
36. John Njenga Kibunja (Kenya) 12:29.7
37. Paul Ngasike Agorir (Kenya) 12:34.8
38. Edgar Nissani Arana (Belize) 12:58.2
39. Dane Nugera (Sri Lanka) 13:44.6
40. Marvin Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda) 13:48.7
41. Lee Calderon (Gibraltar) 13:59.0
42. Jyme Bridges (Antigua and Barbuda) 14:03.2
43. Orano Andrews (St. Vincent & The Grenadines) 14:36.0
44. Lakshman Wijerathna (Sri Lanka) 14:44.4
45. Jairo Campos (Belize) 14:48.2
46. Samuel Ekiru (Kenya) 14:54.9
47. Kurt Nahum Maraj (Saint Lucia) 15:03.6
48. Kris Pradel (Anguilla) 16:21.1
49. Christopher Bennett Symonds (Ghana) 16:52.2
50. Andy Daniel Rose (Seychelles) 17:14.3
51. David Matovu (Uganda) 17:55.0
52. Laurence Jupp (Bahamas) 18:50.3
53. Ken Jackson (Antigua and Barbuda) 19:42.9
54. Rowshan Jones (Bahamas) 20:11.2
55. Moses Sesay (Sierra Leone) 21:26.5
56. Missi Kathumba (Malawi) 21:30.8
57. Brian Richardson (Anguilla) 21:38.3
58. Augustine Sesay (Sierra Leone) 22:35.3
59. Francis Franky Louis (Seychelles) 23:32.8
60. Sebastian Kigongo Semakula (Uganda) 24:05.1
61. Leon Matovu (Uganda) 24:20.5
DNF David Mccann (Northern Ireland)
DNS Leonard Mataya Tsoyo (Malawi)
DNS Dan Craven (Namibia)