Clara Hughes quickly becoming one of the finest re-entries to the sport – Cycling news
The Canadian national Olympic multi-medallist in multi-sports Clara Hughes had the perfect start to her re-entry to Cycling.
The 38-year-old won Gold at Friday’s event and continued to fulfil the hopes of her fans with her exhilarating triumph on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at the Road race at the 2011 UCI Pan-American Championships.
Hughes struggled to cross the finish line due to extreme physical conditions but fought off severe cramps to finish the 96-kilometre course the quickest.
The Winnipeg native took an overall 2 hours, 23 minutes and 52 seconds to conclude Sunday’s race with a minute and 18 seconds lead over El Salvador’s Evelyn Garcia Marroquin. Theresa Cliff-Ryan took the third place at the podium on
her home soil 6 minutes and 53 minutes adrift.
Hughes said, “It was an epic day, we had a plan as a team to win the road race today and I am so proud of this victory for Canada.”
The victory on Sunday backed Hughes’ previous Gold at Friday’s time trial and guaranteed a spot at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships. She will enter the Copenhagen, Denmark based event due in September 2011 as the new Continental
Champion.
The multiple Olympic medallist was utterly modest and thanked her team for her victory despite her cramped muscles. “It gave me a lot of strength and motivations knowing my teammates were working hard behind. It was a team victory and
I'm satisfied but exhausted,” Hughes concluded.
The result was an epic presentation of her great grit and strong determination towards achieving her goal. She was expected to give up struggling though painful cramps, but she did not and took the second Gold medal at the 2011 edition
of the Pan-American event.
The Canadian lady’s past career is glorified with Olympic medals in both Cycling as well as Speed skating events. She holds overall six Olympic medals to her name including two Bronze in Cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and
four Speed-skating medals for her nation which includes a Gold, a Silver and two Bronze over the three Winter Games between 2002 and 2010.
Her performance thus far has been tremendous returning to this form of sport from Speed skating with three straight race wins. She is all set to mark her presence felt in the 2012 Olympics once again.
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