TEAM CANADA CLINCHES FOUR PARA-CYCLING MEDALS ON DAY 1 OF THE SANTIAGO 2023 PARAPAN AMERICAN GAMES
Alexandre Hayward, 26, of Quispamsis, NB, and Mike Sametz, 27, of Calgary, AB, won gold and bronze in the men’s C1-5 category under a blazing sun and motivated by a passionate Chilean crowd. Completing two laps of the 10km course, the maple leaf representatives clocked 26:21.14m and 27:25.14m, respectively. Brazil’s Lauro Cesar Moro completed the podium, finishing 44:92s behind Hayward.
“Mikey and I spent a week together in Bromont leading up to this,” said Hayward. “We’ve kind of been joking around that it would be nice to stand on the podium together and I think to do it on the first day is pretty special. This was a unique time trial. Usually when you leave the start-finish area the fans sort of die off a bit but they were all over the course, which made it a lot of fun.”
Alexandre Hayward
Photo Credit: Oscar Muñoz Badilla/Getty Images
In a mixed start that combined men and women in the T1-T2 categories, reigning World Champion Nathan Clement, 29, of West Vancouver, BC, and Paralympian Shelley Gautier, 55, of Niagara Falls, ON, left it all on the course. With a time of 15:44.73m, Clement came out on top, finishing 1:29m ahead of Dale Connors of the United States of America. Colombia’s Juan Betancourt took third place with a time of 17:46.71m while Gautier finished fifth with a time of 18:42.12m.“Being here, hearing the crowd of everyone here has been absolutely amazing,” said Clement. “The loud noise all throughout the course, even riding the course yesterday and seeing the mountains in the distance was absolutely breathtaking.”
National Team Coach Phil Abbott added, “We came here to test out a couple of things and see what Nathan could do, I think today’s been really exciting and there’s hopefully a bright future for the rest of the season as we lead into Paris and get prepared for that.”
Rio 2016 Paralympic medallist Charles Moreau, 41, of Victoriaville, QC, went on to claim bronze in the men’s H1-H5 category with his time of 31:46.65m, 27.60s behind winner Eric Ryan Pinney of the USA. They were joined on the podium by Brandon Lyons (+19.28s), also from the USA, with silver.
“Most of the time, I visualize race situations and I visualize the stronger runners I have ahead of me that I need to catch,” commented Moreau. “When it’s harder, I tend to think about the people at home. We spend a lot of time away from home, away from family, so often it’s an extra source of motivation, to tell yourself that you’re making sacrifices for them and it’s affecting them too, so you push even harder.”
Nathan Clement and Charles Moreau with their medals.
Photo Credit: Oscar Muñoz Badilla/Getty Images
In a strong ride, 29-year-old Paralympian Keely Shaw from Saskatoon, SK, finished in fourth place with a time of 15:34.08, just 0.6s behind the bronze medal won by Daniela Carolia Munevar, of Colombia. Gold and silver medals went to Samanta Bosco (15:08.01m) and Jamie Whitmore (15:29.13m), both from the USA. Mel Pemble, 23, from Victoria, BC, also took part in the event. She finished in seventh place, with a time of 16:55.52m.More information, including results and the full schedule of events, can be found at www.santiago2023.org. Competition for Team Canada’s para-cyclists continues Nov. 23 with track competition.
Note: Tarek Dahab (MC2), of Beloeil, QC, will no longer be competing at the Games due to health reasons.
