Toona in Pennsylvania at the weekend.

For Hedges, it was a largely selfless exercise, with most of his efforts invested in helping his team-mates gain good results.

For Hawley, it was a battle of endurance, survival through six days of tough cycling against a strong field including pros from the top teams in North America.

Both emerged with credit. Hedges helped his team, the Connecticut Yankee Bicycle Club, earn a sixth place in a 75-mile road race and seventh place in the 30-mile criterium.

And Hawley finished 51st out of the 112 women in the race. Just to complete the gruelling schedule was an achievement as 47 women dropped out.

For Hawley, day one was a three-mile prologue, followed by road races of 70, 60, 80 and 95 miles over the next four days. A 30-mile criterium on the final day rounded off an exhausting race.

Hawley clocked a time of 14 hours, 38 minutes and 33 seconds. She finished 28 minutes behind winner Lynn Bessette, of the renowned Saturn team.

"We (the women) did the same course as the professional men and that's unusual,'' said Hawley. "It was very challenging terrain and there were three major climbs in the 95-mile road race on the fifth day.

"The average speeds we were riding along at were unbelievable and as the days went on, I felt better and better.'' Hawley said she was "absolutely ecstatic'' about her performance, having competed against Olympic riders and top pros in a strong field.

And her time could have been better but for a crash on day two, when her bike chain came off going over rail tracks during the last half mile of a road race.

Hedges was competing in the category two three-day competition, entailing a 40-mile circuit race, a 75-mile road race and a 30-mile criterium. "It wasn't really my style of race, as I'm not a sprinter,'' said Hedges. "We were riding to a team plan and each day I was riding for somebody else. I don't mind at all playing a purely team role. We have a good team spirit and we all share the money.'' His CYBC team is a category two team with members all aged under 24 and all from the New England area.

Hedges, who has been running a clinic for young cyclists at Clearwater Beach this week, flies back to the US on Friday to take part in the all-amateur Mount Holly race in New Jersey the following day.