Melanie Claude and Julia Hawley enjoyed a double dose of gold-silver success; Kris Hedges repeated as time-trial champion and also won a bronze and Kent Richardson showed that - at 44-years-old - he can still trounce guys half his age.

Thus were the dizzying heights to which the cream of Bermudian cycling soared over the weekend at the Caribbean Cycling Championships in Curacao.

The fairytale began in Saturday's time trial as Hedges rode a scorcher of a race on a 30 kilometre course to defend his men's gold medal in 42 minutes flat. Not to be outdone, Claude put on her own pedal show among the women, matching her male compatriot's golden performance in 24.17 minutes. Her training partner, Julia Hawley, took silver in 25.02 on the 15 kilometre women's circuit.

Richardson, living up to his pre-race prediction of doing well, joined Hedges on the podium with an impressive 46.28-minute ride for bronze. Trinidad & Tobago's Guy Costa won silver in 46.14.

Buoyed by this dream start, the Island's cyclists again displayed their class in yesterday's road races. The women's results were a carbon copy of the previous day, with Claude, Hawley and Susan Brown of the US Virgin Islands - also third in the time trial - finishing in that order. Claude wrested the gold in one hour, 44 minutes and 49 seconds with her team-mate clocking 1:45.03 and Brown 1:45.07.

Both Bermudian women were ecstatic about their performances, especially as it's the first year women cyclists have raced in these championships. They credited teamwork for getting them through "challenging conditions".

Claude, 41, applauded Hawley for setting the pace in the road race and then leading her "in towards the finish".

"With 500 metres to go, I led it out and then Melanie came through on the finish and I took the silver. It was just awesome, a great way to end our season," said 39-year-old Hawley.

In the men's road race, Hedges - on the back of a dogged effort by his team-mates to rein in the leaders - came through in a sprint for bronze in 3:07.32. Trinidad & Tobago riders took the top two spots.

Hedges explained that with a lap to go, a Jamaican and Trinidadian broke away and were about two minutes ahead of the field. However, Wayne Scott and Geri Mewett, working for the 22-year-old, pulled the whole field back together, placing Hedges in medal contention. Prior to this, Scott and Karl Outerbridge had also done a lot of steady pedalling to nullify an early break.

"I was definitely pleased with ride. For a while the race was looking like we messed up but we came back and it was an exciting finish. The team rode well and it was a matter of tactics, like playing chess, out there. It wasn't an individual ride today. It was a huge team effort and it paid off," said Hedges.

The 22-year-old also expressed delight in retaining top billing in the time trial as well as Bermuda's second place in the team category out of 14 countries.

National cycling coach Greg Hopkins said the squad's results were "fantastic" and made special mention of the contingent's oldest member, Richardson.

"The good thing about Kent's performance is that he was sixth in last year's time trial out of about seven or eight countries. This year it's grown to 14 countries but - with more riders and a better-quality field - he still pulled himself up into the bronze-medal position," noted Hopkins.