SANTO DOMINGO -- Julia Hawley clocked her fastest-ever time trial finish at the Pan-Am Games yesterday.

Though she came in 15th out of the 18 starters, the 39-year-old clocked 46 minutes, five seconds for the 30 kilometre course in Santo Domingo, a mark that was only a minute and a half outside the top ten.

Gold went to Kimberley Bruckner of the USA in 41:11, silver to Clara Hughes of Canada (41:49) and bronze to Kristin Armstrong also of the USA (42:43).

The Royal Gazette was given a rare insight into how to ride a time trial, courtesy of Bermuda coach Phillipe Mauduit who offered a ride in the official vehicle behind his rider.

Hawley, who set off first, 15 minutes after her scheduled time of 9 a.m. because officials were awaiting the arrival of an ambulance, got straight into her pace off the ramp.

Followed by the official cameraman on a high powered motorcycle, she powered down the opening straight.

“Perfect start, go, go, go,” said Mauduit, who, as it would transpire, is one part coach, one part psychologist and one part confidence trickster.

“Always 50 kilometres (an hour). You are strong,” he said over the two-way radio.

Hawley continued on, pushing herself without having a target time to aim for, past spectators, avoiding roadside rubbish and the odd pothole.

“Good job Julia, perfect, you make a perfect race,” said Mauduit in broken English.

As she passed the halfway stage, Hawley could see her rivals on the opposite carriageway chasing her down. The coach tried to assure her that despite losing some time to them she was not out of it.

“The American girl is ten seconds ahead of you and you are in third, five seconds behind the Canadian,” he said.

A half truth as it would turn out, but one that served to inspire Hawley.

“Five seconds to the silver medal, just five seconds.”

At one point the TV cameraman arrived back on the scene and buzzed the Bermudian rider.

“TV is interested in you Julia,” Mauduit said. “It's a good sign.”

Moments later he added: “The race commissar said you are in the second place and are close to the first place. The difference is now.”

He never spoke with the commissar, but with that Hawley kicked on and crossed the line with a flourish a few minutes later.

Getting her breath back afterwards she said the coach's comments, however exaggerated at times, had played their part.

“When Phillipe was calling out ‘you are just five seconds behind second place' one part of you is saying ‘it's not true' but there's a little part of you that's saying ‘it's maybe possible', “ she said. “It makes you push that little bit harder. Anything is possible on the day, who knows, something could have happened, crashes or flats or whatever with other people. So I think it's nice to believe, it really is.”

At the end of the day though, the performance was down to Hawley and her ability to hold her own with competitors many years her junior.

“That was definitely the best time trial I have ever done,” she said. “I just felt really, really relaxed and just got right into my maximum heart rate throughout.

“It was just a lovely day and I felt really great.”

Hawley had expressed apprehension at going out first the day before the race, but if she was yesterday you wouldn't have known it.

“Going first is always hard because you have no one to chase,” she said. “But I had the police bike in front of me and I was kind of gauging off that. I had the coach behind me and I knew I was right around 45 to 50kph and was very smooth.

“I figured that was the max I could do at my heart rate and, really, that's what it comes down to. Your heart rate doesn't lie and you just go as hard as you absolutely can and just stay focused . . . and I did.”

Hawley believes her finishing time was down to a combination of factors.

“I have been really lucky this year in that I have a good one from the very beginning,” she said. “Then getting selected for Pan-Ams and gearing the training for this event. I think I am peaking just for this week, which is really nice. I have just been very fortunate this year.”