Kris Hedges and Julia Hawley tuned up for their Pan-American Games debuts with convincing success in yesterday's National Time Trial Championships.

Hedges took the Open Male, Overall Male and Overall titles, vanquishing all-comers as he completed the eight-lap, 25.75-mile circuit at Clearwater Beach in 56 minutes, 34.09 seconds - the only person to finish in under an hour.

Queen of the championships, Hawley, clocked one hour, six minutes, 00.24 seconds to win the Overall Female title and the Female Veterans division ahead of rival and training partner Melanie Claude who was second in both categories in 1:09.29.21 hours. Hawley's time was good enough for sixth among all competitors at the meet, sponsored by the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and Spa Water.

“I had a comfortable ride today. I went out and did my first lap and just looked at how long that took and timed my ride off that.

“I kept it pretty consistent but towards the end the wind was kicking up with that little shower that came down and it made the finish a little tough but otherwise it was a good day,” said Hedges, assessing his performance.

By contrast, Hawley struggled a little at the start; something she attributed to her recent tough work-outs.

“The training this week was really hard and we did a time trial last week also. I was really gauging (how I was doing) off my heart-rate monitor as opposed to a time. The important thing is to make sure you do consistent laps and that you feel good and I did.

“The first three laps were challenging. It took me a while to get my rhythm but, by the fourth or fifth lap, I definitely began feeling better,” she explained.

The 39-year-old said competing over 25 miles augurs well for her Pan-Am assignment as this distance is about five miles longer than the course in the Dominican Republic should be.

Hedges, too, was keen on yesterday's race as he builds up for double duty in the road race and time trial at the Games. While, he has been road-racing consistently, however, he does not get as much practice in time trials.

“Tactically it's a totally different race. The time trial is actually one of my strong points. Part of the reason I came down is to work on it because we don't do a lot of it in the USA.”

In the Pan-Am time trial his goal is a top-ten finish while his expectations in the road race will depend on how that event unfolds.

“I just want to get into the mix of things until I know which riders are going to be there and how hard the race is going to be. I'll be looking to finish in the top pack and have a good ride. A road race is a gamble, you know. It's a single-day race and there's a lot of luck involved,” noted the 23-year-old.

There is “a slim chance” that creating a good impression at the Pan-Am Games could bring an Olympics wild card his way. However, the Bermudian - pardon the pun - is not hedging his bets on that.

“There is an outside chance but I am not really putting that as a goal for next year. Now that I have graduated I've got to look at the next couple years seriously. We'll see what happens.”

The Island's top cyclist has resumed intense training after a short break following the recent World ‘B' Championships in Switzerland. He will maintain these high-level work-outs until flying to the Caribbean.

“I had some good races last weekend and I've been training pretty strong. I have a seven-day stage race starting next Monday in Pennsylvania and that will take me up until the week before we leave for Pan-Ams,” said Hedges, outlining his itinerary.

Yesterday, Jason Krupp (1:01.28.10), Neil de ste Croix (1:03.29.45), Mark Yeulett (1:05.34.54) and Riaan Naude (1:07.00.00) rounded out the top five in the Open Male division. Krupp was also second overall while Kent Richardson's effort of 1:01.41.24 - which earned him the Male Veterans' title - was also the third-best finish in the Time Trials.

Jean Galloway beat Ashley Robinson in the two-woman battle for honours in the Open Female division. The latter finished in 1:28.58.09 while Galloway posted 1:22.35.56.

Among the juniors, many familiar names figured prominently as Geoffrey Smith and Flora Duffy won the Junior Male 15-16 and Junior Female 15-16 events. Smith beat Matthew Godfrey, clocking 1:09.51.24 to Godfrey's 1:14.47.21. Duffy, whose course was five laps (16.01 miles), finished in 46 minutes, 47.91 seconds.

Caitlyn Conyers took the Junior Female 13-14 category in 51 minutes, 57.19 seconds while James Adams took the Junior Male 13-14 division in 50 minutes, 20.15 seconds.