Posted: June 29, 2005

Athletics: Chantal Petitclerc wins second race in America Series

CEDARWOOD, Georgia- Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal set a course record Tuesday evening in sweltering conditions to win the gold medal in a five kilometre women’s wheelchair road race at the third stop on the America Series circuit.

Petitclerc clocked 11 minutes and 33.3 seconds on the hilly course for her second win in three America Series events so far. Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland was second in 11:34.1, Eliza Stakovic of Australia third at 11:52.3 while Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., the winner at the previous stop in New York on Sunday, took fourth place in 11:55. 5.

“This course is very unique and if you climb well you’ll probably have a good race,” said Petitclerc, a quintuple gold medallist at the Paralympic Games in Athens last year. “I knew that Edith would go hard on the first hill and I just tried to keep pace with her right off the bat. This is a big week with a lot of racing and I’m pleased with how well I recuperated from Sunday’s race.”

Roy, a double Paralympic medallist in Athens, wasn’t racing in her best event.

“I’m not disappointed, I worked as hard as I could to keep pace with the leaders,” said Roy. “I was actually hoping for rain which was the case here last year when I finished second. But I’m much stronger in the longer distances and I’m not the best climber either.”

Tracey Ferguson of Holland Landing, Ont., was 12th.

The men’s five kilometre race had a photo finish with the top-six finishers going under the course record. In the end, Kurt Fearnley of Australia prevailed over Ernest Van Dyk of South Africa, the winner of the first two races in the series. Both were clocked at 9:41.6.

Kelly Smith of Vancouver, in his first race this season after recuperating from an arm injury, was fifth finishing within a second of the winners. Smith led a good chunk of the race but ran out gas in the final 400 metres. Michel Filteau of St-Jean-Baptiste, Que., was 11th and Josh Cassidy of Oakville, Ont., was 21st.

“Fifth doesn’t sound great but I was really pleased with my showing,” said Smith, a Paralympic silver medallist last year. “This is an awesome series equivalent to a Paralympic Games field. My arm is feeling great right now. I haven’t felt any returning effects in the last month or so.”

Filteau said the pace in the men’s race was relentless.

“The guys went nuts from the start,” said Filteau. “There was always someone trying to pull away on the hills and that ate away at my energy level. I was happy with the fact that I nearly broke the 10 minute barrier (10:09) in the race.”

The next stop in the series is the Meet in the Heat track and field competition this Friday and Saturday in Atlanta.