The temperature was hot and so was the competition, but Kris Hedges proved he could cope with both at yesterday's Pan-Am Games road race.

The Bermudian finished 17th in a field of 50 which had been slashed by half by the time the 195 kilometre event around the streets of Santo Domingo was over. What was even more outstanding was that Hedges' official time, 4:33.57, was the same as that of sixth place finisher Honorio Machado of Venezuela.

The Team Snow Valley rider was just one minute and nine seconds behind gold medallist Milton Wynants of Uruguay. Pedro Perez of Cuba took silver and Jose Medina of Chile bronze.

Hedges' Island team-mate, Geri Mewett, meanwhile, was once again blighted by misfortune.

A year ago he crashed out of the road race at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, damaging his ribs in the process. This time there was no pain, other than the heartache of not finishing the event, but the result was the same after he suffered a flat and was forced to retire halfway through.

The key point in yesterday's race came when a group of ten riders broke during lap seven.

"That was definitely a moment of panic," said Hedges. "I was on the radio to Geri saying we need to do something straight away."

Hedges said he tried to close the gap, but to no avail.

"I attacked coming out of the bottom of the turn but it's one of the hardest stretches," he said. "I got about halfway across and the gap was still only 15 to 20 seconds at that point. But it wasn't going to come down and the field was closing in on me."

Hedges said he eased back at that point to let someone else take up the challenge.

"But they eased up when they caught me and there was no-one to keep the acceleration up," he said.

"I got on the radio to Geri and said we need to initiate some activity to keep the gap to a minimum. If a couple of riders had put the hammer down just after the start/finish area to the tailwind section it could have come back.

"However, they didn't and the gap between the lead group and the chasers began to grow. Once they got away I thought that was it.

"But I guess a few guys must have attacked out of that break and the rest became disorientated.

"When we came in there was a flurry of attacks and we got them down to about 1:30 or so."

The aggressive riding continued as the chasers attempted to reel in what had become a group of three leaders and Hedges said he began to feel it physically.

"At that point I was pretty tapped and just hanging on, trying to stay up front," said the rider who paid tribute to the rest of the Bermudian squad who kept him fed and watered and, as a result, in contention.

"The team did a good job and I had all the feeds I wanted throughout the day."

With the top places all but sorted, Hedges said he knew it would come down to a sprint at the end to decide the rest.

"In the last couple of laps I was beginning to twinge a bit and I knew I only had one shot," he said. "That's why I left it for the sprint, even thought I'm not a big pack sprinter."

Overall, he said he was pleased with his performance.

"Going into today being in the top ten was a definite goal of mine," he said. "I wanted to do well and I thought top ten was realistic and that pretty much happened.

As for Mewett, his chances were taken out of his hands when he ploughed into a sunken manhole.

"With 11 laps to go or so we were single file and you can't really see too far in front of you - you are just screaming along at 60 kilometres an hour," he said.

"The guy in front of me jumped at the last second and I managed to get my front wheel over it, but the back wheel caught the very edge and broke the rim.

"I rode on for a lap and a half or so and I guess some of the carbon started working its way into the casing of the tyre and flatted it. There's not much you can do at that point."

Mewett said he had to wait some time for an opportune moment to change the wheel.

"I was unlucky that when I did change it it was not the fastest wheel change ever," he said.

"Right after I changed my flat we turned onto a headwind stretch and there was a bunch of attacks.

"You have to keep on and I did for probably another five or six kilometres . . . but they were just going away from me."

Mewett, naturally, was more than a little disappointed.

"I had felt OK," he said. "I was going along, making sure I was drinking and eating and taking care of myself for the end. I was just unfortunate not to see it."

Swimmer Kiera Aitken, who qualified for the Olympics after making the final of the 100 metres backstroke at the Pan-Am Games, was chosen to carry Bermuda's flag at last night's closing ceremony. Those members of the squad still in the Dominican Republic return either to their US bases or to Bermuda today.

Aitken completed her Pan-Am Games activities with a fourth place finish in her 50 metres freestyle heat on Saturday, failing to qualify for the evening's final. The Bermudian swimmer completed the race in 28.16 seconds. Out of the 30 competitors from several heats, Aitken's swim was good for 24th.

Hawley reeled in - Page 28