Hutchinson and McCann just miss out
Tuesday, 21 March 2006 11:35Northern Ireland duo Michael Hutchinson and David McCann went frustratingly close to medals in the Commonwealth Games individual time trial today, but the two riders had to settle for fourth and fifth in the 40 kilometre event.
Fastest was pre-race favourite Nathan O'Neill, the Australian recording a time of 48:37.29 for the distance.
This saw him finish 24.38 seconds ahead of compatriot Ben Day, while New Zealand's Gordon McCauley secured bronze when he finished 1:13.41 off O'Neill.
Hutchinson was just over 14 seconds behind McCauley, with McCann just under ten seconds further back.
Today's ride represents a career best Commonwealth Games performance for Hutchinson, who was 15th in Manchester in 2002.
McCann finished eighth four years ago had been targeting a medal this time round. He worked towards peaking for the time trial since finishing second in the race against the clock in the Tour de Langkawi, and had pinpointed O'Neill as the man to watch back then.
The Irish TT champion will have been disappointed not to take a place in the top three, although his preparation was hampered when he crashed heavily in training three weeks ago.
Their Northern Ireland team-mate Ryan Connor also rode well to finish 16th of the 68 starters. Isle of Man competitor Andrew Roche, who has also competed for Ireland in the past, was 11th.
Next up for the NI team is the cross country mountainbike event on Thursday. Lewis Ferguson will compete in that, then join with McCann, Stephen Gallagher, Roger Aiken, Ryan Connor and Tommy Evans in the road race on Sunday.
