THE Isle of Man opened its 2010 Commonwealth Games account on Wednesday morning with a bronze medal in cycling’s points race. Douglas’ Mark Christian put in a mature display that had the Manx supporters in the velodrome on the edge of their seats, as he took a few points in the early sprints, before joining a group of four others who managed to lap the main bunch. IOMToday
This put the 19-year-old into second place, before the eventual gold medallist, World Champion Cameron Meyer of Australia, got another lap on the field along with Goerge Atkins of England. That put the Manx rider into third and from there to the finish, he was locked in a battle with Sam Harrison of Wales for the bronze.
Eventually, going into the final sprint, on the last of 160 laps, they were tied, but Christian just managed to edge the Welshman on the line. Team-mate Chris Whorrall picked up some early sprint points, but once Mark had got his lap, he sacrificed his race to support Christian.
Both riders will contest the heats of the scratch race on Thursday, ahaed of the final on Friday.
