Carling grabs silver with a Smart move

AN OVERWHELMED Jimmy Carling rode his heart out for a superb silver medal in yesterday's mountain bike criterium. The 18-year-old collapsed to the ground in floods of tears after coming through the finish line of the gruelling event. He briefly regained composure until his parents arrived on the scene and the eyes started watering once more.

There was certainly no doubting how much the medal meant to the talented Sarnian.

'I have never been so emotional at the end of a race before,' said Carling.

The only man to beat him was the outstanding male cyclist at these Games, Andrew Roche.

Rumour has it that the Isle of Man rider had not been on his mountain bike since November, but his awesome performance suggested otherwise as he added a second gold to the one he won in Sunday's 25-mile time trial.

Much to Carling's credit, he stuck with Roche for a decent part of the race over the testing Gilbertson Park course, which was compact with outcrops of rocks and short, steep drops and inclines with the spectators within touching distance of the riders.

'I knew I had to be as aggressive as possible,' said the teenager, who finished in 1hr 0min. 47sec., a gap of 24sec. between him and the winner.

'As it turned out, he did wind it up and I stuck with him for as long as I could, but I was pushing so hard that I became physically sick.'

Carling dropped off the pace quite dramatically in the middle section of the race and fell behind Jersey's James Patterson and his own team-mate Rob Smart.

But the latter helped his fellow Guernseyman get his second wind.

'There had been a period where I had been pushing hard and not drinking. Rob Smart passed me and said drink more water. I did and it helped a lot. I bet he wishes he hadn't said that now though,' added a smirking Carling, referring to his teammate's fourth place finish and missed opportunity to reach the podium.

Guernsey's other two competitors - Nick Mann and Jon Osborne - both put in gutsy performance in finishing 13th and 14th respectively.

The silver has undoubtedly given Carling's confidence a boost ahead of his other event, the cross-country that will be held on Thursday over what the organiser calls a 'savage and brutal course' in Brae.

However, he has not set himself any specific targets.

'My expectations for the cross-country are nil because that now seems to be the best way for me to approach it. I am just really chuffed to have a medal already and anything more on Thursday will be a bonus.'