Tara Ferguson finished eighth in the girls’ time trial at the Commonwealth Youth Games on Wednesday.

In oppressive conditions, she was the first of the 13 starters to roll down the ramp at 9.01am local time on the west coast of the Bahamas’ New Providence island. She certainly put in a gutsy ride and was utterly exhausted when she crossed the line a little over 15 minutes later.

However, during the time that Tara was riding around the 5.8-mile supposedly closed-road circuit, traffic got onto the course. As the second half of the field were waiting to start a line of cars and trucks was passing through the start/finish area. The starters continued to send the riders off, but Manx manager Tim Kennaugh, who was on the finish line waiting for Tara to finish, said that a few had to weave in and out of vehicles.

For a couple of minutes it was mayhem, with officials shouting, trucks blaring their horns, cars trying to get out of the way and cyclists trying to compete.

Luckily for Tara, the start/finish had been cleared just in time for her to cross the line. She was the first cyclist to complete the course, and was unaware of any of the traffic drama. Having recovered and returned to the Isle of Man area of the pits, she was unsure of how she had ridden:

’It is so hot. Right from the start it was uncomfortable. The road surface felt really rough and it didn’t feel like I was ’flowing’ at all.’

Australia’s Madeleine Fasnacht took gold in 13 minutes 12 seconds.

Manx riders Thomas Bostock and Will Draper took part in the boys’ time trial over the same course.

Both admitted the course was a bit short for their liking as Draper finished 10th in 12m 38s and Bostock 14th in 12.50.

Bermudan Matthew Olivira won in a time of 12.06.

Swimming

Good morning all round for the four Manx swimmers. Joel Watterson has qualified as first reserve for the 50m backstroke final.

The others all swam personal bests in their events.

Coach Lee Holland said: ’It’s a great start to the week and I know that there is a lot more to come.’