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Kris Hedges is hoping to add the national time trial cycling championship to the sprint-distance triathlon title he won last weekend.

With defending champ Garth Thompson off the island Sunday's race at Clearwater is fairly open with Ricky Sousa jnr, Wayne Scott and Kent Richardson all tipped to push Hedges for the title.

Former pro Hedges said: "Garth's definitely the strongest rider on the island and his absence will make it interesting."

Hedges said he hadn't done any specific training for the event but was in good shape after running May 24 and winning last week's sprint distance triathlon.

He's also something of a time-trial specialist, having won the Caribbean Championships last year.

"It's definitely been my strength over the years and I guess you enjoy things you are good at.

"I've been good at time trial since I was a kid. I guess it's just my physical make-up. Some people can run 100m and some can run 10k, not many can do both. It's the same on a bike. I'm good at time trial as opposed to sprinting and having that natural advantage is good, though I don't think anyone actually enjoys time trial."

Kent Richardson, another of the contenders, said he felt he had an outside chance.

"I've been training hard and Garth's not in the field so who knows, maybe an old timer like me could sneak in and win it." n[[In-content Ad]]

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