Tara Whitten

Tara Whitten
Personal information
Full name	Tara Alice Whitten
Born	13 July 1980 (age 44); Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Team information
Current team	Retired
Disciplines	Track; Road;
Role	Rider
Rider type	Endurance
Professional team
2011–2012	Team TIBCO–To The Top
Medal record
Representing Canada
Women's track cycling
Summer Olympics
World Championship
Pan American Championships
Women's road bicycle racing
Pan American Championships
Women's cross-country skiing
U23 World Championships

Tara Alice Whitten (born 13 July 1980) is a Canadian former racing cyclist.^[1]

Career

A former cross-country skier from Edmonton, Alberta, Whitten began track racing seriously in 2008 having dabbled in it since 2005.^[2] The same year she won the points race and individual pursuit at the Canadian National Track Championships, and also took the bronze medal in the scratch race and 500 meter time trial events.

Whitten began the 2008–2009 track cycling season strongly, winning two silver medals at first round of the Track World Cup in Manchester, United Kingdom, in October. She went on to take two bronze medals in the third round in Cali, Colombia, and a further two silver medals in the fifth and final round in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 2009.

In March 2009, Whitten won the silver medal in the Omnium at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszków, the first time the event was included in the championships.^[2]

In December 2009, Whitten rode on the team that won the gold medal in the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics Women's Team Pursuit in Cali, Colombia, along with fellow Canadian National Team members Laura Brown and Stephanie Roorda, concurrently setting a new Canadian National Record in this event as well with a time of 3:27.289. Of note, the Women's Team Pursuit has been added as an Olympic event for 2012. She also won two silver medals, in the Individual Pursuit (time of 3:34.547) and Points Race.

In March 2010, Whitten won the gold medal in the Omnium and Points race at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was part of the Canadian team that won the bronze medal in the women's team pursuit.^[3] She finished fourth in the omnium.^[4]^[5]

In March 2016 Whitten was injured in Rio de Janeiro during a visit to inspect the road course for the 2016 Summer Olympics, running her bike into the back of a bus and being knocked unconscious and breaking a bone in the base of her skull. The interruption to her training delayed her qualifying for the Olympics,^[5] but she was officially named to Canada's 2016 Olympic team.^[6]

Personal life

Whitten was awarded a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Alberta on 10 June 2016, having first earned a science degree in 2006 and been accepted into an electrophysiology lab as a master's student in 2007, while taking periodic breaks from her studies to focus on cycling full-time. She began a post-doctoral fellowship in concussion research at the University of Calgary in fall 2016.^[5]