Race Report from Australia.
The women’s crit at the Tennis Centre in Olympic Park Sydney on Saturday saw a good turnout. It was quite a hot humid day. The course was flat, narrow and wound pleasantly through a mixture of parkland and car park.
There were quite a few women new to racing and we were split into A’s and B’s. I was in the A’s. The A group had a couple of National Champions (Sue Forsythe and Amber something or other – 6 foot and most of it leg) – a hard core pair who work together, if you know what I mean. They and another girl set off a few seconds ahead of us and were given task of lapping us. The A’s were mixed ability but we all worked together to try to keep ahead of the ultra-A’s. We found a speed that kept you cool without getting any hotter and we all stuck at that.
I did quite a lot on the front, but it didn’t feel any harder than when I’m late for work. We were caught at 42mins, which was a nuisance as the race was 45mins + 2 laps. I was pleased to see ace sprinter and world record-holder, Lise Benjamin, drop out early to get to the cakes first. How I laughed because there weren’t any! On the final lap my mate, Trouty, whipped over the top for a long one with a good third of a lap to go, the the two Nat Champs were on her straight away, and I was on them. I couldn’t get past them at the finish, but I did manage to overhaul Trouty who took 4th. There were prizes (hard cash!! not a lamb chop in sight!) down to 4th, which was good because Trouty was giving me a lift home.
Lise and Trouty dropped in for a beer on the way home and we all agreed we had a very jolly day.
Jayne
