The crit course in Haney was one of the coolest courses that I've seen - sharp corners, with half the course really wide, then funneling into a very skinny U-shaped 180 degree corner with a park in the middle for interactive spectatorship!
Bill Pickle, aka Chelsea Bilsbarrow, dominated the Cat 4 women and won all three stages this weekend, including the prime...she showed them no mercy!! Congrats Pickle, and welcome to Cat 3:)
Our team numbers dwindled from 8 to 4 on Sunday for the crit, with just Leah, Claire and myself left to defend Leah's overall lead for the stage race. Claire and I could feel the pressure before the race, it was perfect, just the pressure that we needed!
Claire did a great job covering any attacks at the front, while I marked other potential racers that could take points for the overall (especially Leah's good friend Jean-Anne!). We were on every attack that was lauched, and never let one go...
As the race went on to half way, BH lauched an attack every lap, obviously trying to tire out the rest of us to get there sprinter Laura Brown the win.
With the prime lap called, I moved to the front of the pack into the last two corners, with Claire leading Leah up on the outside - the perfect lead out! We came around the corner with Claire leading where she enable me to take the prime with Leah in second holding off Laura Brown in 3rd.
With only 5 minutes to go, the pace slowed and it was obvious that it would be a pack sprint for the finish. Jean-Anne lauched one more try for a breakaway, but we hooked her back in...
The bell lap saw myself and Leah sitting in 5th and 6th for the final corner where we were able to outsprint 2 riders for a 3rd (Leah) and 4th finish, respectively keeping Leah in 1st Overall for the Stage Race!!
Thanks for a great race ladies!
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