Odd Down Circuit Race, 1 May 2021

This was a really good race! I was a bit anxious after being dropped the previous week so was feeling a little nervous going into the race.

It was a handicap race and each category had a 40sec lead on the other categories. Our 4th Cat group maintained the lead for around twenty mins until the 2/3s (main bunch) finally caught us. I did try and jump onto the main bunch but wasn’t confident enough to think I was strong enough to hold on. One did jump across and one other 4th Cat had gone solo and stayed away for the whole race.

The remaining Cat 4s formed a pace line of 3 (with some more behind). I raced smart and conserved as much energy as possible doing as little work as I could get away with.

On the last lap, I came round the corner to the finish line the first out of the three of us. I could see the finish in sight and thought I’d go for it. The two other girls followed and I really put the hammer down as I saw one girl gaining on me in the corner of my eye. I crossed the line ahead of the other two, and was in 3rd place for my category and 13th overall.

Laura Powell