Lee Valley March Hare Crit, 23 March 2024

Saturday marked my first race of the season, which was at Lee Valley. I decided to race in the women’s cat 3/4 race, rather than the women’s E/1/2/3 race later that day, because throughout the winter training period, I had a knee injury followed by several illnesses along the way. However, there was still a large field on the day (21 riders at the start).

I went into the race with the aim of getting a top 10 and using my racing experience to get round, while also just enjoying it. The race was 20 laps long, with the first 5 laps being quite slow and relaxed. My positioning was good, I was in the top 5, sheltering from the wind and was ready for any attacks. The next 5 laps was pretty full gas, there were lots of smalls attacks, but I decided to not follow them. There was an attack that did look to be a threat because a group of 5 gained a gap over the peloton. But after a couple of laps the group was pulled back in. The race was then back to a controlled, relaxed pace, until we had about 5 laps to go where there was a few more attacks made. None of them stuck, so I knew this was going to be a bunch sprint, especially because of the windy conditions - no one wanted to do a big solo effort into the headwind. I focused on making sure my positioning was good for the finish. On the last lap I was sitting in the top 10, so I knew I needed to move up.

With about half a lap to go, someone made an attack, and this was a good opportunity for me to move up a few places. I found it a bit difficult to know when would be best to start the sprint, because the final stretch to the finish line after the last corner is quite long - about 250 metres. I don’t have the quickest sprint so I like a longer sprint, but there was a massive headwind, so I also didn’t want to go too early. But as soon as we got out of the last corner the sprint had already started, and it felt like those 250 metres was never ending! I crossed the line in 4th place, and managed to make up a couple of places in the sprint.

Overall, I’m happy with how I rode that race, and it was nice to blow off the cobwebs and get back to racing. It was a little frustrating to be so close to a podium finish, as there was a wheel length between me and 2nd place. But, there were smany positives to take away nevertheless!

Amy Harvey