Mallory Park Crit/Duncan Murray Wines Nat B Road Race, 31 Jul/10 Aug 2025

Last week I did the AIRC Les Deux Crit at Mallory Park in Leicester. It had a pretty decent field for a midweek women’s crit, about 15 of us. It was a super windy night and I didn’t feel particularly fresh, but just about managed to cling on around the super exposed circuit. Somehow in the last lap I managed to gain quite a few positions – turns out everyone else was in the bin too – and sneaked over the line for 3rd. I was pretty surprised with a decent podium finish considering the state of my legs - and it was enough to get me my Cat 2 racing licence - which I was pretty proud of in my first few months of racing bikes!

On Sunday it was the Duncan Murray Wines Nat B road race. I was super excited for this one as it was a rolling course (800m ish elevation in about 80km), which suits me. I had a few girls from my team, my lovely parents also came, and the sun was out too. I think I perhaps slightly overdid the caffeine as I was super anxious at the start and into the first lap - though that definitely wasn’t helped by the multiple near misses and eventual crash about two wheels in front of me. Luckily the 3 girls who came down were okay, but I got stuck behind the crash and the chase back on was absolutely vile. Thankfully I just about got back into contact with the front group, and did as much to conserve energy as I could. My nutrition was pretty decent – I had 2 electrolyte bottles and 3 gels in the race, and managed to keep my energy levels pretty high throughout - in contrast to races I’ve done before. There was a small break that went ahead which ruled out any podium places, but I concentrated in the last half on just trying to stay near the front to avoid being caught behind any more splits. I went a little too early on the uphill sprint finish – I’d have loved a top 10 result, but I came in 13th which I can’t be too annoyed about in a big race with some strong girls!

Freya Taylor