Day 5 – Crown Casino – 12^th January 2003

Conditions: 31ºC, sunny and hot, 10am

Today was the last day of racing and I was hoping that everyone was feeling as fatigued as I was.  I could feel the effect of my work yesterday and needed a strong espresso to get myself going today.

The circuit was a hotdog circuit with tight U turns at either end.  There were two sets of tram tracks to cross, but these were easily negotiated, as there wasn’t a drop of rain in sight to make them slippery.

And as usual, as soon as the gun went, the pace was on.  I tried a few attacks and did a lap or so on my own but my legs were smashed.  I hadn’t fully recovered from yesterday’s effort so each effort was soon shut down.

Margaret Hemsley attacked with 5 laps to go and with her ACT-Cooma team on the front, she quickly established a 15sec gap.  She held on to take out stage 5 while Katie sprinted well to finish 3^rd and I came in 9^th.  Kate Bates took out the overall series win whilst Olivia Gollan won the green sprint jersey.

Results:

1^st Margaret Hemsley (ACT)
2^nd Kate Bates (NSWIS)
3^rd Katie Mactier (Drapac Property / Beasley Cycles)
9^th Helen Kelly (Drapac Property / Beasley Cycles)