Saturday, 18^th January 2003 Women’s Road Race – 100km

Conditions: 25ºC sunny, cool southerly winds

About 50 girls lined up at the start of the road race, in the hope of becoming the Australian Road Champion for 2003.  The course was a 10km loop that we had to ride 10 times.  It started and finished in Warrenhiep street, Buninyong.

The course had a 2km open climb up the Midland highway, and then turned left towards the top and climbed another 1km, kicking more steeply near the top.  The back section of course was undulating and while the final 4km consisted of 2km’s of a narrow and twisting descent and the other 2km’s was an open descent into the main street of Buninyong and through the start / finish line.

On the very first lap, on the steep twisting section of the descent I had a puncture.  I rode over something that put a 2cm slash across my back wheel and after a loud explosion, I found myself on the rim at 58km/hr.  I managed to stop safely and got the back wheel out before neutral support got to me.  By the time I had another back wheel in, the peloton were out of sight.

I remember John Beasley telling me not to panic as he pushed me off and I set out to time trial back on.  When I came into the start/finish straight the peloton were already half way up the climb, so I estimated that I was at least 2mins30sec behind them.  After another 10km loop I had moved to within 30sec of the group.  On the 3^rd ascent, Wood attacked and a break of Wood, Riakos and Shirley was established.  I held a 30sec gap for the 3^rd lap but the gap stretched out to 45sec on the 4^th lap.  I had been time trialling for 35km and knew that without a team mate I wouldn’t get back on and call it a day.  It was a very disappointing day for me and to be defeated by a mechanical incident was frustrating.

Oliva Gollan bridged across to the break on the 9^th lap as Riakos dropped back to the remaining peloton.  On the final lap, Gollan attacked up the climb and soloed her way to her biggest win ever.  Wood and Shirley kept the chasing group at bay and fought out 2^nd and 3^rd placings, respectively.

1 Olivia Gollan (NSW) NSWIS                   3.03.53 (33.28 km/h)

2 Oenone Wood (ACT) ACTAS-Cooma Cycles           0.26

3 Kym Shirley (Qld) Itera                        0.28