Bay Criterium No 3 (Australian Criterium Championships) – Geelong – 4^th January 2002

Conditions: Clear skies, 22ºC

Today was a tough 800m hotdog circuit on Eastern Beach, held at dusk.  The hill overlooking the course was packed with interested spectators.  Each end of the circuit had a tight U turn, which unfortunately saw a few crashes in both the men’s and women’s fields.

Again, the pace today was furious.  Some riders were off the back of the peleton in the first lap, and riders continued to be lapped throughout the race.  Positioning was crucial to be able to stay in the action and have a chance at getting into a break.  The Victorian race plan today was to consistently attack the field and try and establish a break, without the presence of Rochelle.

Many small single rider breaks developed, but all were chased down by the NSW team.  Just after the 30min mark, Katie Mactier, Hayley Rutherford, Olivia Gollan and I managed to slip away.  We all thought this break would last as we’d been away for several laps and were putting time into the bunch.  However an impressive chase by the NSW team, again bought the field back together.  Subsequent attacks by the Victorians were all closed down, but with 4 laps to go Hayley Rutherford made a move and the bunch hesitated.  A few attempts to bridge to her didn’t succeed and she quickly put a 50m gap between her and the bunch.  With a lap to go, it was clear she was going to win the championship, and so the bunch became more interested in positioning for the final sprint for 2^nd.

The final results were: Hayley Rutherford (WA) 2 Rochelle Gillmore (NSW) 3 Tania Duff Miller (NZl).  Katie Mactier took the bronze medal as the 3^rd best placed Australian and I finished somewhere around 11^th in the final sprint.