Bay Series Criteriums – Race Reports

Rye – Bay Criterium – 2^nd January 2002

Conditions: Gusty winds, some sunshine, then rain, 20ºC (welcome to Melbourne)

The circuit for day 1 of the Bay series criteriums was held on a 600m loop on the foreshores of Rye.  The course was essentially a hotdog circuit with two relatively tight corners at either end and a cross headwind along the start / finish line straight.

Day 1 is always fast and today was no exception.  From the gun, the pace was on.  There were a number of attacks and counterattacks until eventually a break that stayed away was formed with Kristy Scrymgeour and Sara Caragan.  They hovered 50m off the front of the bunch for several laps but no one bridged across to them.  Eventually they started to gain time on the bunch and had a lead of 28 sec by the end of the race.

The pace took its toll on a number of riders with many girls retiring early from the race.  Perhaps the rain had something to do with it.  The course became increasingly slippery as the rain strengthened and the large white arrows became treacherous.  Luckily there were no falls however there were a number of wheel slides.

Kristy was too strong in the end and won the two man sprint from Sara.  In the main bunch, Rochelle took the bunch sprint for 3^rd, fellow Carnegie rider, Emma Rickards finished 8^th and I finished about 13^th – not a great day at the office for me (the legs stinking from the intensity) but it’s a long week and the pace will become more tolerable as the week progress.  So I hope to get a better result for myself and the club over the next few races.

Tomorrow we’re off to Barwon Heads and let’s hope the rain clears up to give us a dry race.