Jayco Geelong Bay Criterium Series

I rode the Jayco Geelong Bay Criteriums with the Drapac Property / Beasley Cycles team.  The women’s team consists of Katie Mactier, Dellys Franke, Emma Carney, Katrina Purcell and myself, while the men’s team consisted of Brett Aitkens, Brent Dawson, Ben Brooks, Mark Jamieson and Adam Murchie.

The men’s and women’s teams met for dinner on Tuesday evening in a private function room at the Stoke House, St Kilda with our sponsors Michael Drapac and John Beasley.  We were presented with our jerseys and talked about our plans for the five days of racing.

Day 2 – Rye – Wed 8^th January 2003

Conditions: Gusty winds, overcast, 20ºC

The circuit for day 1 of the Bay series criteriums was held on a 600m loop in a car park in Rye.  The course was essentially a hotdog circuit with two relatively tight corners at either end and a strong 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.  It was strung out in a single line for much of the race, making it very difficult to move up.  The pace took its toll on a number of riders with only 20 of us finishing out of a field of 63 starters.

My legs felt so heavy and unresponsive today so I was reasonably happy to finish 9th, while Katie finished 6^th.

Results:

1^st Rochelle Gilmore (NSWIS)
2^nd Kate Bates (NSWIS)
3^rd Alison Wright (ACT)
6^th Katie Mactier (Drapac Property / Beasley Cycles)
9^th Helen Kelly (Drapac Property / Beasley Cycles)