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RACE REPORT: EAST YORKSHIRE CLASSIC CRIT

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Last night was my first race back after taking a couple of week’s rest (more on that in a future post). The East Yorkshire Classic event is a round of the BC elite circuit series for the men and, for the first time this year, they were running a women’s elite race in addition to the usual men’s support race. Sponsored by Hull based Jadan Press, the racing took place around the narrow streets of Beverly.

I was slightly worried about the weather, having seen the forecast for storms! With a couple of tight corners, cobbled sections and the generally technical nature of the course, that would have made for an interesting race… Thankfully however, it held out for us and we raced in hot, sunny weather.

First up it was the men’s 3/4 race, where team manager Neil was taking an evening out of retirement to race with fellow PH-MAS rider Nick Armitstead. As the women’s race was next up on the schedule I didn’t get to watch much though, instead spending most of it warming up on the rollers.

Since this was the first time a women’s race had been run and we had a few younger riders racing (the youngest being just 14), the commissaire asked us on the line to keep the bunch together until the prime on lap 10. However, after the 1 lap rolling start, the GB Cycles women put the hammer down straight away, splintering the bunch with attacks from the go.

My aim for this race was to stay with the front group. Criterium races usually go hard for the first 15mins or so, which up until now has made me panic, then tense up and start to struggle. Not this time! It was hurting, but I concentrated on controlling my heart rate and breathing, keeping a good position in the group but most of all RELAXING – (easier said than done over the cobbled section, I’ve heard my face was a picture). And it worked! When the pace settled a bit, I’d managed to stay in the lead group.

Iona Sewell (GB Cycles) was the first to attack, but was brought back by her teammates riding hard on the front. Brit Tate (also GB Cycles) then attacked and was away for most of the race, despite efforts from several riders to bring her back. Eventually however, she was pulled back, again by her own teammates’ efforts on the front of our chasing group.

With just a few laps left to go, Iona attacked again and gained a big gap on the group, which she held to take the win. This left the rest of our group to sprint for the remaining places. In all my excitement, I made the mistake of going on the front with 2 laps to go (oops) and so had to dig deep to find any energy for the sprint. In the end, I came 9th overall – my best result in an elite crit so far :)

Congrats to Iona Sewell, Flora Gilles and Brit Tate on 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Perhaps more importantly though, I really enjoyed it and felt a lot better than I have in a race for a while. Obviously needed a break!