Junior National Championships - my last race before A-Levels

Sitting near the front early on watching
for attacks (Guy Swarbrick/swarbrick.com)

Leading up to the Junior National Championships at Brynmawr, I was slightly worried because I had been ill before the Cheshire Classic (having to settle for just sitting in and finishing in the bunch). I didn’t want another cold so had been taking it easy, although still raced the Tuesday night crit at Salt Ayre (couldn’t resist), finishing 8th with the 2/3/4 men!

We were greeted on arrival with warm sunny weather – unbelievable! It was going to be the first race of the year in double figures..! We all went to get changed and realised Nic, Hayley and Lauren all had bright pink nails - totally unplanned. On the way to debrief with Nic we saw all the Maxgear lads with Wayne. Stopped for a chat, and a quick picture, the boys wished us luck and we set off! As the race got underway, I decided to sit near the front as I knew that in the past few races that a break had got away. Myself and Nicola made a few attacks through the race but none getting very far.



Nicola off the front
(Guy Swarbrick/swarbrick.com)

With less than 15 miles to go I decided to go for a big attack. It was totally unplanned, but I got a gap of 10 seconds. I was gaining time, until one of the senior women decided to pull me back. She was able to out gear me on the very slight decent with only 6 miles to go. The finish was coming up fast, and I had just used up a lot of energy in the wind!




Crossing the finish line - 10th Junior
(Guy Swarbrick/swarbrick.com)

At the bottom of the 4km climb (5k to go) two seniors and a junior were away. I was on the front, but Nicola came round from the back to get me back up to the junior. As we reached the junior, Elinor Barker attacked and split the bunch in two. Unfortunatly due to the massive effort off the front, I couldn’t quite go with it and was stuck in no-man’s land with another girl. We started to gain on the lead bunch – containing all the favourites, but I got cramp and couldn’t make it (a lesson learned to drink more next time!!). I just about crawled over the finish line as 10th junior before anyone caught me.

An enjoyable race but not quite the result I was looking for. Unfortunately racing will take a back seat for a month now until all my A-Level exams are over.