Womens 3/4/mstrs Nutmeg - 6-13-09
Nutmeg Games
Saturday 13 Jun 09
23 starters
Loraine Warner – 3rd
Katherine Snell – 4th
Shannon Madison – 12th
Erica Mains – 14th
Joy Stark – DNF (crash)
Loraine Warner:
The finish of this race always sneaks up on you, as a result, I knew that I needed to pay attention to the lap cards. My plan was to work for Shannon, who is on the cusp of being able to upgrade. As usual, there were a fair number of surges in the field but no one was able to get away. We were combined with the 3’s though results would be separate, so I kept my eye on people’s numbers, knowing that I didn’t need to sprint against anyone in the 700s (4s were in the 600s). I stayed near the front for the majority of the race, but had slipped back a bit when I finally looked for the lap cards and saw just 4 to go. Around the back-side I heard a wheel blow behind me and then bikes crashing and hoped that my teammates didn’t go down. I managed to maneuver myself near the front again and on the last lap was happy with my position, sitting 3rd wheel on the inside coming into the final corner. I kept my eye on the numbers and stayed on a cat 3 wheel for the acceleration of the sprint. I was thrilled to cross the line in 3rd, 6th overall. The lap cards were tough to read, though, and I think several people in the race didn’t realize that that was the last lap. On the cool down lap is when I discovered that our own Joy Stark had gone down. She suffered a mild concussion and some unpleasant road rash, but was otherwise ok. A huge thanks goes out to Keith, our NEBC VP, who was there for support and help, and to Katherine Snell who drove Joy home. NEBC rox!!! J Feel better Joy, and no more crashing!
Katherine Snell:
The Category 4 race was delayed considerably by crashes that occurred in the Men’s Pro/1/2 race. As such the officials again decided to combine us with the Category 3s so we were a pretty large group of about 40. The chief official also muttered something about shortening the race due to all the delays. Since it was to be determined by time rather than number of laps, I reminded myself to watch the lap cards. Being combined with the 3s this year also made the strategy relatively easy – stay up with the lead group of 3s and make sure no 4s were too close near the end. It also eliminated the possibility of the fields passing and re-passing and having 4s latching onto the 3 field like they had last year. The pace of this race was considerably slower than the Master’s race and I had a relatively easy time moving up in the pack to stay with the lead group which was mainly Cat 3s. By the time I remembered to check, we had only five laps to go. At four to go there was a crash which then caused mass confusion and shifting of the field as we went by and made it difficult to maintain position. Hence on the final lap, I was not in ideal position as we accelerated up the hill. However I was able to wind up good speed coming out of the final turn and passed over a third of the field to finish in fourth place right behind Loraine who took third. Unfortunately one of our teammates, Joy Stark, was involved in the crash. She had no fractures but did have a mild concussion and lots of scrapes. She did get checked out at the hospital later and is OK and hopefully able to ride again soon.
Women’s 40+
14 starters
Katherine Snell – 3rd
I sandwiched the Nutmeg Crit in around my daughter’s weekend soccer tournament. After the first game and my other daughter’s piano lesson, we had a quick lunch and hit the road to arrive just in time to register and get a warm-up in for the Master’s race. I had been thinking that Master’s race was going to be a little easier this year but quickly dispelled that notion when I caught a glimpse of the Stars and Bars of Annmarie Miller. That notion was completely erased when the judges decided to combine the 30+ and 40+ fields, adding an additional crop of fast women including our own Rebecca Wellons and Brooke O’Connor. At that point it my thoughts were more like “Oh well, this is going to a good warm-up for the Cat 4 race”. We started and Annmarie Miller moved to the front. I sat in near Rebecca and Brooke and prepared myself to counter any attacks that went off and started to move up in the peleton. I was quite content to let Annmarie do the work and it seemed like Brooke and Rebecca were using this race as a warm-up for their next two. Around the fourth lap I was near the front for a prime lap when Annmarie hit the gas to go for the prime. I decided to go with her and came very close to taking it (in fact I thought I might have nipped her for it). I sat back in to rest and at the next prime, Rebecca and Brooke went up to contest the sprint. They then stayed out for the next prime and then were eventually brought back around lap 8 so that we were altogether for the final sprint. I stayed with the field up the hill but didn’t start my sprint in earnest until after the final corner and overtook several riders, including Annmarie to finish third.
Race 65+
13 Starters
Annette Kennedy – 6th
They asked us if we wanted to do as many laps as the 55 and we said yes. So a 10 lap race went to a 14 lap race.
Ed Lang NEBC, John Auer, Somerset rider and David Burnett, MCRA champ took off right out of the gate. I chased. It took me almost one lap to catch them they attacked on the hill each time. I fought hard to stay with them. At the end of lap 7 I just could not hold it any longer….DROPPED on lap 7. The rest of the field caught me after 2 more laps. The 55 came through and slowed us all done with 3 laps to go. Resting! The 65 decided not to go through as we were sure they would catch us on the sprint and threat makes for messy finish. I came around the bend on the home stretch passed a few riders and tried to get by the NH cycling rider we crossed the line together for a 5/6 finish. The other three riders who rode off at the beginning of the race had finished in front of the 55+
I had a good race and was happy to stay with the leaders for 7 laps, next time I’m going for 9 laps.