Report by Tamara Bessette
Cow Country......
One of the toughest courses I have ever raced on. The first year I raced it was in 1990 (maybe 91) ....soloed in for the win. Soloed in yesterday too...but for 2nd behind an incredibly worthy opponent...Amy Frykman.
The womens race was well attended including NRO riders Joey Lenaburg, Kellie Carim, new rider Megan Fisher, Lindsy Campbell, and myself. GAS team looked strong including Lisa Curry, Amy C., Anna Dingman, Julie Z. Pro triathlete Jen Leubke had us all worried. There were several new women in the field - great to see them out there. And of course, the one we all were marking, Team Delphine's Amy Frykman.
Lindsy, Joey and I all had a plan for this year......to do better than last year. I placed last in the 1/2/3's ; Lindsy and Joey both suffered alone for most of the 49 miles and did not place as well as they wanted.
Unlike the Men's race, our race was pretty quiet for the first 8 miles. The hill started and so did the suffering. Amy Frykman and Jen crested first, 50m back was me, another 100m was Lisa Curry and Lindsy Campbell. I chased but could not close. Saw Amy ride Jen off and knew it was time to let the two behind catch so we could work together to at least catch Jen. We did.
Our next goal was to catch Amy. We kept her in sight - but with the tail wind and the motor that Amy has got going right now, i knew it probalby wasn't going to happen. It did not.
With about 7 miles to go I found myself with Lisa and Jen. I did not want to roll the dice on a sprint so took my chances and pressed hard on a hill. It worked and I soloed in for second......good enough...I'll take it!!!! Jen 3rd, Lisa Curry 4th, Lindsy 5th, Amy C 6th, Anna 7th.
Next up was the 4's finish. At about the 1k Kellie Carim took a flier to get the W. Joey sprinted with Julie Z for a very close 3rd place finish. Nice job to both NRO women.
The word on the street is that the Men 1/2/3 87 mile race was lightning fast right out of the gates! Both Elliot and Josh Tack rode strong and placed high in the standings!
Our NRO Master Men also rode incredibly strong. Steve Zellmer placed 1st and found himself riding in solo with 17 miles left in the race! Mike Longmire found himself in a pack sprint to the finish line, and taking a commendable second place.
As far as the Men Cat 4 race is concerned, they raced hard as well. Joshua Phillips rode with Karl V., and Jesse Vernon for most of the race and end up finishing in a very respectable third place. Scott Lenaburg found himself riding into 4th place, and Blair Fischer taking 5th.
Congrats to all our new Cat 5 men as well: Jason Harding, Joe Oldenburg, Josh Martell, and Peter Young who won the cat 5 race.
No comments:
Post a Comment