Well if I had been told I would be walking away with a gold, 2 silvers, a bronze and a 5th place after being bed bound for 6 weeks, I would have said ‘yeah right... I wish’, but as it happens I’ve shocked myself and a lot of other people. I was really nervous going into the championships as I really didn’t know how I’d be going. I packed a lot of training in after having glandular fever and so knew I was fit, I just didn’t know if I’d be fit enough. The first event was the Madison. Initially I thought I'd be riding with Lauren Therin, however tragically a close family member of hers died very close to the event so she understandably pulled out of the championships.
The night before I phoned Ella Hopkins (a very good friend of mine) who I knew would be up for riding, and she was. With no preparation, we had no expectations or pressure, but managed to come away with a silver medal. I was chuffed and felt like it was a good warm up for my first individual event the next day... 120 lap point’s race!
I was looking forward to the race, nervous but excited! It couldn’t have started any better. I think I was 20 points ahead of the 2nd rider so thought I had it in the bag. I felt really strong and no-one was coming round me when I lead it out for the sprints. Corrine went off the front and I kept rolling to the black line to keep the pace up, however because I had such a big lead I was being followed, and as soon as I swung up so did everyone else. Corrine got the lap and there were 3 points between us going into the last sprint. Hannah tried to lead me out but I didn’t have the legs to win the sprint, which is what I needed to do to take the title. I felt I was the strongest in the bunch, however I guess that's bike racing and so I had to then start thinking about the next race... the pursuit.
There was no pressure on me for this event as I wasn’t even going to ride the week before, I had done no pursuit type training at all, and hadn’t ridden a 3k all year. I ended up 5th with a time of 3.49, which was the same as the year before which I had trained for. This was a positive for me as I know if I trained specifically for the event I would go a lot quicker.
The scratch was a very slow race, which worked well for me as I was going for the sprint. I ended up on the front with 4 to go and didn’t want to swing up and get boxed in. I stayed on the front keeping the pace steady and keeping the other riders on my hip. The pace got faster and with 1 lap to go, I got out the saddle when I saw Anna Blythe on the right of me. She managed to get round me after I spent so long on the front, and Harriet Owen rolled me on the line after timing her sprint well on Anna’s wheel. Overall I was pleased with the result.
The team pursuit was the last event of the week. I was so excited knowing we could put in a really good performance. Courtney Rowe (my coach) was great wilth helping us out with schedules and tactics, and it couldn’t of gone any better. We posted a time 10 seconds quicker than 2nd place in the qualifier, and were able to catch our opponents to win gold in the final. Sarah and Alex were great and we worked really well as a team!
Overall, I’m really happy with my performance over the week! Next for me is an operation to remove my tonsils and adenoids on 1st Oct, then I'm off to Gran Caneria with Becky James for a belated summer holiday!
For more information about the Horizon Fitness Racing Team, visit www.onthedrops.com.