5 days of track racing at the National Track Championships in Manchester saw a small, but perfectly formed Horizon Fitness Racing Team present in all the women’s endurance events. For me, it was the first time I’d ridden as part of a Team Pursuit squad and I was excited for the end of the Championships so I could join up with team mates Dani King and Alex Greenfield for the 3km event.
Throughout the week, Dani and I had been picking up silver or bronze medals, with me in the Individual Pursuit and Dani in the Madison and Points races, and a bronze for Dani in the Scratch race too. There was no doubt that Horizon Fitness girls had shown as the most consistent and dominating women’s team in the endurance events at the Championships, with Hannah Rich and Alex Greenfield playing a big part in the races where Dani medalled. So, by the end of the week we were all hoping we could go one better and win the Team Pursuit.
Last year had been the first time the event had been included in the Championships, but due to lack of entries it had been cancelled at the last minute, much to the disappointment of all who had put teams together. This year, the entry remained small, but there were enough teams to contest for medals and it was exciting to go through the qualification round and see how fast each of the teams would be.
For Horizon Fitness, we were in the penultimate heat of the qualification, and after problems outside of our control at our team pursuit camp, the qualification would be the first time we’d done a team formation start, so we were all a bit nervous.
I went out of the gate, with Dani in second wheel and Alex in third. My week at the Championships had been a really mixed bag. Whilst the downloaded power files showed there is plenty of grunt there and some good averages in my races, I was lacking in efficiency it would seem, and I didn’t achieve the sort of times I thought my form and fitness improvements would have allowed. I had also been struggling to get my usual start, which can be down at a high 21 or low 22 second first lap. I desperately didn’t want to let my team mates down, and knowing they were starting higher up the track waiting to get onto my wheel meant I was able to really drive and get the gear moving.
Our plan was for me to do slightly longer turns, and so I was on a bigger gear than Dani and Alex, which worked out well as I never felt I was spinning too much and could put the power down. I swung up after a lap and a quarter to let Dani take her first lap, and as I settled on the back, I knew we were riding a lot quicker than our practice day at Newport. Alex maintained the high speed and I was back to the front to take us through to the end of our first kilo. We kept the pressure on, changing strongly and with a consistent line round the track. Black in the bankings, drifting to the red in the straights. It was brilliant to know exactly where the girls would be as I changed, and the consistency of that line gave us all confidence to pedal hard through our changes and deliver our team mates into their turn without a drop in speed.
Our schedule was bang on at 3.35 and as we crossed the line to see that time on the board, it felt amazing to have achieved our aim for qualification and, on a personal note, I felt brilliant! None of the same empty leg feeling I’d had in my individual rides, just a feeling of power with control.
With Orbea’s line up of Bex Romero, Emilie Fisher and Jan Birkmyre clocking a 3.45 in the last heat of qualifying, we would be up against them in the final.
The timings for Saturday made it just one long session that had started at 2pm and ended up finishing at gone 8pm. So for working out when we were on for the final, we had to keep a close eye on the keirin heats, the men’s team pursuit minor finals, and the junior men’s madison. It didn’t seem long before we were back on our rollers and formulating a plan for the final. Not knowing whether Orbea had left something for the final, we decided to give me a longer starting turn, before settling into the same format we’d had for the qualification. Knowing I could wind the speed up to our race speed by myself and then recover slightly for my next turn meant that we all knew we could ride at a slightly higher speed than the qualification without losing formation or causing gaps to grow.
Waiting for the start was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Knowing we had a change to our schedule that we hoped made us stronger for the final was very reassuring, but it was also nerve-wracking to think about getting the techniques right at the higher speed.
I needn’t have worried - as a team we were the perfect fit; sharing the speed at the front perfectly to make sure we didn’t slow down or suddenly accelerate or 'kick through' when we were on the front. After a quicker first kilo, we could see Orbea in the same straight and it was so motivating to know that if we held our pace and stayed in control that we might catch them before the end of the ride. We were all prepared to ride the full distance, so that meant there was no sudden change of speed on the front and no one person thinking differently to the others. It was a controlled way to catch a team, and with each of us having full confidence in the wheel in front, we made the catch and were crowned National Champions.
The feeling of winning with your team mates is fantastic, and after our success as a squad on the road, it was the perfect end to our first season of riding together, to also win as a team on the track. Climbing onto the top of the podium and doing our lap of honour with our National Champions' jerseys on was a great feeling. Big thanks to Courtney Rowe for walking our schedule on track side and for the support of my own former club mates at V C St Raphael who, despite preparing their A team for a National Championship jersey in the men’s team pursuit, found the time to help us to the line and support from the track centre. But also a big thanks and well done to Dani and Alex. I couldn’t have asked for a better team performance in my first race in Team Pursuit and I’m looking forward to more to come!
Sarah x
For more information about the Horizon Fitness Racing Team, visit www.onthedrops.com.