Last weekend our last race meet was raced at our home track in South Australia. The Superdrome was cold and slow as we turned up to compete over two days. The first day was the sprint and the girls were matched up with some men around the same pace when we're at our peak. Obviously being winter and 3months out from an important meet the form wasn't so great and my sprint qualification time was a direct reflection of the training I have been doing as well as the direction I want to head in with my racing. As a result I qualified quite poorly and set myself up with the hard task of meeting a male in the first round. I raced off against Mark Glowacki from South Australia who qualified in 11.6 - definitely not an unbeatable opponent. I raced really well but was out jumped and beaten fairly easily. As a result I was into the B-Finals in which I raced off against all the remaining girls. First up I met youngster Cassie Flugee from Western Australia and won, then I met Junior Worlds representative Holly Williams also from Western Australia and won and then in the final I met fellow New South Wales team mate Cass Kell in which I also won. All in all I actually raced really well which is an improvement from Perth GP, now all I need is the speed!
The following day we had an early start, after a late night and went straight into a Team Sprint at 10am on Sunday morning! (OUCH!). I always say that the first Team Sprint of the season hurts the most and my philosophy held up well as I was in some serious pain at the end of both the heat and final. Anna and I won easily and were content with our time considering the conditions however we have a lot of work to do to get back to our World Record pace!
In between the Team Sprints we had Keirin races and we were once more matched up with the same males from the sprint the day before. I drew one of the harder heats and raced really well but was out classed by the two males in the race and had to go through the rep to get back into the second round. In the rep I had an easy heat and finished easily in the top three to make it through to the second round. In the second round I had my work cut out for me and just missed out in making the major final in a photo finish. I was a little annoyed but pretty happy with my race as I did very well. So I was into the B-final. In the B-final one of the guys decided to take a flyer a fair way out from the finish and I was forced to chase him down. After leading out one Keirin and riding two team sprints I was pretty stuffed and whilst I managed to mow him down I couldn't quite get over the top of him and had to settle for 8th overall.
I was actually very pleased with the weekends racing and have decided it was a good step forward tactically for me. Whilst I didn't have the speed or gas to go with my improved tactical awareness I am satisfied that I am on the right rack for the Commonwealth Games and beyond.
On a disappointing note we have just found out that a few of the key Great British riders are pulling out of the Commonwealth Games. Victoria Pendleton is the current World and Olympic Champion in the Sprint and she has decided not to participate in the games due to a conflict in preparation for the season. I have an appreciation for this decision as I am sure it was a hard one, but at the same time its disappointing to not get the opportunity to race against her. Having said that there are still a number of key competitors to race against and I look forward to the challenge that lies ahead in claiming those gold medals for Australia.
Next up the team and I are preparing for our training camp in America. I am looking forward to getting over there and soaking up the sunshine. After 4weeks there we head to Switzerland to meet up with the whole Australian Team for the Games before heading to Delhi to compete. I will definitely keep you all posted (hopefully with some photos!).
Take care all : )
Karls (or K-Mac as my coach calls me!)
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