Fast and Frantic Fun

After the half-iron I was on such a high, it was great! I felt fit and rearing to go, so much so that 4 days later I was on the M6 on my way to event 3 of the Midland's Women TT Series.  My journey and preparation was pretty horrendous:  As the earlier good weather deteriorated into rather cool and drizzly conditions so too did the traffic on the M6.  4 of the women's series riders got caught up in the chaos, spending over 2 hours stuck in the jams.  Fortunately I arrived with enough time to sign on, get my bike out the car, and start the race! I was looking forward to an 'eye balls out' event following the more controlled, paced event the previous weekend.  Anyway, I set off like a bull in a china shop and didn't seem to fade, which was a great feeling! In fact, when the finish line came it was a bit too soon as I still had a bit more 'fight' in me! I won the event overall and set a new women's course record which I was delighted with. I was closely followed by Liz & Sue who are not far behind me in the overall series standings:

Pos	Name	Club	Time
1	Samantha Anderson	Team Jewson	0:23:12
2	Liz Powell	Mike Vaughn Cycles	0:23:47
3	Susan Semple	Stafford Cycle Club	0:23:50

3 days after that it was back to my roots in Coventry for my running club's 10k.  My sister was doing it too, and Chris randomly decided on the morning that he too wanted to run, Mum and my niece Issy were coming to watch, so it was a real family day out! Despite knowing the route like the back of my hand, the hills seemed a lot harder when you were trying to run up them quickly! I felt tired pretty much the whole way round but it was a good tempo run and the support, marshalling and organisation of the race was fantastic! My fellow club-mate Amanda Deavy had a fantastic run to finish in a podium position....oh to be able to run that fast! My time didn't even place me in the top 10 women but it was still a very enjoyable morning:

Runner	Club	Time
Kim Fawke	Telford AC	35:56
Eleanor Fowler	Nuneaton Harriers	37:06
Amanda Deavy	Northbrook AC	38:14
Juliette Minter	Olney Runners	38:31
Nardia Poole	Kenilworth Runners	38:55
Amie Fithern	Unattached	39:49
Riina Kuuselo	Knowle & Dorridge	40:15
Carolyn Wilkinson	Spa Strides	40:37
Louise Collins	Stourbridge Runners	40:44
Amanda O’Leary	Knowle & Dorridge	41:03
Dawn Compton	Stratford AC	42:41
Sarah Wheeler	Stratford AC	42:44
Samantha Anderson	Northbrook AC	43:06

My sister ran a great race (despite being hungover) in just over 50 minutes and Chris had a great 10k debut in 46:06 which given how hilly (&hot) the course is was brilliant! Following the morning's efforts, some lovely people of Allesley Village had opened up their gardens for a nice afternoon of garden walking, wine tasting and cake eating (that's more like it!).

After these 2 races I was getting a taste for single sport racing again - they're much cheaper and involve much less kit! So on Sunday it was back to another Women's Series 10 TT and this time it was to also count as the Midlands Championships! I didn't come as high up as I would have liked but did work really hard and am racing much more consistently across these time trials.  I always have a little too much left at the finish - which I'm sure will come with time as I get better at pacing.  I thought I had finished 5th overall but the results this morning confirm I was 6th in 24:23 and was the 4th ladies series rider back. 

 

1	Helen Boatman	Team Milton Keynes	00:23:10
2	Rosie Armitage	Team Echelon - Rotor	00:23:24
3	Claire Sadler	Baines racing	00:24:09
4	Suzy Patience	Banbury Star CC	00:24:13
5	Tori Plant	Rugby RCC	00:24:22
6	Sam Anderson	Team Jewson - MI Racing - CNP	00:24:23
7	Liz Powell	MikeVaughan.co.uk	00:24:26
8	Emily Whitmore	Loughborough Uni cycling club	00:24:28
9	Sue Semple	Stafford RC	00:24:46
10	Libby McLaren	Coventry RC	00:24:50

Rosie Armitage now wins the series overall with an unbeaten record. I'm coming 2nd with a first, a second and a fourth but both Claire & Suzy are not far behind with an event in hand.  It looks like it may come down to the final events to determine the final 3.   I've tried to work out points to date, so unofficially top of the standings league looks something like this:

Name		Club	Event 1	Event 2	Event 3	Event 4	Event 5	Event 6	Event 7	Total of best 3
Rosie	Armitage	Team Echelon-Rotor	100	100		100				300
Samantha	Anderson	Team Jewson-MI Racing	94		100	79				282
Susan	Semple	Stafford RC	75	79	86	63				240
Liz	Powell	Mike Vaughan Cycles	50	71	93	71				240
Claire	Sadler	Baines Racing Silverstone		93		93				187
Suzy	Patience	Banbury Star CC		86		86				161

All in all, 3 fast, frantic and furious races that have been great fun. (Oh & I better just boost Chris's ego a little more and say that him & Phil won the tandem event at the Midland's Champs in 20:23, although I think if Emily Whitmore & I had a tandem we'd give them a run (or ride!) for their money!)