Hanford Criterium

By Tracey Ford
Date: March 26, 2006
Category: Women 1/2
Filed Size: About 25
Teammates: None
Place: 2nd
Winner: Lisa Hunt, Olympic Club

Ahhhh, sun and a flat course -- much better for me. If my legs hadn't been so tired from Saturday, it would have been perfect.

The race started out fast and seemed to stay that way for the entire time. There were a lot of attacks coming from Olympic Club, Proman and Trummer Pils. Since I was racing by myself, I tried to race smart. I covered the attacks that I thought would stick and drove the pace at the front when we needed to. Cynthia and Lisa worked really well together and almost always had someone up the road. I knew they would be the two to watch. Half way through the race Cynthia attacked and managed to stay away for a long time. I got worried it would stick, so I attacked to catch her. I unfortunately got stuck half way between her and the field and couldn't seem to make up any time. We only had 6 more laps to go and I knew I couldn't stick it out, so I folded back in the pack to rest. We caught Cynthia and immediately, Lisa went off the front and stayed there. On the last lap, Nicola jumped as we hit the second to last corner. I folded in about 5 racers back. We came out of the last corner and I managed to out sprint everyone to the finish (except Lisa who was able to stay away). 1st, 2nd and 3rd got podium shots with bouquets of flowers and an envelope w/cash -- nice!!