Ok, so we raced the Berlin half marathon on Sunday. Not quite the results that I would have liked, but that's ok. Usually the beginning of the season is always the hardest, as you have to get back into the racing mode rather than the 6 months of training mode.
The weather was beautiful with the sun shining and blue sky, you would think it would be a warm day. Nope, not for us Aussies, still as cold as ever. We got lost on the way to the track so arrived just in time to put our skates on and skate to the start line. We had no warm up and with it so cold, it was not the greatest of circumstances. If we were any later, we would have missed the start.
This was the first race for the German Inline Blade Challenge Competition or GBC, so all the big teams (in Germany) were there. The Pro Woman were the first to start followed by Pro Men with a 5min delay. The Woman's group was very slow with no attempted breakaways, no one wanting to lead, nothing. I had a tip at the beginning that once I saw the 'red' houses, there was one more corner then a 200mt straight to the finish. Well, I kept on seeing red houses around the whole course, and because we had no time to see the track before the start, I had no clue where I was.
It came down to the final stages of the race and I tried to get in behind the Zepto girls - they're the winning team in Germany. We were still going at the speed of snails. There was 4 Zepto girls then myself then Powerslide. After a bit of scrapping to try and get behind the better two of the Zepto girls, I settled into 4th. We came to the last corner and as the Zepto girls went to the far right side of the road to sprint, a train of Powerslide girls came up on the outside, so then across the road with me on the left side, there was Zepto & Powerslide. I got tangled with one of the powerslide girls and ended up starting my sprint late. By the time I got going, I was closing on one of the Powerslide girls but in the end ran out of road.
Results were Zepto 1, 2 Powerslide 3, myself 4. Not the best result to have, but ok for my first race. I have no speed at the moment and only endurance, so as the season goes on, my speed will come. I am confident of that.
As for Mick, a break away went from the very start while he was lined up on the very back line (he wasn’t allowed to start on the front line). He was still cold from no warm up and tried to make his way to the front. By the time he got there, a break away group of 7 had gone. They stayed away for the whole race.
About 2km from the finish, everyone started yelling and screaming and he thought they meant there was a sharp corner coming, so he skated to the other side of the road to get a big sweep at it, when then he realized he was going the wrong way. He had to wait for everyone to turn around before he could and then chase them down. He finally caught the pack with about 500mt to go, passed about half the pack and came about 8th in the sprint. He was disappointed with the result but happy with his end sprint.
This weekend we leave for Trois Pistes in France where we have 3 track races. More on that soon.
The weather was beautiful with the sun shining and blue sky, you would think it would be a warm day. Nope, not for us Aussies, still as cold as ever. We got lost on the way to the track so arrived just in time to put our skates on and skate to the start line. We had no warm up and with it so cold, it was not the greatest of circumstances. If we were any later, we would have missed the start.
This was the first race for the German Inline Blade Challenge Competition or GBC, so all the big teams (in Germany) were there. The Pro Woman were the first to start followed by Pro Men with a 5min delay. The Woman's group was very slow with no attempted breakaways, no one wanting to lead, nothing. I had a tip at the beginning that once I saw the 'red' houses, there was one more corner then a 200mt straight to the finish. Well, I kept on seeing red houses around the whole course, and because we had no time to see the track before the start, I had no clue where I was.
It came down to the final stages of the race and I tried to get in behind the Zepto girls - they're the winning team in Germany. We were still going at the speed of snails. There was 4 Zepto girls then myself then Powerslide. After a bit of scrapping to try and get behind the better two of the Zepto girls, I settled into 4th. We came to the last corner and as the Zepto girls went to the far right side of the road to sprint, a train of Powerslide girls came up on the outside, so then across the road with me on the left side, there was Zepto & Powerslide. I got tangled with one of the powerslide girls and ended up starting my sprint late. By the time I got going, I was closing on one of the Powerslide girls but in the end ran out of road.
Results were Zepto 1, 2 Powerslide 3, myself 4. Not the best result to have, but ok for my first race. I have no speed at the moment and only endurance, so as the season goes on, my speed will come. I am confident of that.
As for Mick, a break away went from the very start while he was lined up on the very back line (he wasn’t allowed to start on the front line). He was still cold from no warm up and tried to make his way to the front. By the time he got there, a break away group of 7 had gone. They stayed away for the whole race.
About 2km from the finish, everyone started yelling and screaming and he thought they meant there was a sharp corner coming, so he skated to the other side of the road to get a big sweep at it, when then he realized he was going the wrong way. He had to wait for everyone to turn around before he could and then chase them down. He finally caught the pack with about 500mt to go, passed about half the pack and came about 8th in the sprint. He was disappointed with the result but happy with his end sprint.
This weekend we leave for Trois Pistes in France where we have 3 track races. More on that soon.
3 comments:
Awesome Tomb Raider!! Keep it up you 2.
:)
a2
Thanks Alvin. How's everything going back home? How's your knee injury? Any better?
Hi Dude,
Club is busy at the Nationals at the moment. I have not seen any results yet, only what Craig told me so far. The Senior ladies relay apparently won but the Master got DQD! Knees are heaps better and heaps stronger. Got a Criterium race to do on Anzac Day so hopefully I can finish in the 1st 10 but anythingc an happen that day. hey, no report about the track racing you did in France? tsk tsk.. I saw your name - 4th! I think Mick came 7th. Give us some more info.
Take care dudes and make sure you put in more photos.
a2
Post a Comment