Elite Nationals 2012

After Vineyards I flew to Christchurch with Emily and Kate to get ready for the 2012 elite nationals. This is my third year of competing in this race and I absolutely love it. The course is awesome with a 1.5 (ish) km climb up Dyers Pas on every lap (7 laps) and the rest on pretty flat roads that are fairly open to the wind. Unfortunately the start list was missing a few big names including Linda Villlumson and quite a few of the track riders, but it still had some pretty good talent including (dear I say it) some bloody good triathletes and also a handful of other International riders.

The race started off relatively slowly with most of the field in no particular rush. Sequoia Cooper and Lauren Ellis got in a break together early on and started gaining some good time on the main field. Coming up to the 4th lap Kate Mcilroy and I decided it would be a good idea to put some pressure on on the hill and try to get a little break going. Kate started the hill off at a good tempo, dropping quite a few of the riders, then half way up the hill I went to the front and had a go, forming a group of 4. We managed to catch Sequoia and Lauren and then dropped them on the hill. Coming into the last lap we had about 2 minutes on a chasing group of about 5. Reta Trotman unfortunately came off coming around the round-about and was unable to rejoin our group. So it was three of us battling it out on the climb. Nicky Samuels was too strong on the last 200 metres of the hill and rode away while Kate and I tried to keep her in sight. The last lap was quite a lot of pain, we worked hard together but were unable to pull her back in. I ended up finishing in 2nd place, which with all that has been going on in the last few months I was pretty happy about. Also, Reta Trotman had an amazing race after falling off. She got caught by the chasing 5 and then broke away from the on the hill finishing in 4th place.. a new rider who is super strong and one to watch for the future!

Need a little more practive opening champagne bottles I think.. a little bit slow.

Still trying...

On the subject of this year, I am now allowed to announce that I am in a professional womens cycling team called Kelly Benefit Strategies – Optum Health Pro Cycling. We will be managed by Rachel Heal who also managed the Colavita team last year (this team is basically Colavita except we have new sponsorship names and have joined up with the already existing men’s KBS team).
Because it is a top team I will be the worker for the year, trying to help out the top riders in the team as much as I can. This is an amazing opportunity and I really cannot wait. I would just like to thank some people who have made this possible for me, Including; Andy Reid, Richard Bates, Craigs Investment Partners, Koops Cycles, Tauranga Cycling Club, and most importantly, Mum and Dad!

I am off on February the 7th (just over a week eek) where I will be flying into LA for a 2 week training camp and then heading to Asheville, North Carolina where I will be based for the 7 months.

Will keep everyone updated!
Courteney =)