Overall a very successful weekend. It was quite exhausting to be fair. I was planning on sneaking in some training - but we arrived in Palmerston North to blizzard conditions!! My plan to sneak out for a cheeky 4hr and a bit hour trash around my old stomping grounds went out the window with snow to low levels, and a howling wind that just cut you to the bone! So for the 5 days away it ended up being, get out of bed and go for an run before breakfast each morning, and one team ride with the girls.
Friday was team training day, over the time trial course. The weather had improved a little from Thursday - it was only a strong wind and quite cold - no sleet and you had some visibility. The coaches drew straws on who was taking which teams (3 coaches and 4 teams) - although being the only male I was assured of the short straw! Somehow Scott managed to get out of riding as he was officially with Westlake boys. The girls were a bit more "fluffy" than normal, and there was a bit more dithering on top of that. It seamed to take twice as long to do half as much. But that was OK - we had all day!! Sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut and go with the flow! The atmosphere was very positive, just that there was probably a little more nerves than usual.
Saturday was the main day as far as the team goes - with the team time trials! When we arrived, I was immediately dragged off to the team tent and threatened with face paint - "Tony we can do one side red and the other side blue!!". Oh dear... I managed to negotiate back to war strips and a bit of writing on the hands. A few of the girls were very nervous today - far more than usual, and a fair amount more than I expected. A few words to focus minds on things they could control, rather than things they could not, which appeared to help, then it was say less rather than spew out nonsense!
The results were very good - the Junior A were second, very good as they lost their 4th rider very early on -so did that on 3 riders only. The Senior B team were a very creditable 4th, a great team result, and the Senior A won the Team time trial Title in a very dominant performance. Great stuff! The senior boys team time trial was a fantastic race, with the top 4 teams effectively on exactly the same time with 2km to go, with that last 2 km resulting in an 18 second spread by the finish (4 seconds covered the first 3).
The next day was the road race, a 16 km circuit with a longer gradual climb early on and a then a gradual descent, with the finish on the start of the gradual up, and into the wind. My advice for most was, if it comes to a sprint, leave it as late as possible (last 50-100m, even if you cant sprint!), the uphill is solid whether you can climb or not, and don't be afraid to attack on the down hill (it was not technical), as others may not expect that. In the earlier races, no break-aways really worked, but we managed to change that. Bex broke away with Maddy Dillon, and the 2 rode away from a chasing bunch of 5, that included 3 from the same school (which should be able to work will together well), with Maddy winning the 2-up sprint. Sammy Morreau also managed to maintain a 2-up break away, and rolled through for 2nd. Amelia could not maintain her early break and had to do the sprint finish thing in the senior girls race - obviously listened intently to my advise and started the sprint about 400m out. There is no way she should have held the sprint all the way to the line, but some very determined grit managed to get her another cycling title - not bad for a triathlete. The 3rd day of racing was a criterium around manfield motor racing track, with the winner coming from sprint points through the race. The weather packed a bit of a sad, and the later races were in rain (yuck). The high lights were young Jonty Morreau showing some form to win the under 14 boys race, Bex Burridge picking up a sprint in a break to get a 3rd (so managed a 1st in the TTT, 2nd in the road race, and a 3rd in the crit).
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