November Update

I have just got back from spending just over a week in Invercargill for the 2012 Oceania champs and thought it would be time to do another wee update for everyone.
I headed down south on the 17th to get in some track training time and to find my track legs before the weeks racing which stated on Monday the 21st.

Monday was an action packed day; with a team sprint (only my second ever) where Victoria Steel and myself rode into 3rd place, team pursuit qualifying and final where Georgia Williams, Racquel Sheath and myself qualified 4th in the morning to go in the final that night against the elite New Zealand second team. We rode 3seconds faster in the final than what we did in qualifying and did a 3.33mins and finished up in 4th place, but very pleased with our time. My final race on Monday was the u19 7.5km scratch race where I got 3rd place.

Team sprint podium. 

On Tuesday I had my 2000m individual pursuit. In the morning's qualifying session I qualified in first in a time of 2.31.6mins. In the final I rode against Alysha Keith from Otago and winning in a personal best time of 2.30.2mins.

Individual Pursuit podium

Wednesday was much needed day off racing and gave me a good chance to catch up on some sleep as the night sessions tend to mean that we don't get to bed until after 11pm and have to get up at around 7am to get to the morning sessions in time, so sleep becomes quite limited.

My last race of the championships was the elite woman's points race which was up second to last on Thursday's night session. It was a very hard fast race and was a great race for the opportunity to have a play around and do a bit of learning. 80 laps on a track feels like a very long way and multiple attacks from both the kiwi and Australian girls kept us all on our toes. I ended up getting 5th place which I was pleased with considering the 4 riders who finished ahead of me were some very good elite women.

Final Sprint. (Photo from cycling Southland)

The Oceania's this year was a great trip and our team got on super well. It was very inspiring to see both the elite team and my team mates riding so strong and smashing so many records.

Also on Thursday night the Auckland ASB sports awards were on in Auckland, where I won the girls cycling category. I sadly could not make the dinner as I was still away racing but from what I heard it was a great night.

Finally next Wednesday night I have the Auckland Sport Excellence Awards for which I am a finalist in the junior sports woman of the year category, which should be a great night and a good chance to see some fantastic athletes at both junior and elite levels.

So it's now time to spend the summer getting ready for my last age group track nationals at the start of next year and what's looking to be a pretty busy 2012.

Georgina :)