Omega stage race - Portsmouth

Chris and I thought we would go and try out the Omega Stage Race - a 2 stage event consisting of a time trial and circuit race. The course – the Mountbatten Cycle Circuit resembled a velodrome and having spent numerous hours on the track over the winter I was quite looking forward to the 2 lap TT.

I came 2nd in the TT whilst Chris managed to beat the whole Cat 3 men’s field and came 1st. (Much to our surprise given his bike was definitely not of the Time Trial variety!)

After a successful morning and a brief lunch stop, we both lined up for the circuit race in the afternoon. The Men’s Cat 3 and Women’s E1234 race were put together. As you can imagine, I was slightly nervous about cycling with the Cat 3 Men having only moved up from Cat 4 women last week but I was up for the challenge……

As we set off the pace kept changing dramatically which was definitely an experience. I managed to hang onto the bunch for 3 lung busting laps before being chucked out the back. Frustrating but brilliant! Having been lapped, I managed to get back in the group and a further 4 laps in the group. By this point I had learnt that I probably haven’t done enough training recently and also being at the back of the group is not the place you want to be, especially in a big bunch!

Chris managed to stay in the bunch the whole way and came in 3rd in the sprint for the line at the end, securing him the overall win!

I came in 3rd in the Crit and 3rd overall and had a fun day. Definitely up for another Men’s Cat 3 race at some point soon...

Charmaine