QSM Battle Report 2012...

The QSM/Upper Limb/DWBH/Velo women’s team performed admirably last weekend at their first NRS race for 2012. Lining up for women’s A were Jane Walker, Claire Trembath, Maddison Vit and Natalie Langer, while Jemma Brown battled on solo in her last series of races for women’s B.
In the short but technical TT, Claire (28th) and Maddi (27th) were only 1 minute off Rebecca Wiasek’s (Suzuki Trek) best time of 10:08. Jane W came in at 42nd spot, and Natalie at 62nd. Then in the first road race on Saturday afternoon, the QSM girls finished well up the front with Maddi in 11th place (almost a top 10!), Jane in at 16th place and Claire at 24th. Natalie unfortunately had some “issues” with muscle cramps, and although she comfortably made the selection over the first KOM, she finished her race solo in 53rd spot. Ruth Corset (Pensar Hawk, former AIS) won the stage that day and gained the overall lead.

The Sunday road race was also challenging but all the QSM girls were comfortable in the bunch. Some bad luck left Maddi chasing back onto the bunch after a flat tyre, and she finished way down on time. We expect much better things from her next race, since we know what potential she has. Jane and Claire did very well again and finished 19th and 22nd respectively. Natalie once again had muscle cramping problems most of the race (possibly due to low sodium levels), and despite racing assertively, she finished way down in 55th spot.

The criterium was quite fast and furious around Salt, with Maddi and Claire being the best QSM finishers in 20th and 30th respectively. Ruth Corset once again won the day, wrapping up the overall GC, with Wiasek 2nd and Chloe McConville (VIS) 3rd overall.

Meanwhile in women’s B, Jemma finished in 3rd spot in the TT (without a TT bike!), and then came first in the afternoon road race. She then did an amazing job to win the next road race on Sunday, as well as dominate the criterium on Monday morning. This gave Jemma a total of 3 wins, the KOM jersey and the overall win on GC!!!
Congratulations to all girls for a super effort all weekend, and we look forward to the next series of races.