I have never shed tears before a criterium event, but Sunday was different. The minute silence before our race was a very poignant moment, and an important time to reflect on how precious life is, and how much we should not take it for granted.
Mardi Bartlett's death was unnecessary and tragic. However, hopefully it has helped to bring lots of people together, and raise more awareness about cyclist safety.
I feel a bit guilty about seeming some what insensitive and following this up with a relatively trivial race report. Having said that, from what Holly has indicated, I think Mardi was a person who loved life and cycling, and would have liked to see her friends race well in her memory.
This year the women's Campos team has strengthened their numbers with 3 new recruits (Jess L, Jane W, Jahna H), in addition to Jazzy, Judy Lou and Corissa.
In this first race of the series, we also had representatives from teams such as Lifecycle, Specialized Securitor, Holden, Total Rush, KP and Bicycle Riders Morningside. Add in NRS women's winner for 2013 (now AIS) Kat Garfoot, and the race was sure to be interesting.
Quite a few early breaks were initiated by various women, but about half way through the race Kat, Jemma, Liz and Jazzy created the final break of the day. Towards the end of the race, Liz's hard work in the first few breaks of the day took its toll and she couldn't hang on any longer.
That left Kat, Jemma and Jazzy to battle it out for the top three places.
On the last lap, Kat put in a powerful attack to gap the other two, and win comfortably. This also put her in the leader's jersey for round two (in 2 week's time).
