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| Celebration! Photo by Team Mack |
Saturday morning I headed off on the 5-hour drive down to
Edwardsville IL, about 25 mi (40 km) northwest of St. Louis, for the Stifel
Nicolaus Edwardsville Rotary Criterium with one goal in mind: to win. A twilight start
meant that I could drive down on Saturday and still arrive in plenty of time
for my race at 7 PM. Set in the historic downtown center with huge community
involvement and live music all evening, the venue, now in its fourth year, was absolutely
packed with fans creating an awesome high-energy atmosphere perfect for racing.
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| Start-finish arch as darkness approaches before the start of one of the men's races. |
Heading to Edwardsville was a difficult decision for me
because the race coincided with the Delta Subaru Gaslight Criterium in Grand
Rapids MI, an event that I thoroughly enjoyed racing two years ago and has the
added attraction of being nearby Holland MI where I attended college. In the
end, a bigger payout at Edwardsville drew me south.
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| Great course at Edwardsville. |
The attractive prize purse brought out excellent fields for races
all afternoon. A fast-paced course with seven turns was my type of crit, but
with the presence of super speedy sprinter Carrie Cash (Pepper Palace), I
knew that the win was going to require a big effort, and that effort was going
to require avoiding a field sprint.
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| Rounding Turn 1 during the race. Photo by Kelly Croy Patty |
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| Cool shot by Jaime Guzman |
A strong move by Rachel Byus (FCS) and Emilie Fanigan (Dog
Fish) a bit before mid race threatened my plans, but eventually they were
brought back and, with about 20 min to go in the 60-min race, I got my
opportunity. After getting a good jump on the field for a prime, I
continued driving hard and extended the gap. I hovered at about 10 s for a long
time. The technical course made 10 s a good gap, but with several strong legs
in the field, not good enough to relax. I drove on, digging deeper despite my screaming
legs, rebelling stomach, and cramping diaphragm. Finally, with one lap to go, I
had a comfortable lead and was able let up on me effort and enjoy the finish, savoring
the win as I celebrated—along with the throngs of supporters, including plenty of
Vanderkitten fans—all the way along the finish straight.
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| Top step with Britta Siegel and Carrie Cash. Photo by Jaime Guzman |
With such a great effort from Dogfish Racing and the
Edwardsville Rotary Club and excellent sponsorship from Stifel Nicolaus
Financial group, this race will be back next year so Midwest racers put it on
your calendar! Thank you to Team Mack head honcho Gary Doering for incredible
support and excellent company for the weekend.
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| Getting out my claws. Photo by Team Mack |
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Jeannie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. It was a pleasure to host you, and a pleasure to watch you race in our Criterium. See you next year !!!!!
John Gibbons,
Vice Pres.,
Edwardsville Rotary Club
Jeannie,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your great performance. I am in the Rotary and volunteered at the Criterium.
You guys are the best and from where I stood, I enjoyed the races and everybody that came enjoyed themselves as well.
Hope to see you next year.
Musonda Kapatamoyo
Edwardsville Rotary Club, member