Bella, Tamala and Michelle F all took part in event with just under 50 starters of all ages and cats. There were fears that the race would stay together for the duration.

Bella’s aim was stay near the front, to 1) stay safe and 2) be near good wheels so if a break went, she had chance of being in it. The first few laps saw people having a dig here and there, with Bella having a dig on the hill and being off the front a couple of times. Tamala was doing a fab job of mixing it up with the lead group and on one of the corners Bella offered her wheel and they moved further up together.

On the penultimate lap there were still around 18-20 in the lead group. As they approached the hill the penultimate time, Bella and a few others put in the effort to get over, carry momentum through and started to drill it. Bella looked behind, saw a few other riders had made it on and they had a gap. There were now 9, including Dame Sarah Storey. They started through and off to try and maintain the gap and maintained it. Initially 18 seconds then up to 1 minute 14. Approaching the finish, before the hill, the pace slowed significantly as everyone was getting ready to sprint. Bella got 6th overall and 2nd in her age cat behind Sarah Storey. Excellent result!

Tamala worked well in the main bunch doing a lot of the pacing and came a very well placed 17th overall, 4th in age group. Michelle stuck with the fast paced main bunch for almost 30km finishing in a chase group, 9th in her age category.

Excellent work girls!

Everyone who entered was overwhelmed by the effort that went into the organisation and running of this race. The number of people, the amount of effort, the care and attention to every detail. All from volunteers.