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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

World Championships Saalfelden 2012

 
So my 3rd World Championships are over! After 12 amazing days in Austria I'm back in Canada (and can't say I'm too happy about it). I gave you a bit of an update for the first few days of the trip so here is the rest of the exciting stuff that happened (like the race haha).
 
At the start of the week I got in a lot more time on course, which was drying nicely until a big dump of rain on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. By then I was feeling good with the course so after one lap on Thursday I was ready to race. The Team Relay was held on Thursday evening, so it was a good chance to watch the racers on the course and see what it would be like for my race on Friday morning. Team Canada put a team in for the relay consisting of Geoff, Mitch, Catherine and Marc-Antoine. We got off to a great start with Geoff coming in from the first lap in 2nd position and Mitch closing the gap on the second lap. Mitch came into the pits with France to send off Catherine with Olympic champ Julie Bresset. Catherine had a great ride, putting Canada into 4th with just M.A. left to go. After an awesome battle with Manuel Fumic and Ralph Naef in the last lap, Marc finished strong for Canada, earning a 5th place.
 
It was definitely motivation for the next day and I woke up Friday ready to race. The U23 women had an 11am start, which was the perfect time for great temperatures and minimum time to be nervous. The course had mostly dryed overnight but the one forested section was still slick in the morning. I didn't have a great starting position but I made the most of it and tried to fight my way through the pack on the startloop. After the startloop we were in for 5 laps of the 4.5km course. The short laps made the race feel like a blur and before I knew it I was out on my last lap. It was a tough course and even though my 32nd place wasn't at all the result I was looking for, I was happy with how I raced. This trip has given me a ton of motivation for next year and the ideas for training this winter are filling up my head.
 
Once again I want to sincerely thank everyone who helped me get to the World Championships. I had amazing coaching by Peter Glassford and great support from Barry Near, Trek Canada, and everyone at home. It was an amazing experience!
 
Preriding "Maple Syrup Falls"
 
Team Canada with Mechanic Andy

 
Haley made me eat it

Antoine with his rather large cut
Cheering with my huge pretzel


I will be home for a couple days before heading north for Crank the Shield on Friday. It will be my first stage race and I have only heard great things about it so I can't wait!

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