2014 mtb xc national championships Rotorua

This is was the big one. My final under17s nationals! I needed to prove that I was up there with the top guns.

The Rotorua Nationals are always large races and everybody wants to get 1st. 

Traveling down the day before, we were staying at the Holiday Inn (luxury by our standards) courtesy of complimentary stay passes I had won as a spot prize at a previous event. An easy unpack I then got on my bike and did a pre ride on the course.  Man! in the perfect conditions at 1pm the course was already dusty. It was going to be an interesting race of conditions remained the same.  After the ride I had a lite dinner and then headed off to bed early - tomorrow was an all or nothing day.

7am wake, 7:30am breakfast - I needed to force myself to eat because the nerves were really kicking in, I was actually feeling really ill.  I'm not sure whether this was real or just head games, but  I was way less than 100% 

My family and I rode out to the race venue together.  I followed this up with a good hours warm up, ridding myself of some of the nervous energy.  About 20min before race start, the feelings were back in full force and mum had to get me two panadols just to stop me from vomiting.   They worked! The panadols went straight in to action and I felt like I could do anything.

The day was now hotting up - a perfect Rotorua day.  5 laps of the 6km circuit in theses conditions was going to be fast and intense.  As everybody lined up ready to hear whose name would be called up for a ranked start position I actually started to relax more.   Nothing to be done now but race.

For those who haven't done this before, they group riders in lines of 5, the fastest ranked riders at the front from then the next 5 and so on. When they were calling out the names for the 2nd line my name was suddenly called out, I was very surprised - my heart rate had jumped straight to 130bpm! Boy was I scared.

The organisers called out the race would start in the next 15 seconds, then about 3 seconds later the horn went off.  The sound of 30 competitors clipping in and gunning it was amazing.   The start is one of my strengths and I was bale to make my way through the top 6 to get me into 4th place hitting the first single track. At this point I felt amazing.

I held this position for almost the whole first lap.  I felt great except for a familiar feeling of tension in the back of my quad but just ignored the feeling and pushed hard, determined to keep the pressure on the riders in front.  As I got to the last hill of the first lap I had about 3 people hard in behind me but I was comfortable at a good constant speed.  Suddenly, half way up the hill my leg felt like someone was grabbing my quad and cutting it with a knife - no warning, just sudden excutiating pain!

I fell to the side of the track almost in tears because not only was I losing my brilliant placing, but I seriously thought I had a major injury to deal with.  I was punching and rubbing my legs and (much to my disgust) realised it was severe cramping.  By the time I had any feeling in my leg again I was pretty much in last place (30th).

Sitting there like a basket case on the side of the track I thought my race was over.  The desire to drop out and save the pain and embarrassment of a poor placing was just so tempting!   But no, my stubborn pride kicked (blame that on my parents) _ giving up just wasn't an option.  I was determained to finish this race even if I came last.

It took me a whole lap to reach the race stragglers who I passed with ease getting.  By the end of the 5rd lap I had climbed to 20th,  but the next level of riders had quite a lead on me.  As hard as I pushed I just couldn't make significant gains.  I had a few spills on the track but nothing major and remained in 20th for the rest of the race.

After the race I met up with a few mates who were telling stories of how hard they had found it and the fact that by lap 3 the positions barely altered.  It was amazing hearing that people had really suffered but never the less we all still really enjoyed it.  That's Nationals racing I guess - its a much mental as it is physical.

Prize giving for the morning races where held before the Under 23s and Elite's (afternoon) and I couldn't believe that after weeks and weeks of training, my little sister (who had been given dispensation to race under-age) had reached her goal of getting top 5 in under 15 girls.  Even better - she actually came out the competition with a silver medal. Super proud of her!!!

The rest of the day was spent watching the older rider suffer on that demanding track in incredibly hot temperatures, and experience an amazing sprint finish between Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze.  If I had been feeling sorry for myself in my race, seeing these top riders suffer just left me in awe.   Brilliant race Sam /hard luck Anton (40km at race pace and 1sec in it!!!!) - but inspirational riding for us younger riders.

Thanks Jesse Voza for the coaching through the last couple of months - I felt a huge improvement.  And to R&R Sport for providing the new kit, great bike check before the race and just unwavering support - it means alot!  And finally to Bike Medic (Ants) for customising my bike over the last couple of months and the words of encouragement.

You really can't do these things on your own - its a team effort.