We had a full team represented in this race. It was Erin’s first race back from her injury, and she definitely reminded people of what she’s capable of out on the course. 47 women started and there were about 16 DNFs.
 
The ¾ field drove a steady average pace of 20.3 mph for the race and about 20-21 in the dirt.  In the 3rd lap on the hill after the gravel Erin was up in the front to get through the hill and Amanda whips around saying “Let’s go.”  At that exact moment, both of Erin’s quads cramp up something awful and she immediately drops to the back of the field and off the back.  The leg cramps helped create an initial separation between the field and Amanda because Erin was in the front and almost stopped.  The field was forced to slow and go around her.

Erin busted butt to catch back on, and found that the main field couldn’t get it organized to chase Amanda.  Before the last turn Erin launched an attack to try to burn out the rest of the sprinters…all of whom were already gasping for air…and then got re-absorbed by the field in the final stretch.  Tucking in at the perfect position, Erin busted out her sprint only to completely cramp up again.  Amanda had already soloed in for the win (WOW!), Erin got 4th in the Cat 3s.

Meanwhile, Jen could not get into good position into the gravel, as she was already warned about the “Center” (imaginary) line rule, so she was about mid-pack going into the gravel.  Unfortunately, that meant that she got caught behind Sheila’s crash, which was followed by Dori’s crash, which was then followed by Dana rolling over Dori’s head and smashing her face into the ground! 

photo courtesy of Jim Wilson

Now on Lap 2, Jen takes her turn crashing going into the turn.  She was extremely determined to finish the race (and even lined up with her saddle bag!).  She kept going and chased back into the little group of seven, which became five (two more dropped out on the gravel). After the last hill in the last lap, it was down to TWO… Jen and Linh!  Jen decided to keep on working hard for her Cat 4 teammate (she was pretty tired by this time) to keep the Linh’s one dropped Cat 4 nemesis dropped.  Linh was hanging on by the thread for most of that race (so she said), so Jen did all of the work to keep Linh on her wheel and pulled her to the finish line.  Jen was 10th Cat 3 and Linh was 6th Cat 4.

Great racing by all of the Artemis women!  All finished.  Photo link:
http://images.jamesrwilson.com/p99010675/?photo=h18E2E42F#417522735

And certainly of significant note (despite no race report), Jorge and James took 1st and 2nd place respectively in the Cat 4

Men’s race!   Amazing finish, Guys.  Keep Artemis rockin’!

For more race reports, go here.

The current version of the Get Fit newsletter from our sponsor, Galileo Health Partners is out.  Among the topics covered this month: weekend warriors, strength training, vitamin supplements, US Army training, a review of the book Ten Commandments of Faith and Fitness, and more!

Read it here...

The opening race week-end turned out to be pretty inspirational for the Artemis Women. After several weeks of training together, eleven of us headed out to College Park for the President's Crit. Yes, we made up more than half of the field, but for some, it was their 1st real race. This made the pre-race jitters lessen by riding on familiar wheels. It was a combined 3/4 race, so we were looking for a Cat 3 AND Cat 4 win, which we achieved (1st & 2nd place in each category)! 'Twas a great way to kick off the season! Amanda handily won the cat 3 race in a solo breakaway and Dori won the Cat 4 race. Now, Dori has been race-evasive for the past few seasons, so this is HUGE! When I told her that so many of us would be there, she said she would do it. (Then Dori had to call Robyn from the race to get HER there...) I got to the event early enough for me to preview the course with her, which must have helped; she looked totally comfortable in the field, as did ALL of the Artemis women. I was quite pleased. Forget about fearing the Turtle...FEAR the PURPLE! Also, a 'shout' goes out to Paul, who finished 6th in the Cat 5 race!

And there's more! Check out all the race reports from UMD and JDawg's report from Strasburg here.