I was helping c riders for the first 8 laps, but Riley reported noticing that any break without several of each of the major teams riders in it, was chased down by the underrepresented team. He had to chase others tho on his own. Including getting gapped in the final corner by 6-8 guys, chasing on his own, and only catching the last guy 10 m to go. More like a 1km tt than a true sprint. But then he is the Cdn 2 km record holder, so it probably seemed short.
Sarah (also 14) rode conservatively in b until the last lap, and duked it out in the last 300 m with bigger people for third. She vows to try to breakaway next time.
On the other end of the youth team spectrum,12 year old Connor Bosenburg battled mightily to hold the c's getting gapped on the climb but then almost getting on, just as a crash happened, and braking for it took him off the back. We let ourselves get lapped a couple times to get the pack practice, but he'd used all his matches by the time he had a clear shot at it. He's sooo close. Fellow 12 year old Liam H had a week off after a crash on the john Dean descent, but wanted to watch his team mates and rode up the daunting Millstream climb ("Where are we going again?" And unspoken:"Will my parents be able to find my body?").
Josh L. touched wheels when a rider slowed instead of accelerated in response to a break, and Paul Christopher fell over him. (He's very sorry Paul.)
Ethan, Thomas, Adam, Erin, Tomas, all had attacks which got clear of the bunch, so the fact they ended up finishing mid bunch does not really reflect their efforts.
In C Megan Barnes held onto the strong bunch including three national youth team triathletes. Last vcl's second place Toria got dropped after a very short night following a garage sale she organized with Jess Maitland to raise money for an Ecuador school building trip they are both going on. Made $500. Do t know about you, but I'm lucky to make $50 at a garage sale.
Thanks to dr walker club for organizing and free entry to u19 and younger riders. Also to Darrell Barnes who stopped his race to check on Josh and Paul.
