Race Report: Cat's Hill Crit W3/Masters
Race : Cat's Hill Crit W3/Masters
Date: March 22, 2025
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Kat Zgraja, Maeve Roach, Kristin Hepworth, Janene Ostrow, Steph Hart
Top Result: 1/12 Steph, 3/12 Kat (12 total field, 7 cat 3 riders)
Course: 0.9 mile course (L shaped, 6 corners) and a punchy 0.05mi climb (11.8%)
nutrition: birthday cake gu ~5 min before the start (can’t say I’d recommend that flavor)
Photo credit: Wil Gibb
Race Recap
Steph’s POV:
The plan for this race was for me, Louise, Kristen and Kat to spend the race attacking, and if the field was still together at the end, then we’d lead Maeve out. Shortly after the start Louise attacked and stayed away for ~2 laps, AV did a pretty good job forcing Eclipse and Super Sprinkles (in this case just Sophia Hu) to chase. As soon as Louise was caught I countered and was off the front for 3 or so laps before being brought back by the field. Kat countered with a nice attack as well, and by the time the race was back together, (25 minute mark?) we were all pretty cracked. It's been fun getting this attack/counter attack train going smoothly in the last few cat 3 races. With 5 (?) laps to go, Louise attacked and Shantalle (Sycip) and Stephanie Hayos (Eclipse) buried themselves to bring her back just before the hill. I took the climb pretty hard and then attacked just cresting the hill, and the rest of the field seemed too tired to follow (good tip from Louise’s pre-race brief). I managed to stay away for the final 4 laps with maybe a 20 second lead for the win. In the field, Kat was just edged out in the field sprint by Stephanie Hayos, and came in 3rd.
Last lap Kat’s POV:
Thanks to Louise’s great pre-race tip, I planned to position myself at the front of the group on the last lap on the hill. I crested the hill in front of the group, then put the power down hard. This spread out the group a bit. I think it ended up being me, then Stephanie Hayos on my wheel, and Maeve on her wheel. I was focusing on a good lead-out for Maeve. Stephanie ended up starting her sprint just before the final corner (surprised me to be quite honest), and pulled ahead. We were taking the final corners pretty hard and aggressive I’d say, and some of the field fell behind a bit. I couldn’t keep up with Stephanie (Eclipse) after the effort I put down in the earlier part of that lap, but I am happy that I still had the legs to finish the race/sprint somewhat strong.
Photo Credit: Adam Meyer (thanks for capturing my pain face)