National Round 3 - Mt Stromlo 5 Feb 2012

What would a National Series be without at least some rain?  We've been pretty lucky with the first two rounds, but couldn't drag it out for round three.  Never mind, at least it only rained on Friday and cleared up (and warmed up) for the rest of the weekend.  Practice on Friday was wet and muddy but went without any dramas.  Except when we arrived home on Friday arvo, we had to light the heater so we could dry out shoes, kits, helmets, etc (lucky it hasn't been a very warm summer).

Saturday morning saw Ian and Andrew head down to Stromlo for Group B practice and seeding while Thomas had a bit of a sleep in. Mum and Thomas headed down in time for Mum to start her Marshaling duties and watch Andrew's seeding run.. Andrew's seeding went well and he finished in first place by just over a second from Joel.  Thomas' practice also went well as did his seeding run where he finished in third place, only 0.79 of a second off first place.  Andrew stayed with a mate on Saturday night so he could go to 'Cam's Jam'.  He really enjoyed it.

Back to the track for an early start on Sunday morning for Andrew to start practice and Thomas to walk the track to prepare for race.  Andrew did a couple of practice runs and was ready for race feeling pretty good with his preparation so far.

Race time came and Andrew, being the last rider in U17's, came pedaling hard to the finish line.  His time was looking good and he crossed the finish line in a winning time of 2:28.04, just over 3 seconds from 2nd place.  After he regained his breath after the big pedal, he was really happy with his run, beating his seeding time by 8 seconds.

Thomas' race run came and he felt pretty good, having got some preparation and training tips from Jared Rando over the weekend, Thomas felt he had done everything he could to put in a good run.  Thomas was on course, time ticking over when we realised something must have happened as we couldn't see him yet.  He crossed the finish line in 8th position 2 seconds slower than his seeding run and 6 seconds off Connor who took the win.  Turns out Thomas had an off in the top part of the track, but managed to get back on his bike and didn't give up so overall, he posted a very respectable time considering.  He now sits in 3rd place overall for the Series with one round remaining.

Out of interest, this is the first time Thomas has not been on the podium in the 4 years he has been racing Nationals.