After my 26th in Abergavenny, I hoped for a similar result in Shrewsbury. However, muddy races aren’t my forte, as last year all my national results were disappointing. It rained the night before, but I hoped that it would be less muddy than last year. My prayers weren’t answered, it was as muddy as I have seen a Cyclo-cross race since the National Champs 2 years ago. All the straights were a slog and I had to run practically all of the top section near to the finish. I was gridded 27th, similar to Abergavenny, and I was nervous, yet excited to see if I could pull of a result.
My start did not go to plan, a rider had a back wheel problem directly in front of me. To make matters worse, I got stuck on the first off-road section and lost even more places. I made a bad decision to try and ride as much as possible, this only led to pain and frustration, as I went off the course a couple of times . I left it too long to make a bike change, and this lost me time as my bike was clogged with mud. I was looking forward to the finish as it was a hard race, though I got onto a group of U14 on the last lap. I finished OK, as I didn’t lose any positions on the final lap, and I finished 42nd, not the top 30 that I wanted going into the race.
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