This had been my main goal for the first half of the season so I knew that I was going to be in good form. Got very lucky with parking and we found a spot on the seafront, which was where the race was taking place. The course was the same as when I raced it previously, a decent followed by a flat section by the seafront, before turning right and heading back into the buildings. I was surprised that there was gridding, but I didn’t have enough points to be on the front row as it was the top 7 on national ranking points. Second row wasn’t bad, so the start wouldn’t cost me during the actual race.
Actually, it might have done. Not the position, but I missed by pedal so was in about 20th wheel on the first lap. I stayed at the back for most of the race, as the group slowly got smaller and smaller. It went from about 20 riders to just 10, which guaranteed my first ever top 10 in a Welsh crit champs. I tried moving up but the pace was too high, and I was shattered by the end. Where 2 years ago I would have been dropped, I had hung on, and so while 10th possibly wasn’t as high as I may have hoped, I was still proud of my performance.