St. Patrick's Race (Branch Brook Park)

Branch Brook race course

Huge field for Saturday's race at Branch Brook Park. I'd guess ~80 racers. The forecast on Friday was for a chance of rain and snow, but we didn't get anything (hence the largest turnout of the year yet). On real nice days, this race will attract 80-100 racers. My goal was to finish up in the top 10 to try and maintain a high overall placing (I was ~3rd overall in the series going into this race - I say approximate because they never posted the overall scores!).

I decided to sit near the front / middle of the pack and mark those racers who were in front of me in the standings. Eric was there and played a support role for me (thanks!). With the pack this size, nothing was getting away today. Uneventful until the last lap. I make my way up into the top 15 going into the 180. I was on the inside and someone on the outside decides to cut me short. I almost go down and had to clip out and stop to avoid falling over. Shit, 30-40 or so racers pass me and I think, 'that's it, I'm at the back with a mile to go'. After the 180 it is pretty much downhill into a flat finish. I clip in and start sprinting and working my way up as fast as I can. I'm surprised to find my self in the top 3 with ~500m to go. I try my best to sprint and hang on, but I faded to finish 11th. I guess that catching up took a little out of me. I lost some points in the overall as the 1st placed rider finished 7th and the 2nd place finished 8th. Hopefully I didn't lose too many points to those behind me.

There was a nasty crash that happened right on the finish line. The story I heard afterwards is someone ran into the back of a sprinting rider and took him down. This occurred about 1 bike length behind me. The racer that crashed was quickly diagnosed by the EMTswith a broken collar bone and some ribs.