All women started out 15 seconds behind the master men.  I got the hole shot and effectively blocked Natoli and Shana around the first few muddy turns.  Eventually, they slipped away from me, although I did get them back on the paved road section.  However, muddy turns outnumbered power sections and they eventually got away.  I pushed my way through the back of the master men, and had a good race though, to put a solid lock on third.  Shana, in her home race, pulled away from Natoli and held on for the win. I represented MIM on the podium for photos, with mud still caked on my legs.  It was a fun race!

The Open Men's race saw the course completely deteriorate.  The mud hole before the runup became one long runup, and the off camber was crazy.  This was an hour long race, though, and once the mud got completely stirred up some of it also began to dry -- on chains and derailleurs.  Toward the end of the race a fairly steady stream of guys began to emerge, shouldering their broken-derailleur bikes.  The winner there would be the bike shops!

Congratulations to everyone who put their leg over a cyclocross bike this weekend.  I hope you all had fun!

Take care,