October 3/09 13:09 pm - Caracol de Pista Track Race: Day 2 report

Posted by Editoress on 10/3/09
 

Day two of the 19th edition on the Caracol de Piste was an abbreviated version due to rain delays. We left the hotel with fairly strong rain falling, but over the 15 km to the velodrome the weather did change for the better. With the overall heat in Colombia it was evident the track would quickly dry. At 6:30 the track was ready for warm up so the 7 pm start was postponed until 8 pm.
 
The night started with the men's 1/8 round of sprints and a light sprinkling of rain started to fall on the last pairing of men. The women were then up with Monique Sullivan in the first of the women's quarter final heats against fastest qualifier Simona Krupeiskaite. Monique should have faced an easier opponent based on her qualifying but she had been relegated in her first ride on a call that favoured her Colombian combatant. Due to this Monique had to ride in the repecharge which she won but this dropped her effectively to the lowest seeded position, hence facing the fastest qualifier.
 
Monique had a strong start to her ride but let some of her inexperience show in facing world champion Krupeiskaite. Krupeiskaite did not back off in the finish showing respect for the young Canadian. Sullivan will now contest the 5-8 final which has two valuable points scoring spots for the overall as points go to the top 6. It is experiences like these  for all the Canadian riders that will continue their development to reach the potential they have all shown.
 
The second heat for the women was about to get under way when the sky opened up and racing was postponed. The rain was then off and on and looked at one point as if it might hold but then more came down so the evening was called at 9:30. The remainder of day two schedule to be completed on morning of day 3 and the final day 3 session to start later at 8pm. Stay tuned for the final race day report.
 
I cannot continue to praise the efforts of the organizers here. Today was another example with Sebastian from Germany celebrating his 25th birthday.  He was called up in front of the 1000's of spectators and presented with a giant card signed by all the riders and a cake. The crowd then sang happy birthday for him.

CCA report