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Race Report by Kavachin Jogi

Saturday, my exams are finally done, and the most important occasion of the week is finally here- the Hamilton City Hawks Reduction Relay. I’m beside myself to take part in my first “fun” club event (though my competitiveness will be the same as at the open XC).

12:20
I take a leisurely bike ride down to the clubrooms, admiring how impossibly blue the sky is today. Finally, unlike the horror show that was my last exam, something fun and simple that will go along nice and smooth.

12:36
Arriving at the clubrooms, I greet familiar faces, introduce myself to new ones, and awkwardly smile and nod at other new ones (sorry). Everyone is waiting for the proceedings to get underway, dressed (very tastefully) in their Hawk’s singlets, Hawk’s hoodies, and assorted running kit- with one exception in her pyjamas…

“You got your spikes with you?”, Rhys asks.
My spikes, why would I need my spikes?
“Do we need spikes, I only brought my road shoes?”, I reply.
“Well, it is called cross country for a reason…”
I check my watch; there’s enough time for me to ride back and fetch my spikes from uni…

12:43
I leave the clubrooms, up Tisdall Street,
red light.
Across Victoria Bridge toward the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin May,
red light.
Onto Clyde Street, passing Sacred Heart…
…”I need my keys to get into my room; I do not have my keys.”

12:49
One unsafe U-turn (and another red light) later and I’m heading back to the clubrooms. I make the universal “starting-a-car-with-a-key” hand gesture as I rush into the change rooms and snatch my keys out of my jacket pocket.

12:52
Back up Tisdall,
red light.
Across Victoria Bridge push toward the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
red light.
Pedalling down Clyde Street, redlight, then another.
By now my legs are starting to burn, I finally get back to halls and swipe my key card;
“Access Denied”.
Three minutes of verbally abusing an electronic lock later, and I’m in.
I grab my spikes’ drawstring bag, briefly wondering what the pins would do to my back if I fell, and rush on back to the clubrooms.

13:06
I’m pedalling away from halls, and what I thought would be my “cycling-warmup” is now well into “individual time-trial” levels of warm. Two more redlights later, and I’m riding down Tisdall Street to the clubrooms.

13:19
I arrive at the start line; everyone is ready to go (except me). My infinite apologies and gratitude to everyone for waiting for me.
I discover my team, Team 1- we were the only four-person team, and minutes later the gun goes off (technically speaking, Harry said something like, “One, Two, Three, go!”)

Lap 1:
Now I was under the impression that I would have two progressive laps to warmup with, before one final effort. Nope, the start was as aggressive as any race I’ve ever been to. We headed out past the first turnaround and encountered an initial hiccup with Dave’s leg deciding to go on strike and forcing him to retire. Having been reduced to a full team, we kept going. The field was strung out by now and we’d have to make up alot of time and all the places if we were going to win.
Storming through the middle section we encountered the mud for the first time, it wasn’t that bad really. Continuing on, we made good time and had managed to overtake the first of our victims before the first lap was over.

Lap 2:
At the beginning of the second lap we had a 45 second split to Charlotte and Rhys, who were moving along at a chuffing pace. By this time, the “slightly wet” part of the course had turned into an ogre appropriate swamp. That said, we were closing ground- and quickly.
My heart rate was a bit higher than I’d like to admit for a supposedly “medium fast” pace, and I knew I’d have my work cut out for me to simply try set a faster third lap than second. By the lap’s final turnaround, the gap was down to 25 seconds, and second place was in our sights. Down the final dip through the leaves and we were right behind them. Anna shouting words of encouragement at Daniel (I later learnt that these were attempts to negotiate a swapping of the two and three lap roles). And a quick sprint finish rounded off the second lap.

Final lap:
Now flying solo I prepared myself to push hard, but suddenly Rhys was alot closer than I had expected, the split was well under 10 seconds. I wasn’t moving fast enough to explain closing the gap that quickly, but I certainly wasn’t unhappy about it. As it turned out, most of my work had been done for me by Charlotte and Abigail’s ferocious pacing- attempting to bury everyone, including Rhys, during laps 1 and 2. Running out the rest of the lap I managed to cross the line for my team first.
With the rest of the 3 lappers coming in shortly thereafter and promptly sitting down whilst also looking around for water.

Then followed the warm-down jog back to the clubrooms, afternoon tea, and post-match analyses at a very, very necessary level of detail.

15:00
I commenced my fifth and final bike ride of the day.
The lights were green all the way home.