Canberra UCI National Round 2012. A race report by Caroline Buchanan. ++race video inside++

Mar 06, 2012

Written by Bart de Jong

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Over the past week Canberra has been experiencing some of the worst flooding that I have seen in my lifetime which unfortunately meant that the perfectly groomed Melba BMX track turned into a mud pit for racing. Friday's UCI round was postponed to Saturday so two rounds were squeezed into Saturday. An early 5:30 am wake up call was unusual for a BMX race weekend although it turned out lucky as BMX Australia were able to get one UCI National round in before the rain came down and round 2 was cancelled due to bad weather.

I lead the final down the first 2 straights but hit a boggy patch and got passed down the 3rd muddy straight by Melinda McLeod and could not fight back for the win under the tough conditions.

Over the weekend

I had 60 Minutes Australia filming me racing, riding, interviews and doing a motivational talk at Lyneham High School for an up coming episode. I also shot an interview and commercial for Chanel 9. The next ten weeks are going to be crucial to be on top of my game and injury free through 3 World Cups and World Championships to finish up a long Olympic qualifying process.

-Caroline Buchanan